Adaptation of Multiple Intelligences to Turkish Cypriot Culture

Abstract

There are numerous applications of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences, coined by Howard Gardner, in various aspects and stages of education. It is suggested that students need to raise awareness in their strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, this study seeks to develop an inventory suitable for students in the TRNC context. The high school students studying at grades 10, 11 and 12 in the TRNC constitute the population of the study. In the research, 517 high school students from Famagusta and Iskele Districts were chosen as the sample. An MI inventory was constructed to represent 9 intelligences (verbal/linguistic, logical/mathematical, musical/rhythmic, visual/spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, naturalist and existentialist). The inventory consists of 135 items and 6 different experts have agreed on the appropriateness of the items in the inventory. Also, factor analysis was conducted for construct validity so the inventory is valid. After factor loadings were examined, reliability calculations for each intelligence and the inventory overall were conducted and the inventory was given its latest form with 93 items. Although factor loadings seem low for the items related to some intelligences, the reliability values for intelligences and the Cronbach’s Alpha value of the inventory are very high. Thus, the inventory is reliable. As a suggestion for further research, the inventory can be applied to private schools in addition to state high schools. Also, it may be applied to the whole population of high schools. Furthermore, it is suggested to be administered at different levels in education from primary school to university and results can be compared with the present study.