Análisis del desempeño de Estudiantes en Tareas Matemáticas. Estudio exploratorio en el Instituto Politécnico Nacional de México

This research presents the results of a descriptive exploratory study to determine the students' performance in solving mathematical problems with different levels of cognitive demand. A set of tasks was selected and classified into seven areas: algebra, geometry, arithmetic, information management, analytical geometry, differential and integral calculus. A sample of 225 students from a total of 510 that entered any of the 23 engineering courses offered at the National Polytechnic Institute in Mexico. The number of students who successfully solved the tasks in each of the levels was determined, as well as the characteristics of the tasks that presented the greatest difficulty. The results of the research allow identifying the subjects in which students perform better. They also provide evidence that students can perform better in concept-oriented tasks even when they cannot successfully apply rules and procedures about it.