Journal of Education, Teaching, and Learning
Volume 10, 2025 Special Issue. Page 278-285
p-ISSN: 2477-5924 e-ISSN: 2477-8478

Journal of Education, Teaching, and Learning is licensed under
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Analysis Of Students' Problem-Solving Abilities
Open-Ended Type Problems In Class XI IPA
SMAN 1 Kota Solok
Ade Syafrinaldo1), Suherman Suherman2)
1) Department of Mathematics, Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, Indonesia
2)

E-mail: Ade14syafrinaldo@gmail.com
Department of Mathematics, Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, Indonesia
E-mail: Suherman@fmipa.unp.ac.id

 Correspondence Author
Keywords: Open-Ended questions;
problem-solving skills
© Copyright: 2025. Authors retain
copyright and grant the JETL (Journal of
Education, Teaching and Learning) right
of first publication with the work
simultaneously licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution License

Abstract
The purpose of this study is to reveal whether students' problem-solving
abilities have changed in solving problems, especially Open-ended
problems . The application of Open-ended type questions is used as an
effort to train students' problem-solving abilities in mathematics
learning. This study is a combination of descriptive research and Preexperiment with a one group pre-test-post-test design . The conclusions
of this study are 1) The problem-solving abilities of class XI IPA 5
students of SMAN 1 Kota Solok who have been trained using Openended type problem-solving ability questions in learning, have changed
towards the better compared to before. 2) The application of learning
using Open-ended questions helps students to play an active role during
learning activities because it can help students be more open in
developing various answers in solving problems.

