MLS EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH www.mlsjournals.com/Educational-Research-Journal ISSN: 2603-5820 [ISSN]

Educational Research Journal 2017, Vol 1 n. 1;

Abstract

Introduction

The origins of the guidance in Spain were difficult and their development in the education system was really slow. From the LOGSE (Ley de Ordenación General del Sistema Educativo) in 1990 and the derived educational reform, the Education Guidance was considered necessary to promote the education and to be included in the teaching role.

Later, the concept of orientation is still in subsequent laws. The Organic Law 2/2006, of May 3, on Education (LOE) draws particular attention, during the Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (junior high school), to the educational and career guidance of students, as well as promoting the necessary measures, so the personal tutoring and educational, psycho-pedagogical and career guidance are a fundamental element in the ordination of this stage. In the current education law, the Organic Law 8/2013, December 9, for the improvement of the educational quality, the educational guidance is highlighted.

In addition, in the Decree 213/1995, September 12, which regulates the educational guidance fields, it notes that the educational guidance is divided into three areas: Tutoring, Attention to Diversity and Vocational and Career Guidance.

Thus, in order to apply these three guidance areas we will enhance the Multiple Intelligences of students through the use of active methodologies, in this case, through a cooperative-collaborative learning. Using this type of methodology enables students to find out which are their strengths and which are their weaknesses, so they can compensate with each other. Furthermore, in this way, we can form heterogeneous and balanced work groups that favor the teamwork, so they can help each other.

As it can be observed, where the Multiple Intelligences Theory is most used is in the initial education levels such as Pre-school and Primary Education, although there are more teachers in secondary education that are more innovative and look for other methodologies that help them to motivate the teaching-learning process. Some of the educational institutions that are working with the Multiple Intelligences and that have designed projects in pre-school, primary and secondary education are the following: colegio Divino Maestro and colegio Marcelo Spínola of Jaén, colegio los Trinitarios of Córdoba, colegio Antonio de Nebrija of Murcia, colegio San Cristóbal of Castellón and colegio Princesa de Asturias of Elche.

It has to be borne in mind that we live in a changing society, in which the teenagers that we find nowadays in high schools are not the same there were ten or fifteen years ago. That is to say, we cannot continue working with methods based on a traditional methodology, which is not motivating, we have to enhance the interest to learn that, in some cases, is lacking in these contemporary students. Having said that, it is not enough to try to find a way of working with students that motivates them, teachers also have to train, do research, consult, get to know their students, and then start to apply methodologies that activate them and promote their curiosity to learn.

In this regard, it can be said that educational guidance is of utmost importance in the educational institutions, since by means of this guidance together with the cooperation of both tutors and students and the other teachers, we can work in unison and thus, enrich the learning of the students. This is the reason why in this intervention program it can be found the development of the three guidance areas.

First of all, we allude to the Tutoring; whose aim is to make students know themselves and each other, in addition to get to know, through some work sessions, the Multiple Intelligences Theory, and so they can discover which are their strengths and which are their weaknesses. Moreover, the purpose is to form heterogeneous work teams that help them to work in a more balanced way.

Secondly, there is the Attention to Diversity, in which we will work with a student with specific learning difficulties, in this case, dyslexia. To do so, we will use the Multiple Intelligences, that is to say, we have planned some work sessions in which it can be seen how an intelligence complements the other, and thus, favors the students learning. In addition, this work methodology favors the inclusion of the students by means of teamwork.

Finally, there is the Vocational and Career Guidance. With it, we pretend to start the guidance from the initial courses, in this first case, the junior high school, since this guidance often starts later and, in some occasions, students arrive at the end of senior high school and they still do not know what to choose or what to do after this educational stage. That is why we will also use the Multiple Intelligences Theory so, students will get to know which is their main intelligence in the initial courses. They will be able to know which subjects are their strengths and which ones are their weaknesses, in addition to be competent in making decisions, since with the new education Law, the Organic Law 8/2013, December 9, for the improvement of the education quality (LOMCE), from the second year of junior high school (ESO) they will start making decisions regarding the subjects they want to take in third and so on.

