Multiple intelligences theory applied to environmental education in inclusive settings

Abstract

This paper reports a pre-service teaching experience, which combined the multiple intelligences theory with environmental education, in the context of a macro design-based research, with the mediation of a learning community through collaborative research. In this methodological framework, the teacher designed and applied a strategy about water with a group of 25 first grade students, including some children with functional diversity (Attention Deficit Disorder -ADD-, learning disabilities without diagnosis, and blindness). This was so designed to respond to the diversity of children in terms of ways of learning, and facilitate its diverse expressions, as well as to seek environmental literacy. The teacher's achievements in the classroom are thus exposed with regards to teaching about water resources, drawing on the theory of multiple intelligences, together with the implications that collaborative research has for initial teacher preparation.