Sample Research Proposal on Different Strokes for Different Folks

Introduction           Amicably, certain organization and teaching ways of appropriate education through MI indication has been geared toward certain social mission as one useful milieu entrusted with the preservation and transmission of accessible knowledge as well as the generation of innovative knowledge of various learner types based on their intelligence merits that can be in better function if given the right teaching instructions posted by the teachers and those with high authority to come up with MI standards and desirable processes. Thus, truly it is that the academe plays core role in defining the society as what it counts as justifiable knowledge for all students with various teaching styles applicable to each mental proficiency built up as there ample need for solid approaches for such department structure of MI that will help in defining good boundaries of students' knowledge that enables discipline to be compete for continued authenticity and survival of such teaching idealism.                     Accordingly, differentiated instruction is the approach that enables teachers to plan strategically to meet the needs of every student. It is rooted in the belief that there is variability among any group of learners and that teachers should adjust instruction accordingly (Cited from, Tomlinson, 2001; 2003). Ideally, inside the classroom setting, there are several reasons why teachers must foster the above broader approach to intellectual functioning. First, as intellectual development is dynamic and multi-faceted, it is misleading to quantify the process of intelligence in the form of a single number (Cited from, Armstrong, 1994; Blythe and Gardner, 1990).  Yet, many schooling systems continue to do so by using the IQ score as the major criterion for including or excluding students from access to special resources (Cited from, Armstrong, 1993; Maker, 1992; Maker, Nelison, and Rogers, 1994; Sternberg, Okagaki and Jackson, 1990). Second, the practice of using IQ scores exclusively as the indicator of intellectual ability underestimates the tremendous potentiality within all students.                   Aside, not only do such scores fail to "predict success in non-academic settings, but they also are poor predictors of success in school" (Cited from, Maker, 1992, p. 12).  The strengths of pupils can be nurtured and cultivated, yet practice in most public schools continues to treat "intelligence" as rational or analytic mind (Cited from, Faggella and Horowitz, 1990; James, 1991). Rubrics are not always the same for the students as they sometimes create their own rubrics in small groups at the beginning of an assignment so that mutually expected criteria create contract of sorts between students and their teacher. Amicably, several students enjoy using such rubrics as a checklist to guide their progress as they complete any assignment. Then, if the teachers are concerned about lack of factual accuracy or writing ability in class, they build benchmarks for evidence of accuracy and writing skills into the rubric given to students at the beginning of an assignment. So from their initial plans to finished products students observe the emphasis on accuracy and writing skills.                     Whether students create rubrics or teachers distribute them, rubrics should act as signpost for excellence and help students to light clear pathways toward new learning heights. The study will rely on qualitative data collection and generation. The methods of data collection and generation employed in qualitative research are clearly different from those in quantitative research in that they rely of narratives to carry themes, impressions, ideas, concerns and attitudes across from original context to that of the reflective researcher and later the reader of the study. The interview could be an imperative source of qualitative data through such interviewing with purpose conversation ways that can be directed in MI actions to better gather appropriate information and its underlying knowledge through teaching strategy applications respectively. Then, in such forms of qualitative research, such interviews are often used in conjuction with other methods of data acquisition such as participant-observation and document analysis.                       The deep approach to learning describes active engagement with the content, leading to extensive elaboration of the learning material while seeking personal understanding as the surface approach indicates the use of routine memorization to reproduce those aspects of the subject matter expected to be assessed. Students motivated by need for achievement showed stable personality associated with self-confidence and ruthlessness. Intrinsic motivation was linked to syllabus-freedom and independent thinking, while fear of failure was related to anxiety and syllabus boundness. Students' approaches are affected by their prior educational and personal histories, which produce habitual patterns of studying. However, the content and context of the task also evoke strategies which are specific to that particular situation.                   Review of Literature   Research has shown that no two children are alike and no two children learn in the identical way.  For a teacher, the biggest challenge is attempting to respond to an increasingly broad spectrum of student needs, backgrounds, and learning styles.  Differentiated instruction is a teaching theory that requires teachers to be flexible in their approach to teaching an adjusting the curriculum and presentation of information to learners rather than expecting students to modify themselves for the curriculum.  