Contemporary Research Analysis Journal

This study describes eighth-grade students' mathematical problem-solving performance on Pythagorean theorem word problems in relation to spatial visualization and gender. A qualitative descriptive case-study design was implemented at SMP Negeri 11 Pontianak during the 2025/2026 academic year. Twenty students completed a spatial-visualization test, after which eight participants were selected purposively: two male and two female students with high spatial visualization and two male and two female students with low spatial visualization. Data were collected through written problem-solving tests and in-depth interviews. The analysis followedPolya's four stages—understanding the problem, devising a plan, carrying out the plan, and looking back—and was interpreted alongside spatial perception, spatial relations, visualization, and spatial orientation. Technique triangulation was used to compare written and interview evidence. Students in the high spatial-visualization group, regardless of gender, completed all four stages, although looking back was generally limited to numerical re-substitution rather than contextual evaluation. Male participants tended to execute plans more consistently, whereas female participants produced more complete sketches; these differences reflected solution style rather than a consistent difference in overall capacity. Students in the low group encountered difficulties across nearly all stages. Spatial orientation had the lowest mean component score (5.60), corresponding to the weakness observed in looking back. The findings indicate that spatial visualization was more salient than gender in the observed problem-solving profiles and should be strengthened through visual representation and explicit verification activities.

mathematical problem solving, Pythagorean theorem, spatial visualization, gender

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