A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW OF THE PROBLEM-BASED LEARNING ON STUDENTS’ MATHEMATICAL COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION

Abstract

Mathematical communication skills are among the most important skills in mathematics education, helping students convey ideas, explain their thought processes, and represent concepts mathematically. The development of these skills remains a focus of various studies in mathematics education. The purpose of this study is to systematically analyze research trends regarding the application of the PBL model to students’ mathematical communication skills. This study employed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) method with a qualitative descriptive approach and adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. The literature search was conducted via the Google Scholar database using the Publish or Perish version 8 application to identify publications from 2022 to 2026. From an initial search yielding 600 articles, 16 articles that met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected for analysis. The data were analyzed descriptively through a process of extraction, categorization, and synthesis based on educational level, instructional content, research methods, and research findings. The results indicate that the majority of studies on the application of the PBL model to mathematical communication skills were conducted at the junior high school level, accounting for 56% of the total. Regarding research methods, quantitative methods were the most prevalent, particularly quasi-experimental designs, which accounted for 62%. The variety of instructional materials used was also quite diverse. Overall, the research findings indicate that the implementation of the PBL model effectively improves students’ mathematical communication skills. Additionally, several studies also show that the use of instructional media in PBL can enhance student engagement and support the process of mathematical communication in the classroom. Thus, the PBL model can be considered one of the relevant instructional models to help develop students’ mathematical communication skills.