Jurnal Elemen
Vol 12 No 2 (2026): April

Enhancing vocational students’ mathematical problem-solving through contextual teaching factory learning

Muhtarom Muhtarom (Universitas PGRI Semarang)
Hary Nurprio Utomo (Universitas PGRI Semarang)
Ida Dwijayanti (Universitas PGRI Semarang)



Article Info

Publish Date
30 Apr 2026

Abstract

The discrepancy between classroom mathematics and the demands of the Business and Industrial World often results in less-than-ideal problem-solving ability for vocational high school students. To meet this challenge, learning methods that link mathematics to real-world work contexts are needed. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of integrating the Teaching Factory (TeFa) model with a contextual learning approach in teaching relations and functions. A quantitative quasi-experimental method with the pre-test–post-test control group design was employed. The sample was 46 eleventh-grade pharmacy students at Muhammadiyah Al Manaar Vocational High School, Pemalang, selected through purposive sampling and divided equally into experimental and control groups. Data were collected using a validated mathematical problem-solving instrument and analysed using an independent samples t-test. Post-test performances differed significantly between the two groups (p < 0.05). The experimental group gained a moderate improvement with an N-gain score of 0.42. Moreover, the Cohen’s d value of 0.81 indicated a large effect of the TeFa model compared with conventional instruction.  These findings indicate that the integration of TeFa and contextual learning is effective to improve students’ mathematical problem-solving abilities while reinforcing the relevance of mathematics learning to real industrial workplace contexts in vocational education.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

jel

Publisher

Subject

Other

Description

Cakupan dan ruang lingkup Jurnal Elemen terdiri dari (1) kurikulum pendidikan matematika; (2) metode pembelajaran matematika; (3) media pembelajaran matematika; (4) pembelajaran matematika berbasis teknologi dan informasi, ; (5) penilaian dan evaluasi pembelajaran matematika; (6) kreativitas dan ...