The effects of falk dance practices on the multiple intelligence development of primary school 5th grade students

This research was carried out to clarify the effects of folk dance practices on the multiple intelligence development of 5th grade primary school students. In order to realize this purpose a survey was applied to 5th grade students attending to Mimar Sinan Primary School. Through the 5th grade students a total of 50 students, 25 female and 25 male, were selected on voluntary basis as the test group and another 50 students,25 female and 25 male, as the control group. The test group attended to folk dance training 40 minutes per week for 16 weeks. Meanwhile the control group continued to their normal education program. This is an experimental study which focuses on the development of multiple intelligence areas of 5th grade primary school students. Therefore a questionnaire with an experimental was given to students in both experimental and control groups as a pre and post-test. In this research 2X2 mixed design is applied (experimental and control group X pre and post-test). In these mixed designs there are at least two variables which effect dependant variable. One of these variables define different experiment conditions which form the neutral groups and the other variable define the repeated tests (pre and post-test) which are applied in different times. As a result of this research, it is founded out that the test group which took part in the folk dance practices had a greater development in all multiple intelligence areas compared to the control group. Moreover the highest benefit was observed to be in social intelligence area. However it is found that that the sex variable does not create a meaningful difference in the development of multiple intelligence areas. According to these findings it is suggested to carry out further comparative studies concentrating on the effects of individual and team sports on the development of the multiple intelligence areas. Besides it is suggested to promote cultural and sportive applications in primary schools Key Words: Intelligence, multiple intelligence, folk dance, development, primary education.