Analysis of the literature

Multiple intelligences

The concept of intelligence, over the years, has suffered several variations as a consequence of social, scientific and cultural changes (Matamoros, 1999).

At the beginning, the intelligence was considered something rather biological, hereditary, that was inside the individual’s mind and that could be measured; that is to say, as a property located in the people’s head (Gardner, Kornhaber and Krechevsky, 1993).

Due to the progress of society and the enrichment of knowledge, a more precise and determined concept was developed about the intelligence concept, benefiting the enrichment of knowledge, in the training of people, so they are more competent in the different disciplines (Gomis, 2007).

Therefore, it can be said that, the harmonious development of the people’s life, the social, academic, emotional, professional success cannot only be explained from a conception of intelligence or only with the functioning of an adequate cognitive structure (Salmerón, 2002).

In this sense, Valera and Cruz (2006) support the Gardner’s statement (2001) that people do not have a single general intelligence, measurable according to the traditional intelligence tests, but it has a multiple structure. This is the reason why every child has a characteristic profile of different capacities, that is to say, a set of intelligences, and these intelligences can strengthen due to the opportunities offered by education and to a medium rich in attractive materials and activities.

All the intelligences are present in all the people. It is possible that, in some people, one or more of their intelligences can be more emphasized or more delimited, but all the intelligences in everyone are to be stimulated (Antunes, 2001).

Therefore, in the Multiple Intelligences Theory, on the assumption that in order for children to develop their multiple intellectual capacities and abilities, it is important to provide them with an adequate stimulation in the classroom and in their daily life (Molejón and Fernández, 2017).

Thus, we learn with multiple intelligences and, therefore, an education that wants to include everyone must manage all the languages of those Multiple Intelligences (De la Cruz and García, 2017).

As Gardner claimed, these intelligences would be eight (Figure 1), so humans would have eight different points in their brains where there would be different intelligences; these intelligences are what he names Multiple Intelligences. These would be the linguistic or verbal, the logical-mathematical, the spatial, the musical, the kinesthetic-bodily, the naturalistic and the personal intelligences, that is to say, the intrapersonal and interpersonal (Antunes, 2001).

How to include the multiple intelligences in the classroom?

It has to be borne in mind that in a classroom there are students with different curricular levels, with different necessities, capacities, so the teaching-learning process has to be adapted to those capacities and interests in order to carry out a correct inclusion.

To implement the Multiple Intelligences in the classroom, we must perform a transversal and multidisciplinary teaching style. Furthermore, it is required to perform a continuous observation of the students to get to know which is their main intelligence, so they are able to develop a methodology focused on students that provides them with possibilities to improve their school skills.

Consequently, using the Multiple Intelligences in the classroom enables the teacher to attract the students’ attention, since motivating materials are used to work all the intelligences, enhancing their self-esteem, motivation, bringing a better environment in the classroom and in the relationship between classmates. Moreover, it enables us to have into account the interests, capacities and Multiple Intelligences of each of the students; thus, the teaching-learning process can be personalized, adapting it to their needs, since we can identify those areas and intelligences where the support demand is higher, facilitating the attention to diversity in the classroom, reaching an integration of all the students, and in this way, students can have a better knowledge of themselves and of their learning style (Molejón and Fernández, 2017).

Thus, in this teaching style it is necessary to promote the collaborative-cooperative learning, such as Learning based on Projects, Spectrum Project, Key School, Art Propel.

Specific Learning Difficulties

As it can be seen, in the Organic Law 8/2013, December 9, for the improvement of the education quality (LOMCE), as in the Organic Law 17/2007, December 10, of Education of Andalusia (LEA), the learning difficulties are considered specific needs of education support, since they need an educational attention different to the ordinary one.

