Intelligence-Friendly Environments: a Study of New Zealand Primary School Classroom Design in Relation to Multiple Intelligences Theory

<p>Education of young children has been the focus of academic research for many years. However, the impact of educational settings on the effectiveness of classroom instruction and learning progress is largely unconsidered. Multiple intelligence theory (MI) postulates that different types of intelligence affect our ability to learn and that educational programs should be accommodated to each learning style. The present study takes this approach a step further, by proposing that MI elements could be incorporated into classroom design, thus enabling students with different preferences to learn more effectively. Therefore the aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of New Zealand existing primary classroom settings in relation to the theory of multiple intelligences. This includes proposing possible improvements to the interior design of classrooms with the aim of enhancing children’s learning potential. The thesis includes a case study of four classrooms conducted through: (a) interviewing the classroom users −four teachers and twenty students aged 9-11; (b) observing the daily use of existing classroom settings; and (c) surveying the design of the existing classrooms. The key findings of the study are that most users have a very positive view of their traditional classroom settings but that at present MI theory is not strongly supported by the settings observed in the four classrooms. Classrooms mainly support linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences, whilst other intelligences are treated as secondary or complementary activities. However, MI settings - proposed by the researcher- are often already present in the classrooms or are suggested and/ or recommended by at least one user. The key conclusions of this study are that: (1) case study classrooms settings support mainly traditional views of intelligence and teaching; (2) applying MI theory to classroom designs could lead to more efficiency in learning environments; and (3) New Zealand schools could benefit from applying the different MI settings. Thus the study identifies the need to further evaluate cultural implications of MI theory in New Zealand culture. In addition, further studies need to integrate space saving furniture into single classrooms, allowing for more effective MI settings.</p>

Intelligence-Friendly Environments: a Study of New Zealand Primary School Classroom Design in Relation to Multiple Intelligences Theory

<p>Education of young children has been the focus of academic research for many years. However, the impact of educational settings on the effectiveness of classroom instruction and learning progress is largely unconsidered. Multiple intelligence theory (MI) postulates that different types of intelligence affect our ability to learn and that educational programs should be accommodated to each learning style. The present study takes this approach a step further, by proposing that MI elements could be incorporated into classroom design, thus enabling students with different preferences to learn more effectively. Therefore the aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of New Zealand existing primary classroom settings in relation to the theory of multiple intelligences. This includes proposing possible improvements to the interior design of classrooms with the aim of enhancing children’s learning potential. The thesis includes a case study of four classrooms conducted through: (a) interviewing the classroom users −four teachers and twenty students aged 9-11; (b) observing the daily use of existing classroom settings; and (c) surveying the design of the existing classrooms. The key findings of the study are that most users have a very positive view of their traditional classroom settings but that at present MI theory is not strongly supported by the settings observed in the four classrooms. Classrooms mainly support linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences, whilst other intelligences are treated as secondary or complementary activities. However, MI settings - proposed by the researcher- are often already present in the classrooms or are suggested and/ or recommended by at least one user. The key conclusions of this study are that: (1) case study classrooms settings support mainly traditional views of intelligence and teaching; (2) applying MI theory to classroom designs could lead to more efficiency in learning environments; and (3) New Zealand schools could benefit from applying the different MI settings. Thus the study identifies the need to further evaluate cultural implications of MI theory in New Zealand culture. In addition, further studies need to integrate space saving furniture into single classrooms, allowing for more effective MI settings.</p>

Teaching Philosophy and Enactivism

"The paper presents a concise history of enactivism in education, especially in mathematics education. Cases described by Davis’s, Proulx and Simmt’s work showcase the idea that enactivism is a viable alternative to constructivism or to classical views both in terms of practical teaching and theoretical models related to the process of learning. The idea that the student should solve a fixed problem, discover the universally correct solution, and eventually store that correct solution to find many other universally correct solutions to other fixed problems reduces the student to a very simple mechanism aimed at informational efficiency. This problem is met by the enactivistic tradition that began with Varela and Maturana’s work, now updated to the aforementioned researchers. Contra the classical perspective, enactivism proposes the idea that the student collaboratively produces the problem, being able to see multiple solutions, and eventually becoming a performer of knowledge. The article takes these ideas developed in mathematics education and finds their use in philosophical education. The article especially focuses on the student’s problem of being unable to link a new philosophical text discussed in class with their intuition. The last part of the article offers a lesson design example. The philosophical design focuses on making the students explore their own thinking regarding the topic about to be discussed by using a philosophy text before introducing the text. Keywords: enactivism, phenomenology, philosophy of education, classroom design "

Design and Research of Mathematics Teaching Intelligent Classroom Based on PCA-NN Algorithm

With the increasing importance of mathematics in basic education, how to evaluate and analyze the intelligent effect of mathematics teaching classroom through scientific methods has become one of the indicators to evaluate the intelligent classroom. This paper studies the design and application of mathematics teaching intelligent classroom based on the PCA-NN (principal component analysis-neural network) algorithm. Firstly, this paper briefly describes the current research status of mathematics teaching intelligent classroom design and PCA-NN algorithm. Secondly, combined with the key factors of mathematics teaching, it formulates specific standards and puts forward an adaptive strategy of intelligent and personalized intelligent mathematics teaching classroom. Finally, the algorithm is verified by experiments. The results show that, for students with different mathematics basic levels, the mathematics teaching intelligent classroom based on the PCA-NN algorithm can effectively improve the quality of mathematics classroom teaching. Through the research on the factors such as teaching quality, effect, and interaction mode involved in the process of mathematics teaching classroom design, the intelligent classroom design factors affecting teaching quality are determined. This paper analyzes and studies the system from different angles. The research results provide some help for the current quality evaluation of classroom teaching and use the PCA-NN algorithm to make quantitative analysis and multivariate verification of mathematics classroom teaching effect.