COVID-19 PANDEMIC: ITS IMPACT TO THE COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

AMONG PRIMARY LEARNERS OF NAGATTATAN

ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

It has been over a year since the COVID-19 pandemic struck our country dominating

nearly all aspects of society. Fears have resurfaced within us reaching negative effects in our

physical and mental state. Cases of people getting infected have been gradually increasing over

some time. It is a challenge on a global level scale, making massive impacts on our lives and

society. It changes the way how people perceive and look at the environment, and as humankind

enters into several phases of struggling and coping up grappling with the desires they wanted to

do.

The cognitive development and learning phases of young children have also been

affected by the pandemic. According to Aguilar (2021), a pediatrician in Los Angeles,

California, children are not getting the cognitive and social stimulation considering that it is

strictly prohibited for youngsters to play and interact outside because of the pandemic. Providers

have also noted that there is a delay in speech and language recognition as well as trouble

sharing and interacting. He also stated that an important role in their development is their

socializing skills. However, with the social distancing is measure in place, kids are missing out

on the opportunity.
 Araujo et al (2020) suggest that epidemics/pandemics just like COVID-19 can lead to

several mental and emotional consequences to children such as anxiety disorders and depression.

The more that the child is on the adverse and rigorous problems of society, the great the risk of

developmental delays and health problems during adulthood like cognitive impairment.

Young learners on Nagattatan, Pamplona, Cagayan are also affected by the pandemic

considering that most of them enter the first pace of learning at school. These primary learners

use the modular type of learning with their families while schools are closed, thus widening their

cognitive and learning development gap. It also questions out the possible events that they have a

different perspective on their learning capacity and in their environment.

The primary reason for the researcher in undertaking this study is to examine the

possible effects of the pandemic among young children on their cognitive development as they

first enter school. Moreover, there have been so many studies on how teenagers and adults cope

up in such different areas or aspects of their life during this time of crisis. The results and

findings of this study can add up to information and insights as a reference in creating

comparative exploration.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The moment children are born, they grow rapidly and able to develop some skills. These

developments they acquire have four areas which are physical, language, and communication,

cognitive and social or emotional. One of the activities to actively engaged children to develop

certain skills for them is to let them interact with others. However, because of the pandemic, we

are not able to interact physically with others, thus maintaining social and physical distancing.
Thereby, this study focuses on the impact of the pandemic among young learners' cognitive

development in Nagattatan, Elementary School.

It is deemed beneficial to:

 Parents. They will be equipped with knowledge and understanding towards their

children among one of the four areas in their development which is cognitive

during this pandemic.

 Teachers. As a second instructor, the outcome of this study may help their young

learners to provide some positive activities as an alternative in engaging physical

activities to develop their minds amidst the crisis.

 School. The findings and result of this study may help the school to raise

awareness of how it would impact the cognitive development of young learners.

 Future Researcher. This will serve as reference to researchers who are planning to

conduct a similar study. In addition, the outcome of this study will benefit them to

gain more information or knowledge on the said topic.

SCOPE AND DELIMITATION

The study will be focused and limited only to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on

the cognitive development of young learners. It will determine the significant difference of

young children coping up in school amidst the pandemic between coping up during the past

years. The significant difference in their learning capacity amidst the pandemic between the past

years. Lastly, how will they adapt a broader perspective towards the environment with the

current alarming situation. It will be conducted at Barangay Nagattatan, Pamplona, Cagayan on

May, ____, 2021. Moreover, to obtain the qualitative data, interview will be administered on 5

respondents mainly parents and their children.