Open Doctoral Promotion Examination in Mathematics Education for Promovendus Edi Irawan
Bandung, Wednesday, May 29, 2024 | The Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Education (FPMIPA) at the Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI) held an open doctoral promotion examination in the field of Mathematics Education for promovendus Edi Irawan, which took place at the FPMIPA UPI Auditorium. Dr. rer.nat. Adi Rahmat, M.Si., Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs at FPMIPA UPI, acted as the chairman of the session. The open examination was attended by Prof. Dr. Rizky Rosjanuardi, M.Si., as the promoter, Prof. Dr. H. Sufyani Prabawanto, M.Ed., as the co-promoter, and Dr. Elah Nurlaelah, M.Si., as the internal examiner. Meanwhile, Prof. Dr. Sugiman, M.Si., as the external examiner from Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta (UNY), attended online via Zoom. Another examiner, Prof. Dr. Didi Suryadi, M.Ed., was unable to attend due to the passing of his wife on the same day. Also in attendance were the promovendus’s family, the Dean of the Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training (FTIK) at the State Islamic Institute of Ponorogo, doctoral students from the Mathematics Education program, and invited guests.
The open doctoral promotion examination was opened by the chairman of the session at 09:00 WIB, followed by the promoter presenting the academic accountability related to the promovendus’s dissertation. Next, the promovendus was given the opportunity to present the results of his dissertation research, titled “Developing Students’ Computational Thinking Skills through the Application of Didactic Design Using R Software in Statistics Courses,” for approximately ten minutes. After that, the examiners, promoter, and co-promoter had the opportunity to ask questions and provide rebuttals related to the dissertation. The promovendus appeared to be able to answer well and smoothly, successfully defending his arguments, and was thus declared to have passed with the highest honors or “cum laude.” The study, completed in approximately 2 years and 8 months, earned the promovendus a cumulative GPA of 3.98 (three point nine eight).
For information, Dr. Edi Irawan, M.Pd.‘s dissertation investigated the integration of computational thinking (CT) in introductory statistics courses using the R software available on Google Colab. To thoroughly integrate CT and anticipate various potential learning obstacles, the promovendus designed a hypothetical learning trajectory (HLT) and hypothetical didactic design based on Brousseau’s theory of didactic situations (TDS), CT concepts, and basic statistics concepts. This research is significant as it fills a research gap, where there has not yet been a study integrating CT into introductory statistics courses using R programming on Google Colab planned through the preparation of HLT and hypothetical didactic design.
The preliminary study conducted by the promovendus through a bibliometric analysis, published in the “Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education” Volume 20 (3), titled “Research Trends of Computational Thinking in Mathematics Learning: A Bibliometric Analysis from 2009 to 2023,” showed that research on the integration of CT in mathematics learning has shown a significant upward trend in recent years. The literature review conducted by the promovendus also indicated that there has not yet been research on the integration of CT in mathematics learning planned through the preparation of HLT and hypothetical didactic design, as published in the JTAM (Journal of Theory and Application of Mathematics), Volume 8 (1), titled “Advancing Computational Thinking in Mathematics Education: A Systematic Review of Indonesian Research Landscape.” These two preliminary studies formed the basis for the promovendus to focus on his dissertation research.
The dissertation research offers an HLT for using the R programming language on Google Colab to develop students’ CT skills through learning in introductory statistics courses, especially in descriptive statistics topics. Additionally, the promovendus offers a didactic design block, with dimensions 5 x 4 x 4. The five units in the length of the block represent the number of task series students go through while learning descriptive statistics, starting from an introduction to descriptive statistics, data presentation, measures of central tendency, measures of dispersion, and measures of position. The four units in the width of the block reflect the four components of CT skills, namely decomposition, abstraction, pattern recognition, and algorithms. The four units in the height of the block represent the four didactic situations based on Brousseau’s theory of didactic situations, namely action situations, formulation situations, validation situations, and institutionalization situations. The research findings also showed that integrating CT in introductory statistics courses using the R programming language on Google Colab, planned through the preparation of HLT and hypothetical didactic design, can develop students’ CT skills and anticipate various potential learning obstacles.
The lecturer at FTIK State Islamic Institute of Ponorogo has officially earned a doctoral degree in Mathematics Education from FPMIPA Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia. Prof. Dr. Rizky Rosjanuardi, M.Si., as the promoter, congratulated Dr. Edi Irawan, M.Pd., on his graduation and gave an academic message that this graduation is a provision to contribute further to the nation and country in the future. He also advised the promovendus to continually develop research as the essence of academia and to use various challenges faced as motivation to become more resilient and creative. The session was closed at 11:00 WIB and continued with a photo session of the promovendus with the examiners, promoter, co-promoter, and invited guests.