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Mathematics for young learners should be taught in a fun way, using a familiar context. Incorporating games into the classroom is a way to engage students in mathematics and hence improve their learning outcomes. This article reports a qualitative study conducted to improve students’ understanding of angle measurement by implementing snakes and ladders game. A class consisted of 30 fourth-grade students at a primary school in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, participated in the study. Data on the students’ activity during learning and their learning outcomes were collected using observation sheet and tests. Results showed that the implementation of the snakes and ladders game in the teaching and learning of angles successfully improved the students’ attention during learning and their interactions with the teacher and their peers. There was also a significant improvement in the students’ learning outcomes from the average score of 45 for pre-test to 85 for post-test. These findings suggest that the implementation of snakes and ladders game is beneficial for students’ mathematics learning.

Ethnomathematics-based learning is using local cultural context within the teaching and learning of mathematics. Using ethnomathematics-based learning sources in the classroom can help create a meaningful learning experience. This article reports a design research conducted to develop an ethnomathematics-based worksheet to be used to teach the concept of linear equations. The target users were first-year students of the primary education department of Syiah Kuala University, Indonesia. The development of the worksheet was carried out in three phases which consisted of preliminary research, developing or prototyping and assessment. Data were gathered using validation sheets and observation sheets. Data analysis was carried out qualitatively where the assessment of the product was based on its validity, practicality and effectivity. In this article, we reported the validity and practicality criteria. Several revisions had been made during the development of the worksheet. The end result of the product satisfied the criteria of validity and practicality. These findings suggest that the development of the product can proceed to the assessment phase to test the effectiveness of the worksheet.

Numbered Heads Together (NHT) is a teaching approach that promotes students' involvement in group discussion. This article reports a classroom action research conducted to improve students’ learning acievement in fractions at Grade V SDN 2 Banda Aceh. The participants were students of Class VA which consisted of 34 students, 22 boys and 12 girls. The research was conducted in 2 cycles, each consisted of 4 classroom meetings. The procedure of the research involved four stages: planning, action, observation, and reflection. The research questions covered students’ learning activities, students’ learning outcomes, and students’ responses on the implementation of NHT in the teaching of fractions. Results show that there were improvements in students’ learning activity from the average score of 2,57 in cycle 1 to 3,04 in cycle 2. Students’ learning outcomes improved from the average score of 66,30 in cycle 1 to 75,38 in cycle 2. Students’ responses in cycle 1 was 82,35% positive and increased to 88,24% in cycle 2. These results imply that the implementation of NHT is beneficial for students’ learning.

This article describes the implementation of writing in Mathematics as an effort to improve students’ problem solving skill. The research method was classroom action research which was conducted in three cycles. Research participants were 24 first-year students at PGSD FKIP Syiah Kuala University. Data was collected using a written test consisted of mathematical word problems presented to the students at the end of each cycle, and interview. Students’ problem solving skill was analyzed based on the four steps of problem solving proposed by Polya: 1. the ability to understand the problem, 2. the ability to plan a strategy to solve the problem, 3. the ability to execute the plan, and 4. the ability to re-check. Result shows that writing in Mathematics improve students’ problem solving skill. In cycle 1, the average score of students’ problem solving skill was 51.7. In cycle 2, the average score was 75.6, and finally in cycle 3, the average score was 83.4. During interview, the students confessed that writing helped them organize their thinking so that they can solve a problem satisfactorily.