Furthermore, the Instructions of March 8, 2017, from the General Management of Participation and Equity, for which it is updated the protocol of detection and identification of students with specific necessities of education support and organization of the education response, consider that there are specific learning difficulties when:

Students require, during a period of their schooling or throughout of it, an educational attention different to the ordinary one, since they have significant disorders in their basic cognitive processes implied in the learning processes, that significantly interfere in the school performance and in the daily life activities and that are not determined by an intellectual, sensory or motor disability, due to a severe emotional disorder, or due to the lack of opportunities to learn or to sociocultural factors.

Thus, as Monedero (1989), Pérez (2002) and Aguilar (2011) said, students present specific learning difficulties when they have troubles performing properly some academic activities such as reading, writing, multiplying, adding or subtracting, causing that their academic performance is lower than expected.

Regarding the types of specific learning difficulties, according to the Instructions of March 8, 2017, of the General Management of Participation and Equity, for which it is updated the protocol of detection and identification of students with specific necessities of education support and organization of the education response, and Llanos (2006), they can be classified in four groups:

• Specific difficulties of learning to read, to write or dyslexia
• Specific difficulties of learning to write or dysgraphia
• Specific difficulties of learning to write or dysorthographia
• Specific difficulties of learning to calculate or dyscalculia

Multiple Intelligences and Specific Learning Difficulties

We can see in many classrooms that there is harmony, welfare, learning of all, while there is tension, suffering and discrimination in others; emotions affecting students and teachers, generating a climate in which learning is possible for everyone or only for a few (De la Cruz, 2017).

This is the reason why, when we identify a child with specific learning difficulties, it has to be borne in mind that these difficulties are not only related to the learning capacity, but also to the strategies we are using in that moment (Ugalde, s.f.).

Therefore, teachers have to take into account that they must become researchers of their own practice, by designing activities in which all of their students can be successful, can have positive experiences and can be linked to the teaching-learning process, providing them with means, so they can discover and understand what they work, being this the motivation that they can deal better (De la Cruz and García, 2017).

Whereby, the educational intervention with students with difficulties should broaden its perspective and not only focus on the deficit, but also on the strengths and abilities. Thus, it would be appropriate to reconsider the work approach and not wasting the abilities and skills that children with difficulties can have (González, 2014).

Everyone has a series of intelligences that, depending on when and how are stimulated can influence, for example, in the way we face life, we perceive information, we relate with others and in the way we acquire knowledge. Therefore, children must have an early stimulation in order to enhance their range of skills, considering intelligence as a wide concept, linked to the interest of each child and oriented towards their personal fulfillment (Ugalde, n.d.).

Since individuals differ in the intensity of these intelligences and in the ways they resort to these intelligences, and these are combined in order to carry out different tasks, to solve different problems and progress in different fields, we can say that people learn, represent and use the knowledge in many different ways. These differences challenge the education system, since this means that everybody is able to learn the same subjects in the same way and that a uniform and universal measure is enough to test the students’ learning (Andrade, 2009).

Finally, if teachers suggest activities having into account all the Multiple Intelligences, not only those related to the instrumental areas, the teaching-learning situation would prosper and the educational intervention would be more flexible, adapting to the individual necessities of each student. In this way, when teachers suggest this type of activities, they have more time to serve individually the students with specific necessities of Education Support, since the rest of the students are more autonomous to perform activities because they are more aware of the different surrounding support mechanisms, such as the individual information research, the consultation with equals, with the teacher, and the correct way to use them (Huelmo and Fernández, 2017).

Program of Psychopedagogical Guidance and Intervention

Participant

This intervention program is aimed at students of the first year of high school, during the weekly tutoring hour in the ordinary group class, there are 25 students in each one. Although the program is designed by the institution’s adviser, each unit will be taught by the tutor, even if in the Attention to Diversity unit will count on the help of the Therapeutic Pedagogy (TP) teacher in some work sessions, since in a class of the first year of high school, we can find students with dyslexia, and in some activities, that are adapted to their curricular level, they will need the TP support.