INTRODUCTION
Mathematics is a universal science that underlies the development of modern technology,
plays a vital role in various disciplines, and develops human reasoning. Through learning
mathematics, a person can develop logical, analytical, systematic, critical, and creative thinking
skills, as well as the ability to collaborate (Sihaloho et al., 2017; Zulkarnaen et al., 2022).
Mathematics is also a basic science encompassing several aspects, including applied and reasoning,
which play a role in enhancing mastery of science and technology. From this explanation, it is clear
that mathematics serves as a servant of science. This means that mathematics, in addition to being a
science that develops for itself, also serves science in its development and operations.
Recognizing the importance of mathematics in the development of students' knowledge, the
government has implemented or made mathematics compulsory from elementary school (SD) to
high school (SMA) and onward to university. This aims to equip students with the ability to think
logically, analytically, systematically, critically, and creatively in mathematics, in accordance with
its function (Fatmawati et al., 2022; Sasmita & Kusuma, 2023). In mathematics learning, there are
eight objectives students are expected to achieve. These objectives are stated in the Minister of
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Journal of Education, Teaching, and Learning
Volume 10, 2025 Special Issue. Page 278-285
p-ISSN: 2477-5924 e-ISSN: 2477-8478
Education and Culture Regulation (Permendikbud) No. 58 of 2014, including understanding
mathematical concepts, using reasoning, solving problems, and communicating ideas.
One of the things that attracts the attention of researchers, regarding students' thinking
abilities in mathematics learning, is problem-solving abilities. Problem-solving abilities are a
product of a person's thinking process. Problem-solving abilities according to Polya in Saraswati &
Prasetyo, (2020); Wiranti, (2022) involve several aspects, namely being able to understand a
problem, build or plan ideas, and implement them, as well as review what has been done. Along
with current developments, the problems of life that humans must face are also increasingly
complex, so that with problem-solving abilities, students will have various solutions to a problem
and can express their ideas or concepts to solve the given problem.
The Program for International Student Assessment , abbreviated as PISA, is an international
assessment of the skills and abilities of 15-year-old students. PISA is held every three years and is
sponsored by the OECD ( Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development ) . The
results of the 2012 PISA study placed Indonesia at 64th place out of 65 participating countries. In
mathematics, Indonesia obtained an average score of 375, while the international average score was
494. It can be seen that Indonesia's average score in mathematics is far below the international
average. Mathematical literacy is one of the evaluation focuses in PISA. The purpose of the PISA
mathematical literacy test is to measure how students apply their knowledge to solve a series of
problems in various real-world contexts. To solve these problems, students must work on a number
of mathematical competencies. The competencies that students must master to work on
mathematical literacy problems include: the only one is the competence to communicate
mathematically. Based on PISA results above can it is said that the ability of Indonesian students to
solve mathematical literacy problems that require the ability to communicate in various situations is
still low.
Based on the description above, it can be seen that the mathematical problem-solving abilities
of students in Grade X MIPA 5 are still low . One reason Low problem-solving skills are
characterized by a teacher-centered learning process and a lack of practice in solving problemsolving questions. The learning process is still dominated by only the most intelligent students .
This results in low problem-solving skills in students .
Problem-solving skills are a person's ability to understand a problem, plan a solution,
implement it, and review what has been accomplished. Problem-solving skills need to be developed
in mathematics learning. Therefore, learning activities should contribute to developing students'
problem-solving skills. Problem-solving skills are one of the goals of mathematics learning
(Rasimin & Ma’mun, 2021; Wiwin et al., 2017).
If the problem of students' low problem-solving abilities is left untreated, it can result in one
of the goals of mathematics learning not being achieved. To overcome the above problem, one way
that can be done is by implementing problem-solving questions that can make students more active
during the learning process and able to apply ideas and concepts from previously studied material to
the problem. One question that can be applied to overcome this problem is the provision of openended questions . Open-ended questions are useful for developing students' thought processes so
they can train their thinking skills and find solutions, so that problems can be solved in various
ways or solutions.
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Journal of Education, Teaching, and Learning
Volume 10, 2025 Special Issue. Page 278-285
p-ISSN: 2477-5924 e-ISSN: 2477-8478
Based on the description above, a study was conducted with the aim of seeing and describing
the differences in students' problem-solving abilities in solving Open-ended type questions with
their previous abilities in class XI IPA SMAN 1 Kota Solok during implementation in learning and
to reveal whether the problem-solving abilities of class XI IPA SMAN 1 Kota Solok students given
Open-ended type questions in the learning process will experience changes and to see how the
problem-solving abilities of class XI IPA SMAN 1 Kota Solok students when given Open-ended
type questions in the learning process . The problem-solving ability indicators used in the study are
the problem-solving ability indicators according to Polya [4].
METHODS
This research is a combination of pre-experimental and descriptive research. Descriptive
research aims to describe the development of problem-solving abilities of class XI IPA students at
SMA 1 Kota Solok during the implementation of Open-ended questions in learning. Preexperimental research aims to reveal whether the problem-solving abilities of students who use
Open-ended questions experience changes in their abilities with the research design used One
Group Pre-test-Post-test Design [3].
The sample in this study was class XI IPA 5 as the research subjects selected by purposive
sampling. The research subjects' prior knowledge was controlled by administering a pre-test at the
beginning of the study. The independent variable in this study is open-ended questions. The
dependent variable is students' problem-solving abilities. The data used in this study are primary
and secondary. The primary data is students' problem-solving abilities, obtained from pre-tests,
post-tests, and interviews. The secondary data is the number of students who participated in the
study.
The research procedure is divided into 3 stages, namely the preparation stage, the
implementation stage, and the completion stage. The research instruments used are problem-solving
ability tests and interviews. The problem-solving ability test is given at the beginning ( pre-test )
and at the end ( post-test ), and is used to see the improvement of problem-solving abilities. The
data analysis technique used is descriptive data analysis to see the development of problem-solving
abilities, and the t-test to reveal whether the problem-solving abilities of students who use openended type questions are better than those who do not use open-ended questions in class X IPA
SMA 1 Kota Solok.
The data obtained was analyzed by calculating the increase in ability by looking at the
difference in pre-test - post-test (d) values and the normalized t-test as in [1] with the following
equation:

