The effect of the multiple intelligences theory on grade-9 students' comprehension of the density and retention of their knowledge about this topic

IV ABSTRACT THE EFFECT OF THE MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES THEORY ON GRADE - 9 STUDENS' COMPREHENSION OF THE DENSITY AND RETENTION OF THEIR KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THIS TOPIC (M. Sc. Thesis) Rukiye TÜRKUZAN GAZI UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE OF EDUCATIONS SCIENCES August 2004 The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the Multiple Intelligences Theory compared to the Traditional Teaching Method on grade- 9 students' achievement and retention of their knowledge about the topic of density. In this study, Pre-Post Test Control Group Design was used. This study was carried out with the students learning on the grade-9 in Ankara Yenimahalle Nermin-Mehmet ÇEKİÇ Anotolian High School and with the students learning on the grade-9 in Ankara Etimesgut Anotolian High School during the 2003-2004 education period. 60 students from Nermin-Mehmet ÇEKİÇ Anotolian High School and 60 students from Etimesgut Anotolian High School participated in these studies. These studies were done two hours a week during four weeks. The pre-test was applied to the students at the first week of the study and the post-test was applied to.them at the last week of the study. The control group students which were selected randomly from the other two classes in both schools were taught according to the Traditional Teaching Method while the experimental group were taught by using the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. The lessons of both groups were carried by the researcher. The lessons of control group were completed in 4 hours, whereas the lessons of experimental group were finished in 4 hours. At the fist step of this study The Prior Knowledge Test was applied for identifying students' pre-knowledge. The Achievement Test was applied after carriying out the lessons which were prepared according to the lesson plans based on the Traditional Teaching Method and Multiple Intelligences Theory. In addition. The Achievement Test was given to the students once again to determine the retention of the students' knowledge about the density after one month. The data obtanied from this study were assessed by using computer SPPS (Statistical Package for Social Science) program. In the evaluation of the hypothesis, Analysis of Variance, One-Sample and Independent-Samples t-test was used. The meaningful level of the results were acceptable as 0.05. The results of statistical analysis indicated that the teaching activites based on the Multiple Intelligences Theory meaningfully contributed to the students' comprehension of density and retention of their knowledge. It was determined that experimental group students showed more interest to the topics according to the observations during the lessons.