Based on the results of the dialog by a researcher with a mathematics teacher of grade XI-B3 Senior High School 3 Malang, most students in the class had difficulty solving the contextual problem. This fact was also supported by the result of preliminary research in grade XI-B3 Senior High School 3 Malang, which shows the students also found difficulty when converting contextual problems into mathematical form and determining which concepts should be used in solving the problem. Therefore, a renewal strategy and learning model were needed to improve students’ ability to solve contextual problems, for example, by using the learning model problem-based learning (PBL). This research aims to describe learning steps using the PBL model that can improve the contextual problem-solving abilities of XI-B3 students at SMA Negeri 3 Malang. The type of research is classroom action research, which is carried out in 2 cycles. Each cycle consists of 4 stages, planning, action, observation, and reflection. The research was conducted in class XI-B3 of SMA Negeri 3 Malang with 36 students as subjects consisting of 14 boys and 22 girls. The results of the research in cycle 1 showed that students who were able to solve mathematical contextual problems increased from 52.9% to 76.4% in cycle 2 or increased by 23.5%. The results of observing teacher activities and observing student activities have increased and are in the ”Very Good” category. It can be concluded that the use of the PBL model can improve students’ mathematical contextual problem-solving abilities.
Keywords: mathematics learning model, PBL, contextual issues, classroom action research