Logical-mathematical intelligence is highly needed to ease students’ understanding of mathematics concepts. Therefore, it is necessary to delivery an innovative teaching approach to enhance students’ logical-mathematical intelligence. This study aims to investigate the use of mathematics comics to increase the logical-mathematical intelligence of junior high school students in urban and rural schools. This study employed a quantitative approach with a pretest-posttest control group design. The population of this study were seventh-grade students from a junior high school in Banda Aceh (urban areas) and a junior high school in Aceh Besar (rural areas), Indonesia. The samples of this study were two classes (experimental and control) from each school which were selected randomly. To collect data, we used a logical-mathematical intelligence test and analyzed it by using t-test. This study shows that the use of mathematical comics in urban schools can improve mathematical logical intelligence. However, there was no improvement in students' mathematical logical intelligence in rural schools. Therefore, this study showed that using mathematics comics in different school conditions yield different results in logical-mathematical intelligence. The findings suggest that other learning innovations are required to improve students' logical-mathematical intelligence in rural areas.

The Think-Pair-Share (TPS) strategy makes the learning environment interactive, lively, collaborative and democratic. It allows students to interact; accept information; develop collaborative discussion skills; refine their thinking; and participate effectively in the classroom. In this study, the researchers investigated the effect of the collaborative discussion strategy (think-pair-share) on developing students' skills in solving engineering mathematical problems. Once we had confirmed the validity and reliability of the tools, we used the quasi-experimental approach. The study sample consisted of 66 students divided into two groups: Namely, an experimental group, which comprised 33 students who studied mathematics using the (think-pair-share) strategy; and a control group, which comprised 33 students who studied in the traditional way. Both groups sat for a pretest and post-test in mathematics. The test results showed that the use of the TPS strategy had a positive effect on developing problem-solving skills compared to the traditional method. In light of these results, the study recommended the use of TPS strategy to improve the skills of students in solving engineering mathematical problems.

The peer tutoring approach is a student-cantered teaching method in which students learn in pairs with teacher supervision. The study discussed in this paper is a systematic literature review related to the effectiveness of peer tutoring approaches which has been published within the last 5 years. A complete text analysis was conducted using 20 research papers stating the impact of the peer mentoring approach for this writing. Among the things obtained from previous studies are the variety of ways to implement peer tutoring approach, the impact on 3 aspects in students which are mathematical achievement, social skills and cognitive skills and the teaching theories used. The findings of the study indicate that most past studies used quantitative research methods with the concept of age peer approach. Then, constructivism theory was the most frequently applied with a sample of high school students. In conclusion, this systematic literature review shows that the peer tutoring approach in mathematics education has many benefits in various aspects and needs to be extended to improve the quality of education.

Secondary subject subcultures, differing in status, perceived sequentiality, and scope, have been shown to form within departmental content areas. This study aimed to determine if preservice secondary teachers also exhibited attributes of secondary subcultures. Through the Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey and the Culturally Responsive Teacher Self-Efficacy Scale, this study revealed that subcultures also occur within preservice teachers, specifically preservice mathematics teachers and preservice English teachers, with regards to multicultural awareness and attitudes. The results from this study support the need for purposeful and consistent focus on multicultural education and Ethnomathematics education in mathematics education programs. In doing so, secondary mathematics students can obtain a robust background in multicultural education before entering the PK-12 classroom. When they do enter the PK-12 classroom, they will be able to empower all students that they teach.

The problems in education in the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) vary from country to country. The differences between "upper class" and "lower class" countries in PISA assessment results have led to a research gap. The purpose of this study was to (a) test students' mathematical literacy skills on the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) test and compare the results using the sum of means across OECD countries; (b) examine the relationship between students' mathematical competence, precision, and self-perception of mathematical literacy skills in the PISA test; and (c) analyze the gaps that exist between the implementation of mathematics instruction in school and the mathematical literacy as measured on the PISA test. This study was designed as a mixed method with an explanatory sequential design. The data collection methods included test procedures, questionnaires, and interviews. The result of this study showed that the overall mean score obtained was below the OECD average. In general, the respondents achieved only level 2 mathematics proficiency. A significant relationship was found between mathematical competence, precision, and self-perception in mathematical skills. On the other hand, there was a gap, namely the difference at the implementation level, where mathematical literacy measured by PISA differed from the measurement of mathematical learning achievement by teachers in school. The results showed that teaching that emphasizes only problem-solving procedures affects low mathematical competence and is not useful enough for students to deal with the PISA mathematics test.