However, matching instruction to every learner's needs is very difficult in terms of the availability of teachers and rooms, distribution of students, and administrative considerations.  Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences has met with a strongly positive response from many educators. It has been embraced by a range of educational theorists and applied by teachers and policymakers to the problems of schooling. A number of schools in North America have looked to structure curricula according to the intelligences, and to design classrooms and even whole schools to reflect the understandings that Howard Gardner develops.  Gardner divided the traditional notion of intelligence into seven distinct categories, and later added an eighth intelligence to his model.  The following paragraphs describe the eight intelligences in Gardner's theory.    Verbal/linguistic intelligence is the intelligence of words, or the ability to use the core operations of language with clarity.  By communicating through reading, writing, listening, or speaking the significant components of this intelligence are employed.  People with high verbal-linguistic intelligence tend to manipulate words for a variety of purposes:  debate, persuasion, storytelling, poetry, prose writing, and instruction.  They often love to play with words and use such devices as puns, metaphors, similes, etc. Very often, people with strong verbal/linguistic intelligence can read for hours at a time.  Their auditory skills tend to be highly developed, and they learn best when they can speak, listen, read, or write.  Logical/mathematical intelligence is the basis for the hard sciences and all types of mathematics.  People who use logical-mathematical intelligence are usually good at finding patterns, establishing cause-and-effect relationships, conducting controlled experiments, and sequencing.  Generally, they think in terms of concepts and questions and love to put ideas to the test.  Young children develop this intelligence as they work with concrete manipulative and grasp the concept of one-to-one relationships and numeration.  The critical thinking skills of sequencing, analyzing, and estimating are taught in most school curricula, but need to be emphasized through active learning activities.      Visual/spatial intelligence involves a high capacity for perceiving, creating, and re-creating pictures and images.  Photographers, artists, engineers, architects, and sculptors all use spatial intelligence.  People who are spatially intelligent are perceptive of even slight visual details and can usually sketch ideas out with graphs, tables, or images.  They are often able to convert words or impressions into mental images.  Spatially intelligent people think in images and have a keen sense of location and direction.  This intelligence begins with the sharpening of sensory-motor perceptions.  The eye discriminates color, shape, form, texture, spatial depth, dimension, and relationships.  As the intelligence develops, hand-eye coordination and small-muscle control enable the individual to reproduce the perceived shapes and colors in a variety of media. Bodily/kinesthetic intelligence is the intelligence of the whole body and hands.  It is related to the physical self and the manipulation of one's own body.  This intelligence enables us to control and interpret body motions, manipulate physical objects, and make precise bodily movements with relative ease.  Their tactile sense is usually well developed, and they enjoy physical challenges and pursuits.  These learners learn best by doing, moving, and acting things out.         Musical intelligence is the ability to produce melody and rhythm, as well as to understand, appreciate, and form opinions about music.   People who are able to sing in key, keep tempo, analyze musical forms, or create musical expressions all exhibit musical intelligence.  Musically intelligent people are sensitive to all types of nonverbal sound and the rhythms of everyday noise.  As students develop their musical awareness, they develop the fundamentals of this intelligence.  This intelligence grows as students increase their sophistication when listening and hearing music.  It further develops as students create more complex and subtle variations of musical patterns, develop talent on musical instruments, and advance to complex composition.  Interpersonal intelligence is the intelligence of social understanding, or the ability to understand and relate to others.  Those with this intelligence work well with others and are quite sensitive to slight variations in people's moods, attitudes, and desires.  Often, interpersonally intelligent people are friendly and outgoing.  Most people with this intelligence know how to gauge, identify with, and react to the temperaments of other people.  They are generally excellent team players and managers, and they learn best when they can relate to other people.  This intelligence is seen in children who notice and are sensitive to the moods of the adults around them.  Empathy for feelings, fears, anticipations, and beliefs of others, the willingness to listen without judgment, and the desire to help others raise their level of performance to its highest are all critical traits of those with a strong interpersonal intelligence.             Intrapersonal intelligence is the intelligence of self-knowledge, or the ability to know oneself and assume responsibility for one's life and learning.  