MULTIPLE INTELLIGENCES PRACTICE OF HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS OF

The present study aims to find out the awareness of Higher Secondary School English teachers on Multiple Intelligences. Each teacher needs to be aware of different forms of intelligences. The objectives of the study are to find out the level of awareness of Higher Secondary School teachers on Multiple Intelligences and to compare the awareness on Multiple Intelligences among Higher Secondary School teachers based on gender and locality. Survey method is used for collecting data from 150 higher secondary school teachers in Thiruvananthapuram District. A questionnaire on Multiple Intelligences was the tool used for collecting data. The major statistical techniques used for analysing data were percentage analysis and t-test. The study revealed that majority of higher secondary school teachers possess awareness on Multiple Intelligences at an average level and also there exists significant difference in the awareness of Multiple Intelligences among higher secondary school teachers based on their gender. It was also found that there is no significant difference in the awareness of Multiple Intelligences among higher secondary school teachers based on their locality. Awareness on Multiple Intelligences can change the way teachers teach and it is especially useful in supporting more student-centered approaches to instruction and in developing the Multiple Intelligences in students by means of promoting collaborative learning activities.

The present study aims to find out the awareness of Higher Secondary School English teachers on Multiple Intelligences. Each teacher needs to be aware of different forms of intelligences. The objectives of the study are to find out the level of awareness of Higher Secondary School teachers on Multiple Intelligences and to compare the awareness on Multiple Intelligences among Higher Secondary School teachers based on gender and locality. Survey method is used for collecting data from 150 higher secondary school teachers in Thiruvananthapuram District. A questionnaire on Multiple Intelligences was the tool used for collecting data. The major statistical techniques used for analysing data were percentage analysis and t-test. The study revealed that majority of higher secondary school teachers possess awareness on Multiple Intelligences at an average level and also there exists significant difference in the awareness of Multiple Intelligences among higher secondary school teachers based on their gender. It was also found that there is no significant difference in the awareness of Multiple Intelligences among higher secondary school teachers based on their locality. Awareness on Multiple Intelligences can change the way teachers teach and it is especially useful in supporting more studentcentered approaches to instruction and in developing the Multiple Intelligences in students by means of promoting collaborative learning activities.

Introduction:-
Teachers need to be creators of knowledge and thinking professionals. Only a quality future human capital can envision development of its nation to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Teachers need to be emphasized to recognize and value what children learn from their home, social and cultural environment and to create opportunities for children to discover, learn and develop. The recommendations of the NCF on school curriculum are built on this blank. There is now a public acknowledgment that the current system of schooling imposes tremendous burden on our children. This burden arises from an incoherent curriculum structure that is often dissociated from the personal and social milieu of children as also from the inadequate preparation of teachers who are unable to make connection with children and respond to their needs in imaginative ways. This view of education points to the need to take a fresh look at teacher"s preparation. Therefore the teaching-learning needs to be organized very carefully, such as, through virtual learning environment, net dialogue, radio, television and computers (Joe Darling Anuja, 2009).
1268 Gardner (1983) defines "Intelligence as the ability to solve problems or to create fashion products that are valued within one or more cultural settings". He described intelligence as a bio-psychological potential that could be influenced by experience, culture and motivational factors. He defined intelligence as the ability to solve problems and to fashion products that are culturally valued. Gardner"s theory proposes different and autonomous intelligence capacities that result in many different ways of knowing, understanding and learning about the world to have a better understanding of it.
Need and significance of the study:-A quality human capital comes from a quality education process. A carefully designed and well planned education system is critical to develop such human capital. Thus, institution plays a very important role to produce a human capital that is highly knowledgeable and skilful to meet the demand and expectations of many people. The teaching and learning processes in institutions should be capable to provide such knowledge and skills to future. According to Dewey (1916) "The core of teaching process is the arrangement of environments, with which the students can interact and study how to learn. It depends upon the active, influential, resourceful and competent teachers. For this the teachers should adapt dynamic methods of teaching that is the learner oriented".
Educational systems around the world are under increasing pressure. The responsibility of our educational system is to mould learners as efficient and intelligent ones. Therefore, every teacher should teach his/her lessons in consonance with the intellectual abilities of all kinds of children in the class room. In order to realise this, teachers are advised to plan their instructional process with the sound background of the learner"s growth and development. With greater opportunity, better environment and educational experiences, IQ can be changed. Howard Gardner"s theory of Multiple Intelligences is a psychological and educational theory, espousing that ten kinds of intelligences exist in humans, each relating to a different sphere of human life and activity. Gardner asserted that human intelligence or cognitive competence can be better described as a set of individual"s multiple abilities, talents. Multiple intelligences theory related instructional goal was to allow students to succeed by providing them with opportunities to work from their strength.
Multiple Intelligences techniques help teachers to convey the importance of different types of meta-cognitive function and help them to introduce related types of study skills. Knowledge of Multiple Intelligences categories and related methodologies can assist learners in functioning more effectively and independently. Multiple Intelligences related techniques serve as a way to create clearly differentiated or personalised instructional bridges for independent learning and hence the investigator decided to conduct a study on awareness of multiple intelligences among higher secondary school teachers in Thiruvananthapuram District.

Statement of the problem:-
The problem for the present study is stated as, "Multiple Intelligences Practices of Higher Secondary School Teachers of Thiruvananthapuram District: a Status Research".

Objectives of the study:-
The following are the objectives of the study:

Hypotheses of the study:-
The hypotheses formulated for the study are: 1. There is significant difference in Multiple Intelligences Practices of Higher Secondary School teachers of Thiruvananthapuram district based on Gender.
2. There is significant difference in Multiple Intelligences Practices of Higher Secondary School teachers of Thiruvananthapuram district based on Locale.

Methodology:-
The present study adopted survey method. The variable used for the study is awareness on Multiple Intelligences. The sample selected for this study consisted of 150 Higher Secondary School Teachers of Thiruvananthapuram district. Questionnaire on Awareness of Multiple Intelligences was administered to the respective sample under 1269 standardized condition and the collected data are subjected to further statistical analysis such as t-test in order to verify the hypotheses.

Level of awareness on Multiple Intelligences among higher secondary school teachers
In order to find out the awareness on Multiple Intelligences among higher secondary school teachers, the responses collected from teachers were analyzed. Mean and Standard Deviation of the total sample were calculated and the mean value obtained for the total sample of teachers with respect to awareness on Multiple Intelligences is 21.3 with standard deviation of 6.56.
The level of awareness on Multiple Intelligences among higher secondary school teachers as high group, average group and low group was calculated by applying the formula: m+sd (high), between m+sd and m-sd (average) and m-sd (low) respectively. The responses of the teachers with respect to awareness on Multiple Intelligences are shown in Table 1.

Comparison of male and female higher secondary school teachers with respect to their awareness on Multiple Intelligences
In order to find out whether the gender of Higher Secondary School teachers has any influence on their awareness on Multiple Intelligences, mean and standard deviation of the sample were calculated separately and their critical ratio was computed to see whether there is significant difference between the two groups. The result and test of significance are shown in Table 2. From the table 2, it is clear that "t" value obtained is 3.42 which is significant at 0.01 level of significance. Since the obtained t is (3.42) greater than the table value at 0.01 level, there is significant difference between male and female higher secondary school teachers in their achieved mean score of awareness on Multiple Intelligences and the difference is more in favour of male teachers ( Mean=.19.62). Hence the hypothesis formulated in this context is accepted.

3)
Comparison of urban and rural higher secondary school teachers with respect to their awareness on Multiple Intelligences