This study aimed to compare and examine the effectiveness of interactive STEM learning and paper-and-pencil STEM learning in terms of mathematical literacy skills of elementary school students. This research is of a quasi-experimental type with a non-equivalent pretest-posttest control group design. Sampling was carried out on the elementary school populations in Bengkulu and South Sumatra Provinces in two stages. In the first stage, schools in rural and urban areas were selected, and in the second, classes in each school were randomly selected. The selected sample consisted of fifth-grade students of the Public Elementary School of Terawas, Musi Rawas, with an experimental class A (n = 20) and an experimental class B (n = 19), as well as fifth-grade students of the Public Elementary School of Bengkulu City, with an experimental class A (n = 25) and an experimental class B (n = 22). Data collection was conducted using mathematical literacy skills tests in reference to the PISA and Minimum Competency Assessment (level 1–3). Data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics; it employed an independent t-test for the comparative testing and an N-gain test for testing the effectiveness of STEM learning. The results showed that there were differences in math literacy skills between interactive STEM and paper-and-pencil STEM for students in urban schools, but not significantly different for students in rural schools. General STEM learning was effective in increasing the literacy of elementary school students, and interactive STEM in particular demonstrated the highest level of effectiveness in the urban school.

This meta-analysis study investigates the effect of computer-based tests on motivation. The random effect model is the basis for calculating the summary effect, and it is found that the 30 articles obtained through the PRISMA method, which consist of four parts, namely identification, screening, eligibility, and included, can be generalized. Data analysis was performed using R studio and OpenMEE. Based on the research results, the p-value <.05 was obtained, so it was concluded that using a computer-based test significantly affected motivation. In the moderator analysis, it was found that computer-based tests were most effective for intrinsic motivation for the motivation variable, university students for the participants variable, and the country of Iran for the region variable. Evaluation of publication bias using the funnel plot and regression method shows no publication bias, proving that the 30 articles analyzed represent all existing studies on computer-based tests.

Mathematical confidence and critical thinking are essential in preparing preservice teachers. Thus, this study explored the perceived confidence and critical thinking levels in mathematics of elementary and secondary preservice teachers. A descriptive-correlational-comparative research design was employed, with a sample of 107 randomly selected preservice teachers enrolled in the Bachelor in Elementary and Secondary Education programs of a state university in West Philippines. The study used arithmetic mean, standard deviation, Spearman’s rank-order correlation, and independent samples t-test to analyze and draw conclusions from the data. The findings revealed that the preservice teachers have high confidence and critical thinking skills. Their program significantly correlates with their perceived critical thinking and confidence level. Besides, the preservice teachers’ confidence levels and perceived critical thinking skills significantly correlate. Further analysis found significant confidence and critical thinking differences favoring the secondary over the elementary preservice teachers. These findings provide insights that would benefit mathematics educators in providing priority programs to enhance the preparation of future math teachers.

21st-century learning requires teachers and students to integrate literacy skills, scientific literacy, mathematics, reading, writing, and technology in the learning process. Students must have initiative, discipline, responsibility, confidence, motivation for independent learning, and the ability to think critically about the problems presented. This study aims to determine students' autonomous knowledge and critical thinking abilities (CTA) using mobile learning technology (MLT). This research is a quantitative study involving 83 students from four junior high schools in the city of Mataram. The data collection for independent learning and students' CTA was carried out by giving tests and non-tests to students. The test conducted was a written test in the form of a description of 10 questions covering indicators of CTA. The non-test was conducted by giving a student learning independence questionnaire with as many as 15 statements, including five indicators of learning independence. This quantitative research data analysis uses the Rash modeling application with the help of Ministep software. The analysis results show that the learning independence of male and female students in the four junior high schools obtained a percentage of 77.38% in the “good” category. Each indicator of learning independence accepts a percentage above 70%, which is in the excellent category. Meanwhile, the CTA of male and female students from the four junior high schools obtained 75.28% in the “good” category. Each indicator of CTA also gets a percentage of more than 70%, meaning that each indicator is in a good category.

