The laboratory curriculum and assessment of the course Biology 2D03, The Plant Kingdom, was revised in 1998. In part, the revision was due to the need to update the laboratory manual to, reflect a new edition of the text book. Also revision to condense three chapters into two to accommodate a shorter than usual term and to include a chapter on the fungi was done. Assessment was revised in response to student suggestions and comments taken from course assessments. Key to these revisions was incorporating Multiple Intelligence theory into curriculum and assessment. A new form of assessment, mini-laboratory practicals, was devised replacing quizzes and one laboratory examination. The mini-laboratory practicals utilized visual-spatial, bodilykinesthetic, naturalist intelligence, verbal-linguistic and mathematical-logical intelligences. Intrapersonal intelligence was implemented with an essay assignment which required students to reflect on how plants were important to their personal lives. Musical-rhythmic intelligence was implemented by playing classical music with nature sounds (to enhance the naturalist intelligence) in the laboratory classroom. Two laboratory sections requested that the music be played during test situations while six sections did not. There were few unintended side effects of the revisions. The essay was more of a feminine exercise and male students had difficulty in relating personal experience. Revision of assessment procedures did not affect grade means or distributions. Assessment methods required some memorization but also required thinking and application of knowledge. A large proportion of students found that the combination of assessment methods (mini-laboratory practicals, laboratory examination and final examination) best tested their knowledge. The majority suggested that the new revision scheme be retained. The use of classical music with nature sounds resulted in a more relaxing, soothing learning environment but there was no evidence of a "Mozart effect". / Thesis / Master of Science (Teaching)

Once viewed as a way to establish educational placement, high-stakes testing is used to establish benchmarks for success within school systems. Within a local Utah school district, raising these benchmarks has been deliberated due to a steady decline in Grade 8 language arts scores, which has heightened concerns among local school administrators and teachers. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the perceptions of teachers on how to improve declining Grade 8 language arts test scores. Based on the theoretical concepts of constructivism, 3 research questions were created to examine the underlying factors of the steady decline in Grade 8 language arts test scores, teachers' perceptions of decline in Grade 8 test scores, and current instructional practices used by teachers to prepare students for high-stakes testing. Through semi-structured interviews, data were collected from a sample of 7 language arts teachers who held an academic degree in language arts area and were a faculty member at the selected school. Comparative analysis and the open coding process were used to find themes in the data. Specific themes included the need for change, different influences, and varying instructional practices to increase test scores each academic year. An individualized instructional curriculum might help increase test scores. A 3-day, in service workshop focused on helping teachers recognize current issues with test preparation and offered methods to help improve student learning through multiple intelligence-based instruction. This study contributes to social change within local Grade 8 language arts classrooms by providing information to educators on how to increase high-stakes test scores on an annual basis and increase overall student achievement.

The purpose of this research is to investigate whether the implementation of Cooperative Learning (CL) activities, incorporating the insights given by Howard Gardner’ (1993) theory of Multiple Intelligences (MI) and the notion of Whole Language Approach (WLA) in college EFL classrooms will have a positive effect on students’ language proficiency and attitude. A quasi-experimental study was developed. The site of this study was in an EFL classroom in a Taiwanese College. The subjects were from the researcher’s three English classes at Chung Hwa Institute of Medical Technology during one semester. Many learning activities based on Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences were used while a Cooperative Learning approach was practiced. The data for this study was collected from three sources. One was from the subjects’ questionnaires on attitudes and on motivation, regarding Cooperative Learning and Multiple Intelligences. Another was from student interviews. The third was from the students’ test scores on their language proficiency tests. The results of the study showed that the experimental group that was taught using the ideas based on CL and MI outperformed the group based on CL, and the control group, on the Simulate English General Proficiency tests for the four language skills. Though there were no significant differences among them within this short-time study, the motivation in learning English was enhanced a great deal for the experimental group that was taught using the CL and MI ideas. Based upon the insight gained from this study, CL, MI, WLA and Language Learning Center were thus recommended to be integrated into the Junior College English curriculum. Pedagogical implications for the application of CL and MI in an EFL classroom were developed. Above all, suggestions for teacher development in CL and MI were proposed. Finally, suggestions for future research have been recommended.

Once viewed as a way to establish educational placement, high-stakes testing is used to establish benchmarks for success within school systems. Within a local Utah school district, raising these benchmarks has been deliberated due to a steady decline in Grade 8 language arts scores, which has heightened concerns among local school administrators and teachers. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to examine the perceptions of teachers on how to improve declining Grade 8 language arts test scores. Based on the theoretical concepts of constructivism, 3 research questions were created to examine the underlying factors of the steady decline in Grade 8 language arts test scores, teachers' perceptions of decline in Grade 8 test scores, and current instructional practices used by teachers to prepare students for high-stakes testing. Through semi-structured interviews, data were collected from a sample of 7 language arts teachers who held an academic degree in language arts area and were a faculty member at the selected school. Comparative analysis and the open coding process were used to find themes in the data. Specific themes included the need for change, different influences, and varying instructional practices to increase test scores each academic year. An individualized instructional curriculum might help increase test scores. A 3-day, in service workshop focused on helping teachers recognize current issues with test preparation and offered methods to help improve student learning through multiple intelligence-based instruction. This study contributes to social change within local Grade 8 language arts classrooms by providing information to educators on how to increase high-stakes test scores on an annual basis and increase overall student achievement.

