Mathematical Communication Ability of Prospective Teacher Students Seen from Initial Mathematical Ability Through Maple- Assisted E-Learning

Abstract

Mathematical communication ability are a crucial standard in mathematics learning for
prospective teachers. However, preliminary studies indicate that most student teachers
still experience difficulty expressing mathematical ideas verbally, in writing, or visually.
This study aims to analyze the effect of e-learning-based instruction using the Maple
application on the Mathematical communication ability of student teachers, based on
their Initial Mathematical Ability (IMA). The research method used was a quasiexperimental one-group pretest-posttest design. The sample consisted of 61 thirdsemester Mathematics Education students from the Faculty of Teacher Training and
Education, Pasundan University, divided into three categories of IMA (high, medium,
and low). The research instrument was a Mathematical communication ability test, and
data analysis used the Wilcoxon, Kruskal-Wallis, and Mann-Whitney tests.The results
showed a significant difference in students' Mathematical communication ability before
and after learning through Maple-assisted e-learning. Overall, students' communication
skills improved after the treatment compared to before. According to the IMA, there was
a significant difference in communication ability between the high and low-achieving
groups, as well as the medium and low-achieving groups, while the difference between
the high and medium groups was not significant. Therefore, the use of symbolic
computation applications such as Maple is worth considering as an alternative learning
innovation to facilitate pre-service teachers in developing better mathematical
communication ability.