Teachers’ Perception About Islamic Values Integration Into Mathematics Learning Through Comics

Aceh is one of 34 provinces in Indonesia that has a local education goal, that is, the education is implemented based on Islamic values. The integration of Islamic values into mathematics learning can be implemented by using learning media. This research is an early phase of developmental research. The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers’ perceptions of the integration of Islamic values into mathematics learning through comics. The participants were 40 junior high school mathematics teachers in Banda Aceh who join the PMRI workshop. Data were collected through an open-ended questionnaire consisting of 11 questions and then analyzed descriptively. The results showed that teachers (87.5%) believed that Islamic values and mathematics are integrated; moreover, mathematics teachers and religion teachers play a major role in teaching Islamic values. The majority of teachers (95%) believed that the knowledge of Islamic values influences the way they teach. However, more than half of teachers (62.5%) had never attended a workshop or seminar, or read articles that discuss the integration of Islamic values into mathematics learning through comics. The result of the study also showed that the mathematics comics in Islamic values were limited. Therefore, it is necessary to develop mathematics comics in Islamic values contexts.


A. Introduction
The objective of national education is to create a man that has faith and fear of God almighty, was noble, healthy, knowledgeable, skilled, creative, independent, and responsible (Indonesian Education Law No. 22 of 2003).
This objective is aligned with Indonesian character education that aims to expose students to noble character values; thus, the students could implement the values in their daily life or activities (Jalil, 2012;Ngamanken, 2014;Hasibuan, Syah, & Marzuki, 2018). The government expects the next generation to be excellent in which they have good and strong characters. Education at schools must be able to develop values in students through religious education. It can be achieved by adapting science and technology advancement (Maafi, 2011). This statement is supported by Abdussakir (2018) stating that in Islam, science and religion are not separable.
Moral degradation and lack of religious values require the need for education reform (Rahman, Abdurrahman, & Kadaryanto, 2015;Irawan & Kencanawaty, 2017;Maryati & Priatna, 2017). Teachers as educators take a responsibility to cultivate noble character values for students. Kasim and Yusoff (2014) argue that the role of teachers in learning is not only transferring knowledge but also integrating moral and spiritual values, building students' personalities and character by facilitating, motivating, and guiding students in their learning.
Aceh is one of 34 provinces in Indonesia that has a local education goal, which is character education based on Islamic values. This goal accords with the Aceh Qanun (Islamic regional regulations), Number 5 of 2008, stating that education in Aceh is based on Qur'an and Hadith, Pancasila as the Indonesian philosophy, the 1945 Constitution, and culture. This goal will be achieved if teachers have provisions and tools that can support learning.
The integration of Islamic values into learning has not yet been optimal. According to Thaib (2013) and Suraiya (2015), the implementation of Islamic values in Aceh has not been thoroughly enacted since Islamic education is simply interpreted as subjects, such as fiqh, Quran hadith, aqidah akhlak, and so on. Besides, Islamic values can be integrated with other subjects, such as mathematics. Suyitno (2014) states that mathematics is also related to religious life.

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Mathematics has several characteristics. One of them is that it studies abstract objects, logical and deductive mindset, and symbols that are empty of meaning. Furthermore, it is systematic and relies on the context. The contexts provided in learning can be gained from nature, social life, culture, economy, and religion. Contexts play an important role to achieve the goals of learning mathematics because they can help students understand lessons meaningfully (Johnson, 2002). In the study of mathematics, religion, and culture, these characteristics provide opportunities to give a specific meaning to mathematical symbols, especially when the scope of the discussion enters the realm of religion (Abdussakir, 2017). Therefore, Islamic values are used as one of the contexts in mathematics learning.
The integration of Islamic values into mathematics learning can be conducted using learning media. One of the media that can be employed is comics. Comics are media that consist of fiction and non-fiction ideas conveyed through visual images, including cartoons, designed to create humor to deliver the essential part of comics (Toh et al, 2016). The previous study conducted in Singapore found that comics and cartoons could increase students' motivation and interest, especially in learning mathematics (Toh et al, 2017).
Integrating Islamic values into mathematics learning through comics is a new practice. Due to the limitation of tools, such as learning instruments and media, to convey learning to students, it is necessary to explore teachers' perceptions and understanding of Islamic values in mathematics learning through comics. Perception plays an important role in delving into knowledge fundamentally and the initial knowledge obtained can provide an interpretation toward the object being studied so that it will produce an assessment or response (Pride & Ferrel, 2005). Therefore, the teacher's perception of the integration of Islamic values into mathematics learning through comics needs to be investigated before the enactment of the learning process integrating Islamic values. This present study aims to determine teachers' perception of the integration of Islamic values into mathematics learning through comics.

