ABSTRACT
The study determined the cognitive skills and social skills of Grade 6 learners of selected schools in East 2 District in the Division of Gingoog City. The cognitive skills were measured in terms of numerical reasoning and verbal reasoning and social skills in terms of social rules, likeability and social ingenuousness
The study used a quantitative research design using a descriptive-correlational approach. One hundred five respondents were from Anakan Central School and Mimbunga Elementary School. The frequency and mean were used to find the learners' level of cognitive and social skills, and the Pearson Product of correlation was used to determine the relationship between cognitive skills and social skills.
The study revealed that most of the learners have a low mastery level in numerical reasoning, and only a few are moving towards mastery. However, in terms of verbal reasoning, most of the learners are at an average mastery level.
As to social skills, the result shows that learners have the habit of saying thank you. However, they occasionally would not look at others when talking to someone. On the other hand, liking others is done only sometimes. Also, speaking softly with others is done most of the time, and playing fairly is hardly ever done. There is a significant relationship between the cognitive skills and social skills of the learners. Based on the findings, Project EULER, which stands for "Exploring the Use of Game-based Activities to Learning and Improving Cognitive and Social Skills through Exercises and practice drills relating to Real-world Connections," is proposed to enhance the learners' social skills time and cognitive abilities.
Based on the findings, conclusions were formulated. The low mastery of cognitive skills could be attributed to the learners' lack of ability to solve routine and non-routine problems, especially involving fractions and mixed numbers, interpret given information, and compare details. Further, learners cannot build upon previous knowledge and ideas to make connections of what they already know. The learners have developed some quality social skills, such as being grateful and considerate of the feelings of others. Also, some learners have not learned the principle of fair play, which means a graceful acceptance of results. Cognitive skills will help the learners understand and perform behavioral responses that will lead to the development of their social skills. Generally, the ability to do numerical and verbal reasoning is needed for cognitive skills, and these will influence the social skills of the learners. In other words, better cognitive skills mean better social skills.
Keywords: Cognitive skills, numerical reasoning, verbal reasoning, social skills likeability and social ingenuousness
INTRODUCTION
Cognitive and social skills are two important aspects of a learner's life as basic networks in their day-to-day undertaking in school. Cognitive skills allow a learner to grasp the lesson discussed by the teacher. It enables the learner to mentally process the lesson well to understand and comprehend it critically and creatively. Social skills can help a learner build a sympathetic rapport with their classmates. It allows one to relate to one another and appreciate each other's strengths and weaknesses.
Cognitive skills, also called cognitive functions, cognitive abilities, or cognitive capacities, are skills of the mind, as opposed to other types of skills, such as motor skills. Some examples of cognitive skills are literacy, self-reflection, logical reasoning, abstract thinking, critical thinking, introspection, and mental arithmetic. Cognitive skills vary in processing complexity and can range from more fundamental processes, such as perception and various memory functions, to more sophisticated methods, such as decision-making, problem-solving, and metacognition (Kiely, 2014).
On the other hand, social skills are the tools that enable people to communicate, learn, ask for help, get their needs met in appropriate ways, get along with others, make friends, develop healthy relationships, protect themselves, and, in general, be able to interact with the society harmoniously (Dowd et al., 2017). Social skills build essential character traits like trustworthiness, respectfulness, responsibility, fairness, caring, and citizenship. These traits help build an internal moral compass, allowing individuals to make good choices in thinking and behavior, resulting in social competence.
The acquisition of social skills is an essential developmental process by which children from infancy learn to act and respond appropriately in social interactions and to form and maintain healthy relationships with others (Ogden, 2015). As children grow and gradually expand their social environment, school becomes an important arena where children both learn and exercise social skills. At school, children's social skills are challenged and shaped in a variety of ways, both in dyads, small and large groups, and during interactions with peers and teachers. Despite evidenced relations to critical child outcomes and in contrast to academic skills, social skills are seldom systematically promoted in schools (OECD, 2015).
As observed, the cognitive and social skills of the learners were significantly affected during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The learners hardly comprehend the lesson well. They have difficulty solving simple mathematical problems. They have shown social withdrawal among their peers, and they are afraid of interacting with their friends and classmates. Most of their reading ability is seriously affected. In fact, during our reading assessment at the beginning of the school year, one-fourth of the school's learners were included in the school's Gold Reading Program.
In this context, the researcher was motivated to conduct this study. The researcher wanted to develop programs, activities, and projects that enhance the cognitive and social skills of Grade 6 learners.
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