Program planning and design

The overall objective of this program of psychopedagogical guidance and intervention is working on the three areas comprised by the Educational Guidance, such as the Tutorial Action, the Attention to Diversity and the Academic and Career Guidance through the Multiple Intelligences. Thus, in the intervention unity of the Tutorial Action we will use active methodologies, such as cooperative-collaborative work, for the knowledge of each one of the intelligences. Moreover, in the intervention unit of the Academic and Career Guidance, we will promote the autonomous work and the decision-making through activities related to Multiple Intelligences and, finally, in the intervention unit of Tutorial Action, the specific learning difficulties will be worked, as in the case of dyslexia, through the Multiple Intelligences.

The learning objectives considered for this program are the following:

• Promoting and working the knowledge of the Multiple Intelligences.
• Enhancing the teamwork of students through the cooperative-collaborative learning.
• Training the autonomous work to make their own decisions.
• Intervening and acting in the specific learning difficulties, such as dyslexia, through Multiple Intelligences.

Making specific reference to the general contents that will be treated in that program, we have estimated:

• The knowledge of the Multiple Intelligences.
• Enhancing the teamwork of students through the cooperative-collaborative learning.
• The decision-making capacity.
• The intervention of dyslexia with the Multiple Intelligences.

The key competences that will be developed with the application of this program of psychopedagogical guidance and intervention are the established by the Order ECD/65/2015, January 21, for which they are described the relationships between competencies, contents, and evaluation criteria of the Primary Education, Junior and Senior High School. For the purpose of this order, these are the seven competences:

• Linguistic communication.
• Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology.
• Digital competence.
• Learning how to learn.
• Social and civic competences.
• Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship.
• Awareness and cultural expressions.

The methodology that will be carried out in this program of psychopedagogical guidance and intervention will be an active methodology, working in a cooperative and collaborative way, that is to say, through work groups that help students to work together and so favoring the teaching-learning process as the inclusion of all the students.

The resources that we will need depend on the activity that will be carried out in each intervention unit, thus, material, spatial and personal resources. These resources are specified in the explanation of each session conforming the different intervention units.

The length of the program and of each intervention unit will be reflected through the following table.

Table 1

Length of the intervention units

Intervention units.

Tutoring action

This intervention unit is going to be carried out through six sessions, each one made up of diverse tasks. Its main objective is to make each one of the Multiple Intelligences known and in order to do so, we are going to implement active methodologies such as the cooperative-collaborative work.

In this way, we help students to know themselves better as well as to know their classmates, to discover new knowledge as the Multiple Intelligences as well as their affinity with each one of them and create heterogeneous and balanced groups that can be used to work in other subjects afterwards.

Students suffering from dyslexia can also participate in this unit, since they can have access to the tasks with the aid of the Therapeutic Pedagogy teacher in order for the inclusion of all students.

Example of some of the activities that will be done in this intervention unit:

In the third session, students are going to work with the combined intelligences so that they discover, on the hand hand, what the Multiple Intelligences Theory is about and on the other, which is the intelligence with which they feel more affinity. To begin with, this third session will be focused on visual-spatial and linguistic intelligence, working with the imagination, the oral and written comprehension and the description of feelings.

Table 2

Task 3 of the 3rd session

Attention to diversity

In this intervention unit, that is linked with the attention to diversity, we are going to focus on the specific learning difficulties, concretely in dyslexia, emphasizing the inclusion of all students in the class through heterogeneous tasks.

This intervention is going to be about working on dyslexia from the Multiple Intelligences through transversal tasks. Such tasks are going to be combined, that is to say, from the first session of linguistic intelligence and with this intelligence being combined with any other intelligence. The unit will be consisting of seven sessions.

Finally, with this intervention unit the aim is to work on dyslexia from active methodologies that enhance the student’s interest in learning so that the school drop-out is decreased.

Example of some of the activities that will be done in this intervention unit:

The second session will consist of four tasks, although in this one we will only focus on the Linguistic Intelligence combined with the Mathematical Intelligence in order to solve the comprehension difficulties regarding math problems.

