ABSTRACT
The trend of interdisciplinary mathematics that integrates STEM answers the challenge of 21st-century skills but raises issues of student difficulty and achievement gaps among students. The predicted reasons are the result of the demographic background. School location and age are the debatable demographic backgrounds that created the difference in students’ mathematics problem-solving skills. The present study examines the significant differences in student mathematical problem-solving skill-based integrated STEM based on gender and school location. It was conducted on 116 7th-grade students from rural and urban areas in Indonesia (M = 13.09, SD = 0.61). The problem-solving skills were assessed using an essay scenario-based test followed by a demographic background questionnaire. The data was analyzed by using an independent sample t-test. Results revealed no significant difference in students’ mathematical problem-solving skills based on integrated STEM based on gender in rural and urban schools. In addition, there were significant differences between students who attend urban and rural schools in their mathematical problem-solving skills-based integrated STEM and urban outperforming those from rural schools. The difference was detected in female participants. Further study suggests enlarging the sample size and involving more varied participants.
