PEMBELAJARAN MATEMATIKA DENGAN STRATEGI HEURISTIK POLYA UNTUK MENINGKATKAN KEMAMPUAN BERPIKIR KRITIS SISWA

The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in students' critical thinking skills after receiving learning with the Heuristic Strategy compared to the critical thinking abilities of students who received mathematics learning with conventional learning, and how students' attitudes toward learning mathematics with Polya's heuristic strategy were. This study used an experimental method on the entire population of class VII students of SMPN 1 Muara Bungo, while two classes were randomly selected as samples. The instrument used in this research is a test of students' mathematical critical thinking skills and attitude scale. The test used is a description type test. The results of this study can be concluded that: (1) the mathematical critical thinking ability of students who receive mathematics learning with Polya's Heuristic Strategy is better than students who receive conventional learning models; and (2) students have a positive attitude towards learning mathematics by using Polya's Heuristic Strategy. From these conclusions, the authors suggest that Polya's Heuristic Strategy can be used as an alternative for teachers to carry out the teaching and learning process in the classroom and similar research be conducted to reveal understanding abilities in other mathematics subject matter, which were not examined in this study.