RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AFFECTIVE DOMAIN AND MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES OF SCIENCE PRIMARY PRE-SERVICE TEACHER

 

Miriam Hernández del Barco¹*, Florentina Cañada², Isaac Corbacho-Cuello³, Jesús Sánchez-Martín⁴

¹Ms. Hernández del Barco,University of Extremadura, SPAIN, mhdelbarco@unex.es

²Prof. Dr. Cañada, University of Extremadura, SPAIN, flori@unex.es

³Prof. Dr. Corbacho-Cuello, University of Extremadura, SPAIN, icorbacho@unex.es

⁴Prof. Dr. Sánchez-Martín, University of Extremadura, SPAIN, jsanmar@unex.es

*Corresponding Author

Abstract

The current study shows a research that have been made with primary pre-service teachers in the context of science subjects. The participants were 144 teachers in training (63% female). This is a quantitative research carried out by survey. The principal aim was to study the possible correlations between the emotions (positive and negative) that our teachers in training feel toward some specific contents of sciences (differentiating between biology and geology and physics and chemistry) and their multiple intelligences (Gardner’s theory). To check whether the correlations were significant, Pearson’s correlation was applied. Recent researches and new educational trends give to emotions the importance that deserves.

Cognitive and affective domains have been treated separately until last century. Now, scientific and classes’ evidences highlights to educative community that emotional experiences in the classroom will be determinant to fix or to remove the subject content. Learning, attention and memory are quite relating to emotional dimension of students. Howard Gardner suggests that every single student has different personals factors involved in the singular way that each learner acquire the knowledge. These different personals factors are often related to interests of students and it usually correspond to their predominant multiple intelligence. That is how Gardner creates eight multiple intelligences: linguistic-verbal, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, intrapersonal and naturalistic. In this research we focused on sciences related intelligences because of the subject context. Teachers who are aware this dimension of students can use it as resource in their classes to improve the emotional experiences and to promoting a better learning engages to student in activities.

A questionnaire by own elaboration has been made for emotions and self-efficacy data collection. The results evince correlations between feeling some positive emotions (as enthusiasm and joy) toward physics and chemistry contents with a predominantly logical-mathematic intelligence. Also, we find correlations in teachers in training between having a high self-efficacy perception of teaching physics and chemistry with a predominantly logical-mathematic intelligence. Students with high self-efficacy perception teaching biology and geology correlates with a naturalistic learning style. Some correlations between a predominant linguistic intelligence and negative emotions (as anxiety, boring or reject) have been also found in our study. These results confirm the necessity of adequate inclusion of new methodologies in higher education that place students in the center of their learning process, taking advantage of their own interests and abilities. With a special focus in those students who feel negative emotions toward sciences.

Application of Gardner’s theory cause alterations in conventionally classes and demand changes in evaluation. If we want to guarantee they apply good teaching practices at primary education level, these methodological changes should be implemented in higher education, especially with pre-service primary teachers. After that, we have a kind of “radiography” of our students that help us to design the classes and it allows us to influence in that contents towards which they don’t feel confidence or enthusiasm as density or chemical reactions. It is not only to determinate the learning style of students but to use it to improve lessons in order to promote better emotional experiences in sciences classroom and meaningful learning. Despite of this topic (multiple intelligence at higher education) is not very well researched, our results are in keeping with other research make with primary and secondary students, that could serve to affirm that the relationship between affective domain and multiple intelligence is present in all different stages.

Keywords:higher education; emotions; science education; pre-service teachers; multiple intelligences.