The effects of the multiple intelligences theory applied in the resources of ourcontry unit of the sixth graders social sciences course on the academic achievement and the attitude of the students

This study aimed at both determining the applicability of Gardner?s theory of multiple intelligences to social sciences instruction and demonstrating the effect of the theory of multiple intelligences on students? developing positive attitude and behaviour towards the social sciences lessons.Under the title of the effects of the multiple intelligences theory applied in ?the Resources of Our Country? unit of the sixth graders social sciences course on the academic achievement and the attitude of the students, an effort has been put to ascertain the effects of multiple intelligences and constructivist methods on the achievement and the attitude of the students towards the lessons.The research has had an empirical quality to display the effectiveness of the theory of multiple intelligences in social sciences instruction. To this end, the research has been carried out on 88 students from the classes 6/D and 6/H at Turgut Reis Primary School located in Sultanbeyli, Istanbul, during the spring semester, the academic year 2007?2008. The experiment group was composed of 41 of the students mentioned above while the control group was composed of 47 of them. For the sake of conducting the research in a healthy way, the teacher and the students were informed about the theory of multiple intelligences in advance.The unit titled ?Resources of Our Country? of the Social Sciences course has been picked for this research. The unit has been taught to the experiment and the control group using the multiple intelligences and the constructivist methods respectively. In order to find how the students differ at the end of the research, previously prepared student achievement tests and attitude scales have been applied at the beginning of the unit and at the end of the topic when the subject matter has been covered completely.The data gathered through the achievement tests and attitude scales have been analyzed in accordance with the aims using frequency (f), percentage (%), mean (? ), standard deviation (ss) and t-test. It has been tested on the level of a=0,01 to find whether there has been a meaningful difference between the groups.As a result of the research, it has been found that students? attitude towards the course is close and that there is no meaningful difference. However, the research shows that considering the results of the achievement tests done at the end of the unit there is a significant difference between the achievement levels of the students on the experiment group, to whom the multiple intelligences instructional method has been applied, and of those on the control group, to whom the constructivist instructional method has been applied. It has been found that the students in the class where the multiple intelligences method has been utilized are more successful than those in the class where the constructivist method has been applied.Keywords:The theory of multiple intelligences, constructivist approach, social sciences instruction, intelligence, the attitude of the students