Challenges faced by the university students and their cognitive skills in learning basic mathematics

Abstract

This study recognized the relationship between the students’cognitive skills and challenges in learning basic mathematics with all first-year students in Cebu Technological University Tuburan -Campus. Employ,using modified survey questionnaires among the 304 first -year students, most are aged 19-20 (73.03%)and have completed 13-14 years of schooling.Financially, 73.68% of their parentsfall into a low- income, with varied educational backgrounds, predominantly at the high school and elementary levels. Math assessments show that 40.13% of students scored above average in “ Number Sense,” 19.14% in “Problem- Solving,”23.36% in “Seriation,” and 52.63% in “Logical Multiplication.” Key challenges include short retention spans (mean =2.47), inattentiveness (mean =2.16), and insufficient lesson planning (mean =2.26). School – related issues, such as a lack of educational materials (mean = 2.30), also impact learning. Significant correlations were found between these challenges and cognitive skills, particularly in problem – solving (r = -.352, p<0.01), seriation (r = -.348, p<0.01), and logical multiplication (r= -.359, p<0.01). Gender and age also play key roles, with notable correlations between family- related challenges and gender (r = -0.220, p<0.01), and between cognitive skills and age (r = -.250 to -.407, p<0.01). The findings revealed that most students found difficult in answering towards problem – solving. This suggests that learning enhancement activity program should be implemented to facilitate the students’ cognitive skills, particularly problem- solving, and to address the challenges affecting their mathematical performance. Such interventions are essential for improving academic outcomes and ensuring that students are better prepared to tackle mathematical concepts.