B. Method
This current study is an early phase of developmental research, particularly the preliminary phase of the Plomp model (Plomp, 2013). The main purpose of this study is to define the opinions, attitudes, and behaviors of a group of people about a particular subject. Data were collected by administering an open-ended questionnaire adapted from Mansour (2008a). Initially, it consisted of seven questions about teacher belief and then added another four questions. The additional questions were made based on justification by the team of PRP-PMRI Universitas Syiah Kuala and then were validated by four validators.
The questionnaire was distributed to 60 junior high school mathematics teachers in Banda Aceh who join the workshop held by the Research Center of Realistic Mathematics Education in Indonesia, (PRP-PMRI) Universitas Syiah Kuala. However, only 40 teachers participated in this study. They consisted of males and females, aged 25 to 50 years with various teaching experiences ranging from 2 to 20 years. They also experienced teaching at different schools. The participants often receive training on learning based on contexts. Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the questionnaire was created via Google Form and the link was posted on the WhatsApp group of the mathematics teacher association. The data were analyzed descriptively in the form of a percentage to describe the teachers' perceptions.

C. Result and Discussion
This study aims to investigate teachers' perceptions of integrating Islamic values into mathematics learning. The teachers demonstrated their perceptions through the questionnaire. For this purpose, the findings obtained from the analyses were interpreted and discussed along with the literature.

Result
The results of the questionnaire gathered from 40 teachers who were teaching in grades 7, 8, and 9, regarding their perception of the integration of Islamic values into mathematics learning are presented in Table 1. and mathematics learning viewed that mathematics is part of religion, thus, they are inseparable and related to one another. Based on the teacher's argument also mentioned that some Islamic values such as praiseworthy attitudes, could be found in mathematics, for example, the consistent and systematic nature of rules and many verses of the Qur'an explain mathematics terms. The finding relates to Barbour (2000) that the majority of the teachers believed there was an integration relationship between science and religion, they viewed God as the creator of everything but also viewed science as a part of God's creation.
The second item of the questionnaire shows 32 teachers (80%) suggested that both mathematics teachers and religion teachers have a responsibility in teaching mathematics with integrates Islamic values. The teachers gave different reasons to support the statement. Most of them argued that mathematics teachers need to connect mathematics with Islamic values in learning so that it is more contextual. All subjects at schools are interconnected, and so are mathematics and religion.
Mathematics learning contains many values and it is more meaningful for students when linked to religious values. This is aligned with Poole (1996) stating that compatibility is needed between religious education and science education. Thus, a collaboration between mathematics teachers  (Roth & Alexander, 1997;Shipman., Et al 2002;Colburn & Henriques, 2006;Stolberg, 2007). The finding is confirmed by the study of Mansour (2008b) reporting that a person's religious knowledge or personal religious belief affects the way he teaches, especially the way the teacher interprets his experiences with religious knowledge he has, which turns into a pedagogical belief. Chan and Wong (2014)  According to (Indaryati, 2015;Toh et al., 2017;Özdemir, 2017;Mamolo, 2019) comics media which applied in mathematics learning can improve learning outcomes, increase students' involvement, students motivation, and obtain positive responses from students and teachers. If it is enacted well, the goal of Aceh education to create Aceh as an implementer of Islamic law-based education and character values through learning at schools can be achieved as well.

D. Conclusion
Based on the results of this research, it is found that the majority of teachers supported and believed that Islamic values and mathematics could be integrated; they believed that their knowledge of Islamic values affects the way they teach in class. Almost all teachers had never attended a workshop or reading articles and never found comics that discuss the integration of Islamic values into mathematics learning. They also agreed with the implementation of learning media, such as comics, as mathematics learning media that integrate Islamic values. Further research developing integration of Islamic values into mathematical trough comics is necessary to increase students outcome, motivation and raise the character.