Assessing the Multiple Intelligences of Elementary Learners in a Northern Municipality

The learners’ multiple intelligences (MI) are the key measures to be assessed by teachers to make the teaching and learning process meaningful. In today's scenario, teachers face different challenges in addressing the various learning needs of the learners in implementing learning objectives to enhance learners’ academic engagement and performance. Hence, the study is anchored in Gardner's Theory of Multiple intelligences, which emphasizes the holistic perspectives of the minds that every individual has a unique ability, and strengths that contribute to the community's success. The study aimed to determine the extent and the significant difference of learners’ multiple intelligences when grouped according to age, sex, and family monthly income. The study utilized the descriptive-comparative research design. The research locale of the study is the rural elementary school in a second-class northern municipality in one of the provinces in the Philippines with a population of 290 pupils and a sample of 165 Grades five and six respondents, and the researchers utilized a stratified random sampling technique. The study employed a self-made questionnaire based on William Spady’s twenty-five kinds of multiple intelligences, and the use of mean, standard deviation, and non-parametric tests of the Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis Test were employed. The results show that students have a very high extent of visual and attentiveness intelligence, a high extent of humor and social skills, and a moderate extent of Gastronomic intelligence. Moreover, there is a significant difference in the Spatial, Kinesthetics, Conceptual, and Strategic Intelligences when grouped as to age. Verbal, Logical, Mathematical, Kinesthetics, Visual, and Visionary Intelligence were significant as to the sex, and empathetic, functional, and imaginative intelligence were significant to the family’s monthly income. Overall, intelligence is enhanced through creative strategies, appropriate instructional materials, and a stimulating and nurturing environment. The MI as a basis for preparing MI Module is one approach to improving teaching and learning processes in the Philippine context. Learners may be made aware of their intelligence even at an early age so that they may be able to use them in learning and apply it in real-life scenarios that would eventually develop a sense of compact readiness in facing the future.