The need for early comprehension of scientific concepts in elementary school students is crucial. However, studies have indicated that some students lack a fundamental understanding of such concepts, highlighting the importance of effective teaching methods to improve scientific literacy at an early age. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the ability of Project-Based Learning in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Mathematics (STEAM-PjBL) to improve students' scientific literacy, knowledge, and application of foundational scientific principles. A quasi-experimental methodology was employed, involving 22 female and 26 male fourth-grade elementary school students as participants. The study administered a Scientific Literacy Test (SLT) treatment to the students, followed by unpaired and paired t-tests to examine the impact of the STEAM-PjBL model on their scientific literacy skills. The results showed that STEAM-PjBL improved students' scientific literacy skills significantly more than traditional instruction. The experimental group outperformed the control group in the post-test, indicating the effectiveness of STEAM-PjBL. Therefore, the study recommends the adoption of the STEAM-PjBL model by elementary school teachers to improve students' understanding of fundamental scientific concepts.

Changes and challenges in the highly dynamic world of education require postgraduate students to manage their learning well and create something from their creative thinking according to the needs of the field. One of them is the activity of students in developing integrated natural science teaching materials is very necessary because learning at the primary level still uses integrated or thematic learning. Furthermore, students also need to be encouraged to be adaptive to these challenges by empowering their independence in learning. The ability to manage learning and creativity to create something new is highly prioritized for college graduates to contribute generously to their environment. This study aims to describe the empowerment of self-regulated learning and student creativity in developing natural science teaching materials in collaboration through community-based project learning. This study used a quasi-experimental design with a single-subject design type. The instruments used to retrieve data are creativity assessment rubrics and self-regulated learning questionnaires. The conclusion is that students are intrinsically and extrinsically motivated to fulfill the given tasks. Learning is essential for increasing competence, and learning strategies have been adjusted to the material's complexity or the difficulty level of the studied content. The aspect of student creativity in developing Integrated Science teaching materials shows the existence of change from stage one to the next and good categories.

Teachers' learning styles are a crucial part of the learning process as they determine how teachers' brains capture and integrate information linked with the senses. Kurnia, identified as an auditory teacher, was expected to capture written information in a provided numeracy problem. Nevertheless, she prefers to capture visual information, like tables or figures, and utilize them to develop thought-provoking questions. Thus, this study intends to investigate her reasons and the factors affecting Kurnia's decision to utilize visual information as a reference in developing questions. This research adopts a qualitative design covering a case study. Kurnia was selected from 32 teachers from 28 schools; roughly 43% were from public schools, and 57% from private schools. Kurnia placed more emphasis on pictorial information before proposing questions, which was caused by situational factors: the subject matter, the grade level, the student's engagement in the class, the teacher's experience, the teaching experience, and the diversity of students' learning styles. This article recommends that teachers recognize their learning styles to know their strengths and weaknesses in teaching mathematics, and that they convey understandable information utilizing effective instructional methods that represent each learning style of students in the classroom.

Students in mathematics classes do not understand the importance of sociomathematical norms in learning mathematics. This causes sociomathematical norms not to be teachers' focus when learning mathematics. Besides, there is no standardized instrument for assessing this norm, so developing this instrument is necessary to measure socio-mathematical norms in learning mathematics. This study aims to create and verify the psychometric validity of the sociomathematical norm scale. This research used a survey method with 505 senior high school students from Jakarta and West Java as respondents. The results showed that 25 items had convergent validity, with a loading factor value of > 0.700, meaning they could be declared valid. Concurrent validity indicates that each sociomathematical norms indicator is valid as a whole. Discriminant validity shows that the average variance extracted value on the diagonal is higher than the other values, so each item is declared valid. It was concluded that each item of the sociomathematical norms instrument has accuracy in its measurement function. The reliability test shows that each sociomathematical norms item is declared reliable. The reliability value of the sociomathematical norm item is .99, and the person's reliability is .86. Thus, the instruments developed can measure sociomathematical norms in learning mathematics.

This study aims to develop a Critical Thinking-Independent Learning (CTIL) model to improve students' critical thinking skills that meet valid, practical, and effective criteria. This type of research was Research and Development (R&D), with a one-group pre-test and post-test design without a controlled class. The CTIL model was validated by three experts in the field of science education and then tested on 156 students in three public junior high schools in Surabaya, Indonesia. The results revealed that: (a) The CTIL model was valid based on the model validity score with an average of 3.73 (very good category) and the validity score of the learning materials with an average of 3.72 (very good category); (b) The practical CTIL model based on the averaged observations of the implementation of learning using the CTIL model was 3.88 (very good category); and (c) The CTIL model was effective based on four determining factors, namely: an increase in critical thinking skills, which was statistically significant at alpha .05; the calculated mean N-gain of .72 (high category), similar mean values for all test classes in all schools participated in this study; the effect size of 3.07 (strong category); and the average student response of 84% (very good category).