Intelligence and creativity are concepts used to describe the efforts of human beings to achieve the highest aspirations of the human brain-mind-spirit system.Howard Gardner, intelligence and creativity researcher, applied his Multiple Intelligence theory to case studies of creative masters from seven intelligence domains developing a template for research: Life Course Perspective: A Framework for Creativity Analysis. The framework consists of four sections: Child and Master, Creation of a Work, an Analysis of Creativity, The Creator and the Field, and Fruitful Asynchronicity. This case study uses Gardner's framework in examining cognition and creativity in a Navajo/Dineh university student creating in fine arts and nominated in bodily-kinesthetic and intra-personal intelligence. This explorative case study reveals that he also excels in other intelligence domains: linguistic and spatial. Meta-cognitive interviews with the case study subject, and his notebooks provide the data sources concerning his cognition and his creativity.Indigenous educators and researchers assert that there is a discernible difference in perspectives concerning western science conceptions and Indigenous experience. This research discovered points of resonance as well as tangential trajectories of cultural difference from Gardner's research conclusions. Discoveries in this exploration confirm the importance of culture and zeitgeist in knowledge development, pedagogy, schoolingand the creativity process. Emerging themes emanating from these discoveries areChild of the Holy People, Sacred Geography, and Fruitful Asynchronicity from an Indigenous Perspective.Conclusions from this inductive research support Gardner's framework in the cultural study of cognition and creativity, underscores the value of Multiple Intelligence theory, and provide examples of praxis consonant with Indigenous learning processes for Gifted & Talented Education. The American Indigenous symbiotic and synergetic perspectives are novel in the examination of intelligence and creativity in the American education system. The American Indian perspectives are possibly prophetic as they proceed beyond culture and Gifted education intersecting and informing other fields: psychology, educational anthropology, philosophy, and Indigenous studies both in American populations as well as Indigenous gifted students worldwide.

This study aimed to explore the self-estimated intelligence dimensions of seventh and tenth grade students, and the effect of grade level, gender, age, socio economic status (SES), physics/science achievement, and branch in school (science-math/literature-math/social sciences-literature) on these dimensions. In this study a Multiple Intelligence Inventory was used as measuring instrument. The study was conducted in randomly selected 26 elementary and 7 high schools throughout &Ccedil / ankaya, Ke&ccedil / i&ouml / ren and Yenimahalle districts of Ankara with a total of 3721 seventh and tenth grade students in fall 2003-2004 semester. The data obtained from the administration of the measuring instrument were analyzed by using multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and bivariate correlations. Results indicated that most dominant intelligence of seventh, tenth, and all students was the interpersonal intelligence according to their self-perceptions. Results of the statistical analyses indicated that grade level of students had a significant effect on their self-estimated intelligence dimensions. Strengths and weakness of the students vary according to their grade level. Also, significant differences found in female and male students&amp / #65533 / self-estimated intelligence dimensions for both two different grade levels, and tenth grade students coming from three different branches. Bivariate correlations revealed low positive correlations between science achievement and interpersonal intelligence of seventh graders.

The main research question of the study was: How can spiritual intelligence (SQ) be developed in secondary school students? This was motivated out of concern for the moral degeneration that secondary school students experience in South Africa. The literature review focused on the nature of SQ and how it can foster adaptive functioning and transformation in adolescents and the complexity of Religion Education (RE) in South African secondary schools. A case was made for developing educational strategies that can develop SQ in adolescents and create educational environments that not only encourages students to engage in dialogue that involves a broader conversation about religion and spirituality, but also supports transformational learning. The empirical investigation to evaluate the approach and educational strategies that were used, implemented a qualitative case study design. Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence (MI) theory and the social constructivist theory were used as conceptual frameworks. Purposive and convenient sampling was employed to select ten Grade 11 students in a secondary school in Gauteng that reflected the demographics of the country’s population. Qualitative data collection included reflective activities and informal conversation interviews. Field notes were kept and all observations were documented in a self-reflective journal. This was followed by a focus group session and semi-structured interviews. Findings revealed that the educational strategies had the capacity to develop core traits and mental abilities of SQ, provide peak experiences and enhance virtuous behaviour in adolescents. It was concluded that education should include content around the nature of SQ in conjunction with reflective and experiential activities. SQ provided a platform for epistemic relativity. It was thus concluded that SQ can be deliberately developed in South African secondary school contexts. The recommendations focussed on the role of institutions of higher learning in sensitising stakeholders regarding the relevance of SQ in South African educational contexts; training of in-service teachers; the importance of Life Orientation (LO) as conveyer of SQ and the role of the LO teacher in cascading SQ down to school students. Finally, a SQ training workshop was proposed. The study concluded with recommendations for further research. The limitations of the study were also presented. / Psychology of Education / D. Ed. (Psychology of Education)

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