After obtaining the difference between the pre-test and post-test values , a hypothesis test was
conducted using the normal gain value. The hypothesis test aims to determine whether the openended questions given have an effect or not. The t-test was conducted using Microsoft Excel
software, where the statistical hypothesis is: If
there is no significant difference
between the two data points, if
there is a significant difference between the two data
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Journal of Education, Teaching, and Learning
Volume 10, 2025 Special Issue. Page 278-285
p-ISSN: 2477-5924 e-ISSN: 2477-8478
points, it means that the treatment we administered had an effect on the research subjects with α =
0.05.
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
A. Pre-test and Post-test Data on Core Competency 1
Table 1. Students' Problem-Solving Abilities 1
Group
N
Max Score
Pre-test
36
100
96
0
60.61
17.22
Post-test
36
100
96
32
77.94
Table I shows that the average mathematical problem-solving ability of grade XI MIPA 5
students during the Post-test was higher than the average Pre-test score . This is also evident from
the higher minimum Post-test score compared to the Pre-test . Coincidentally, the maximum score
of the Pre-test and Post-test were the same. The gain score for Basic Competency 3.3 was 17.22.
The gain score was used to assess changes in students' problem-solving abilities.
Based on Table I, a t-test was carried out, with values
and
then the
calculated t = 6.069 is obtained . Meanwhile t table with a 95% confidence level is t table = 1.645 ,
because t count ( 6.069) > t table (1.645) then there is a significant difference between the two data in
question so that it can be said that the results of the analysis of the learning process that has
introduced open-ended questions are more influential than before the open-ended questions were
introduced.
B. Pre-test and Post-test Data on Core Competency 2
Table 2. Students' Problem-Solving Abilities 2
Group
N
Max Score
Pre-test
36
100
100
0
74.11
17.69
Post-test
36
100
100
0
91.81
Table II shows that the average mathematical problem-solving ability of grade XI MIPA 5
students during the Post-test was higher than the average Pre-test score . This is also evident from
the higher minimum Post-test score compared to the Pre-test . Coincidentally, the maximum score
of the Pre-test and Post-test were the same. The gain score for Basic Competency 3.4 was 17.69.
The gain score was used to assess changes in students' problem-solving abilities.
Based on Table II, a t-test was carried out, with values
and
then the calculated t
= 2.946 is obtained . Meanwhile t table with a 95% confidence level is t table = 1.645 , because t count
( 2.946 ) > t table (1.645) then there is a significant difference between the two data in question so
that it can be said that the results of the analysis of the learning process that has introduced openended questions are more influential than before the open-ended questions were introduced . The
interpretation of the increase in the mathematical communication skills of the sample group is
shown in the table and diagram below:

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p-ISSN: 2477-5924 e-ISSN: 2477-8478