This study aims to analyze the effects of working memory capacity and learning styles of prospective mathematics teachers on their ability to solve higher-order thinking problems. In the present study, learning style was considered students' tendency to learn visually or verbally. In addition, the types of higher-order thinking skills (HOTS) problems are complex and non-complex. Multiple regression tests were used to analyze the effects of learning style and working memory capacity. An ANOVA test was also conducted to analyze the ability of each group to solve each HOTS problem. In addition, one hundred twenty-six prospective mathematics teachers voluntarily participated in this study. The study found that learning styles only affected visual problems while working memory capacity (WMC) only affected the ability to solve complex problem-solving skills. Furthermore, WMC affected the ability to solve complex HOTS problems, not non-complex ones. The ability of visual students to solve HOTS problems will greatly increase when the problems are presented in visual form. On the other hand, the obstacle for visual students in solving verbal problems was to present the problem appropriately in visual form. The obstacle for students with low WMC in solving complex HOTS problems was to find a solution that met all the requirements set in the problem.

<p style="text-align:justify">This study aimed to assess the geometric knowledge of student teachers from a university in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The study used a sample of 225 first-year student teachers who completed school mathematics baseline assessments on a computer- aided mathematics instruction (CAMI) software. The study adopted a descriptive cross-sectional research design, using quantitative data to measure student teachers&rsquo; geometry achievement level, and qualitative data to explain the challenges encountered. The results show that student teachers exhibited a low level of understanding of school-level geometry. The low achievement levels were linked to various factors, such as insufficient grasp of geometry concepts in their secondary school education, difficulty in remembering what was done years ago, low self-confidence, and lack of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) skills along with the limited time for the baseline tests. These results suggest that appropriate measures should be taken to ensure that student teachers acquire the necessary subject-matter knowledge to teach effectively in their future classrooms.</p>

Critical thinking is a skill that enables individuals to keep pace with changes and enhances crucial competencies for contemporary competitiveness. Many researchers have studied learning management approaches to develop students' critical thinking, resulting in a substantial body of knowledge but lacking clear systematic summaries. The researchers aimed to (a) examine the effect sizes and research characteristics influencing students' critical thinking, and (b) compare the effect sizes of learning management approaches after adjusting with propensity score matching from 108 graduate research published between 2002 and 2021. Data were collected using research characteristics recording forms and research quality assessment questionnaires. Effect sizes were calculated using Glass's method and analyzed through random effect, fixed effect, and regression meta-analysis. Findings revealed that (a) research on developing learning management approaches influences students' critical thinking at a high level (d ̅ = 1.669), with nine research characteristics, including the field of publication, courses, total duration, teacher learning process, learning media, measurement and evaluation, research design, research statistics, and research quality, statistically significantly influencing students' critical thinking, and (b) after adjustment, inquiry-based learning significantly influences students' critical thinking. Recommendations for developing students' critical thinking include learning activities that encourage problem exploration, expanding thinking through collaborative analysis, and applying diverse media and activity sheets tailored to context suitability.
 

Mathematics test items in International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs) such as the Programme of International Student Assessment (PISA) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are nested in contexts defined in their assessment framework (e.g., the Personal, Occupational, Societal, and Scientific contexts in PISA). This study followed the item-writing activities of four tertiary mathematics instructors in the Philippines as they constructed context-based mathematics items. They were tasked to write four items each, following a set of specifications for PISA content and context categories. The data consisted of transcripts from the focus-group discussion which was conducted days after the task. The transcripts were then analyzed using thematic analysis. The results of this study showed that the phenomenon of item-writing in the context of writing PISA-like mathematics items had two themes: the phases of item-writing and the dimensions of item-writing. Findings showed that the respondents struggled to find realistic contexts and that they engaged in a problem-solving task likened to solving a puzzle as they attempted to satisfy the content, context, and process categories in the table of specifications (TOS). This study contributes to filling in the research gap on item-writing activities, particularly those of mathematics teachers in the Philippines- a country whose recent mathematical performance in the PISA 2018, TIMSS 2019, and PISA 2022 was nothing short of dismal.