Date of Award

2002

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

Educational Leadership

First Advisor

Kathryn K. Franklin, Ed.D.

Abstract

With focus upon Gardner's (1983, 1993) Theory of Multiple Intelligences, the purpose of this study was to develop, through the exploration of empirical data, an understanding of freshman and senior intelligence at a metropolitan university in the South, and determine if a statistically significant difference existed between freshman intelligence and senior intelligence with regard to the students' multiple intelligence domains, specific skills and intellectual styles, and within each subject's respective gender, ethnicity, and age group. Through the use of the Multiple Intelligence Developmental Assessment Scales (MIDAS), this study identified the multiple intelligence domains, specific skills and intellectual styles of a sample of enrolled freshmen (N=142) and seniors (N=221) from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Statistical analysis procedures included frequencies, descriptives, and the Repeated Measures Analyses of Variance. The researcher found statistically significant differences within the grade by age group interactions for the specific skills of composer and animal care. Additionally, post hoc comparison tests identified statistically significant interactions between freshmen and seniors, within the same demographic variable, in the following areas: the intrapersonal M.I. domain, the general logic intellectual style, and the specific skills of composer, animal care, working with objects, written-academic, and spatial problem-solving.

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