Table 3

Task 2 of the 2nd session

Vocational and Career Guidance

This Intervention Unit, proposed for the Academic and Career Guidance, is composed of three sessions. It will be carried out by means of the Multiple Intelligences, since the aim is that the students get to know themselves, are able to reflect on their preferences and also to make their own decisions.

Since students, as they progress in their studies, do no think much about their future career and, as it approaches, many doubts arise, we deem appropriate to work all this from the initial courses, so they will be more aware of the fact that they will have to make a choice on which their future can depend.

In this unit students suffering from dyslexia can also participate, since they can have access to all the tasks in order to achieve the inclusion of all students.

Example of some of the activities that will be done in this intervention unit:

The first session is composed of a task in which students must reflect on their favorite tasks, so they are able to discover their main intelligence.

Table 4

Task 1 of the 1st session:

Evaluation of the program of psychopedagogical guidance and intervention results

For the evaluation of the results we will perform two fundamental processes, one related to the teaching-learning process of the students, and other related to the teaching practice.

On the one hand, the evaluation of the teaching-learning process of the students will be carried out through the ordinary review, by the tutor, from the results obtained in each one of the work sessions. In this way, it will be observed if the intervention program has had effect in the students or, on the contrary, they have not obtained good results and it has not helped in their progress.

On the other hand, teachers in charge of the application of the intervention program, through an online questionnaire (Annex 3), will be in charge of evaluating the methodology that has been used, how it attends to diversity, and planning. Thereby, we will know which are the weaknesses of the program and improve them, in addition to know which are its positive aspects.

These evaluations will be reviewed by the institution’s advisor. With these evaluations we want to improve everything that makes the program not work properly, so we can offer a quality program with an adapted attention to the students’ needs.

Decision-making

If the intervention unit is successful, it will be determined to carry it out in the others Senior High School courses. Thereby, the use of new work methodologies will be enhanced, as well as the introduction to the Multiple Intelligences Theory in the teaching-learning process to students that do not have specific necessities of education support and those that do have them, achieving a total inclusion of the students.

However, of the results are negative, students and teachers will not achieve the proposed objectives, it would be necessary to take action, such as improving the proposed methodology or the unit content. Moreover, both students and teachers would get evaluations in order to discover the weaknesses of the program and thus, improve them. In this way, students’ necessities will be properly responded.

With this intervention project we try to help students so they can know themselves and the others, they have autonomy, they are able to work in groups respecting the others’ decisions, they know how to make decisions, as well as the discovery of new ways of work that make the teaching-learning process more dynamic.

Through the use of Multiple Intelligences, worked from different perspectives in each of the interventions units, we want to achieve a comprehensive development of the students and also, help teachers to be aware of that and solve all their needs. With this type of work, we try to make students aware of the existence of different types of intelligences and that through their stimulation, they get to know the intelligence where they can be more or less skillful, since through the combination of the different intelligences they will have a better progress in their learning.

Furthermore, we have carried out this knowledge of the Multiple Intelligences Theory by means of active methodologies, as the cooperative-collaborative work. In this way, students work in groups and develop their social and personal skills, they complement their learning together, by learning how to listen their classmates, so they not only respect their learning, but also the learning of the rest of the group, thus, their knowledge evolves in a constructive and participatory way.

Finally, with this work approach, we have taken into account the inclusion of all the students, and we have carried this out by means of the combination of the Multiple Intelligences and the learning difficulties. We consider that through this new way of working, we can promote in these students interest and motivation to learn, and through cooperative-collaborative work we can form heterogeneous groups in which they can mutually complement.

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Annex 1: We look for words and create numbers.

Table 5

Task 2 of the 2nd session

Table 6

Number breakdown

Annex 2: Which is my main intelligence?

Table 7

Task 1 of the 1st session

Anexo 3: Acceso al cuestionario

Table 8

Questionnaire