Implementation of the Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) Approach Assisted by Visual Aids to Enhance Students' Mathematical Literacy

Abstract

Mathematical literacy is a crucial skill for elementary school students, enabling them to understand, use, and interpret mathematical concepts to solve contextual problems. However, third-grade students often struggle to link real-world contexts with mathematical representations and models, particularly when solving word problems. This study aimed to analyze the implementation of the Concrete-Representational-Abstract (CRA) sequence—supported by visual aids—to enhance students' mathematical literacy and to identify changes in the processes of formulating, applying, and interpreting mathematical ideas. A quantitative approach with a pre-experimental one-group pretest-posttest design was employed. The study subjects consisted of 21 third-grade students from SDN 3 Penedagandor, selected via purposive sampling. Data were collected through essay tests, observations, interviews, and documentation. Analysis involved normality testing on score differences and a paired-sample t-test, supplemented by N-Gain analysis and effect size calculation. The results showed an increase in the average mathematical literacy score from 53.81 (pretest) to 77.38 (posttest), a gain of 23.57 points. The paired-sample t-test revealed a significant difference (t = -27.564; df = 20; p < 0.001), with a very large effect size (d = 6.01) and an N-Gain of 0.51, falling into the moderate category. Interview results indicated that the use of concrete objects and visual aids helped students comprehend information in word problems and connect contexts with mathematical representations. These findings suggest that the CRA sequence, supported by visual aids, has the potential to strengthen mathematical literacy processes by bridging the gap from the concrete and representational to the abstract. However, in the absence of a control group, this improvement cannot be interpreted as definitive causal evidence. Future research should incorporate a control group and a larger sample to more robustly test the effectiveness of the CRA approach.