ANALISIS KEMAMPUAN REPRESENTASI MATEMATIS SISWA SMP DALAM MENYELESAIKAN MASALAH BANGUN RUANG BERDASARKAN GAYA BELAJAR VISUAL

Representation is one of the abilities that must be understood in mathematics education. As a relationship between mathematical objects and symbols, it is defined as the process of symbolizing an object, the ability of mathematical representation to help students improve understanding and communicate thoughts on mathematical concepts. Representation indicators describe four aspects of visual representation, image representation, representation of equations or mathematical expressions, and representation of words or written text. Therefore, with the representation process, students have a good opportunity to solve problems so that they can solve the problem correctly. Representation is part of basic mathematical skills which are included in high-level thinking abilities which should be developed in mathematics teaching and learning activities. The research approach used in this research is qualitative research. This research has a case study type with a qualitative descriptive approach. The subjects of this research were 6 junior high school students who had categories of high (2), medium (2), and low (2) levels of mathematical ability. The data collection techniques chosen by researchers were tests, interviews and questionnaires. This research aims to determine students' mathematical representation abilities in solving spatial problems based on visual learning styles. The research results showed that 17 students chose to use visual representations in solving Space Building questions. Meanwhile, one student with a moderate level of mathematical ability chose to use symbolic representation in solving the Space Building problem. Students with low levels of mathematical ability do not change the representations they make (visual) into other forms of representation (symbolic or verbal). Meanwhile, students in the medium and high ability level categories change the representations they create (visual or symbolic) into other representations. Students with a high level of mathematical ability can create visual representations in several forms.