Early Algebraic Thinking Skills of Upper Elementary School Students

This study aims to determine the description of the algebraic thinking ability of fifth grade elementary school students in Lubuklinggau city. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative. The instruments used in this study were in the form of essay-shaped test questions to measure the initial algebraic thinking ability of elementary school students and non-tests in the form of interviews. The population in this study were upper elementary school students in the Lubuklinggau area. The sample in this study was selected using the stratified random sampling technique. From the population selected randomly, two schools were obtained as the place of this study. Based on the results of the study conducted by the researcher, it was obtained that the results of the algebraic thinking ability of 48 students on the first indicator were an average of 36%, on the second indicator an average of 30% was obtained, on the third indicator an average of 58% was obtained, on the fourth indicator an average of 61% was obtained and the fifth indicator an average of 40%. Of the five algebraic thinking indicators, the average ability of students was 45%. So it can be concluded that the algebraic thinking ability of elementary school students is still relatively low and there needs to be innovation in providing learning and teaching media to be able to improve the understanding of algebraic thinking of elementary school students as initial knowledge in preparing knowledge before learning algebra formally at the next level.