Figure 1. Comparison of Average Results of Pre-test, Post-test and Gain Score of Students
C. Interview
Based on interviews conducted with ten students, it can be concluded that teachers have not
yet introduced problem-solving questions to students. When students were introduced to the
learning process, which began with a pre-test and ended with a post-test , participants found it
easier to follow the learning process. The open-ended problem-solving questions used also helped
students to develop their abilities well. In the interviews, researchers also observed students'
abilities based on the completion of the post-test questions given at that time. It was proven that
after learning with open-ended questions , students were generally able to solve open-ended
questions well, especially regarding matrix material.
The development of students' problem-solving abilities is driven by the implementation of
open-ended questions . This implementation is one way to develop students' problem-solving
abilities in schools and can effectively develop students' abilities.
Discussion
During the research, several problems were discovered. Students were not yet trained to start
lessons on time, so they tended to arrive late to class, which resulted in them being half-assed in
their learning. At the start of the exam, students tended to be noisy and sometimes unprepared for
the exam, both physically and environmentally. Teachers motivated students with stories and
sometimes offered advice at the end of the meeting or lesson as an effort to minimize these negative
outcomes.
During the implementation of learning, participants were asked to work on questions,
worksheets, and read books but all of that was not implemented, they immediately asked their
friends and sometimes there were those who saw their friends without thinking first, but the teacher
tried to provide direction and explanation to students that in working on questions, they could work
on the parts they understood first and to work on questions during the quiz, they should work
according to their abilities. Students tended to take a long time in working on worksheets, taking
notes and always wanting to be explained by the teacher, so the teacher also reminded them to study
the previous material and the material to be studied at home so that the implementation of learning
ran smoothly, not only from the teacher. During the research, there were several days where the
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p-ISSN: 2477-5924 e-ISSN: 2477-8478
study time was shortened due to events at school, so that it affected the implementation of the
research because the time available for each stage was increasingly limited (Mufarrohah &
Setyawan, 2024; Surya et al., 2017).
The results of this study demonstrate that the use of open-ended problems in mathematics
learning significantly improves students’ problem-solving abilities. Before the implementation,
students tended to rely on fixed procedures and single-solution thinking patterns, which limited
their flexibility in approaching mathematical challenges. However, after being exposed to openended problem situations, students became more capable of exploring various solution strategies
and reasoning processes. This shift reflects not only cognitive development but also a change in
mindset from viewing mathematics as a subject with one “correct” answer to one that values
creativity and reasoning diversity (Devi, 2023; Wulandari & Fitria, 2021).
Furthermore, the findings indicate that open-ended learning encourages students to take an
active role during the learning process. Students were more engaged in discussing ideas, testing
multiple hypotheses, and comparing reasoning with their peers. This aligns with the constructivist
learning theory, which emphasizes active participation and knowledge construction through
interaction and exploration. The classroom environment became more dynamic, where mistakes
were not seen as failures but as opportunities for reflection and improvement. This change in
classroom culture contributed significantly to the improvement in problem-solving competence
(Handayani, 2021; Zohri et al., 2025).
In addition, the application of open-ended problems helped teachers better identify students’
thinking patterns and misconceptions. Through observing the different solutions generated, teachers
could provide more targeted feedback and guide students toward deeper mathematical
understanding. This approach proved more effective than traditional closed-ended exercises, which
often mask students’ reasoning processes. Therefore, the open-ended method not only enhances
student performance but also enriches the instructional assessment process, allowing teachers to
adapt their pedagogy to individual learning needs (Sundari et al., 2025; Widiyana et al., 2021).
Overall, the study highlights the transformative impact of integrating open-ended problems
into mathematics instruction. It fosters higher-order thinking skills, promotes creativity, and
nurtures students’ confidence in tackling unfamiliar or complex problems. The improvement in
problem-solving ability observed among the students of SMAN 1 Kota Solok signifies the potential
of this approach to be applied more widely across educational levels. Future research could further
investigate the long-term effects of open-ended learning on students’ mathematical reasoning, selfefficacy, and collaboration skills to strengthen evidence-based pedagogical practices in mathematics
education (Mastarani, 2020; Mayani, 2022; Santika et al., 2023).
CONCLUSIONS
Based on the analysis results, it can be concluded that the problem-solving abilities of class
XI IPA 5 students of SMAN 1 Kota Solok improved after being trained with open-ended problemsolving questions. The use of this approach not only enhanced their problem-solving skills but also
encouraged active participation during learning activities, as it provided opportunities for students
to explore and develop diverse solutions in addressing problems.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST STATEMENT
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Volume 10, 2025 Special Issue. Page 278-285
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In relation to this research, the author declares that there is no conflict of interest and such
matters.
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
As the principal investigator, Ade Syafrinaldo was fully responsible for all stages of the
research, including methodology design, data collection (through questionnaires, tests, and
interviews), data analysis, and writing of the research manuscript. Dr. Suherman, S.Pd, M.Si, as the
research supervisor, provided crucial conceptual guidance and direction from the initial stage to the
final draft, including problem formulation, instrument validation, and comprehensive manuscript
review. Prof. Dr. Edwin, M.Pd, and Fridgo Tasman, S.Pd, M.Sc, contributed as co-supervisors,
providing valuable input regarding academic substance, supporting theories, and research
methodology, which significantly improved the quality and depth of analysis in this article. As well
as the many inputs and motivations from family and friends that I can mention one by one.
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