The individual with a strong intrapersonal intelligence is able to understand his or her range of emotions and draw on them to direct his or her behavior.  This individual thrives on time to think, to reflect, and to complete self-assessments.  They are in touch with their inner feelings and are able to form realistic goals and conceptions of themselves.  This intelligence enables learners to take greater responsibility for their lives and learning.  Too few students, Gardner suggests, realize they can take responsibility for their learning, especially when they attend schools that base recognition of achievements on external motivations.           The eighth and most recent intelligence validated by Gardner's research is the Naturalist intelligence.  This intelligence is found in those who are highly attuned to the natural world of plants and animals, as well as to natural geography and natural objects like rocks, clouds, and stars.  People who have a high naturalist intelligence love to be outdoors and tend to notice patterns, features, and anomalies in the ecological settings they encounter. They are adept at using these patterns and features to classify and categorize natural objects and living things.  Those with the naturalist intelligence show an appreciation for, and a deep understanding of, the environment.            All people have all these intelligences, use all of them in different situations and contexts, and can develop each intelligence.  However, most people demonstrate especially high ability in one or two intelligences.  Gardner's' model has many implications for education. Good teaching strives to use differentiation instruction through the use of all styles.            Differentiated instruction is not a new trend.  It is based on the best practices in education and it puts students at the center of teaching and learning. It lets their learning direct the teacher's instructional planning. The challenge is for teachers to ensure that the needs of all learners are equally valued and equally served. In differentiating lessons to be responsive to the needs of each learner, teachers must take into account not only what they are teaching but also whom they are teaching. They need to know the varying readiness levels, interests and learning profiles of each of their students and then design learning options to tap into these three factors (Cited from, Tomlinson, 1999).           Thus, to manage effectively, teachers need to employ good range of teaching strategies (Cited from, Tomlinson, 1999), such as the following: -         Setting up stations in the classroom where different learners can work simultaneously on various tasks. Such stations naturally invite flexible grouping -         Having students set agendas, or personalized lists of tasks to complete in a specified time, usually two or three weeks -         Structuring problem-based learning to have students actively solve problems, either individually or in small groups, much the same way that professionals perform their jobs -         Assigning tiered activities to allow learners to work on the same concepts but with varying degrees of complexity, abstractness, and open-endedness -         Using entry points (Cited from, Gardner, 1994) so that learners can explore a topic through as many as five avenues: narrative (presenting story), logical-quantitative (using numbers), foundational (examining philosophy and vocabulary), aesthetic (focusing on sensory features) and experiential (hands-on)               The learning environment must make students feel emotionally safe before learning will take place (Cited from, Howard, 1994; Jensen, 1998). This means that teachers demonstrate and encourage an openness to and respect for student differences, and that they value all learners (Cited from, Watson, 1985; Tomlinson, 2001; Pettig, 2000). They provide places within the learning environment where individual students can work quietly and other places that invite student collaboration. They establish routine for providing support to all students through individualized and small group work, direct instruction when needed, and peer coaching. They select learning materials that reflect variety of cultures and home settings, and they celebrate successes (Citation: Mary Ann Corley "Differentiated Instruction: Adjusting to the Needs of All Learners.", Focus on Basics, Volume 7, Issue C, March 2005).               Methods           The methodology will focus on diverse teaching strategies used and adopted by teachers in reaching out such assumptions for multiple intelligences. There has to be the decision to execute such scenario approach as a way to represent common life situations to subjects. As Gardner's MI model was viewed as one good basis for educational reform that gives benefit to the students. Thus, developing scenarios can be practical method for representing true to life situations in presenting subjects with practical intelligent situation as well as through the holistic picture for certain intellectual dimension known. The utilization of verbal protocol analysis, Hayes (Cited from, 1981) define verbal protocol as description of the activities in which subject engages while performing task as getting subjects to verbalize learner's thought through instructing them to think aloud (Cited from, De Groot, 1965; Newell and Simon, 1972; Rowe, 1985; Schael and Dionne, 1991; Schoenfeld, 1985).                     There has to be teacher interviews asking them what are the strategies of teaching they used in reaching good sense of MI as well as how and why they choose such strategy applied to the different intelligence levels of each student, allowing them to discuss and explain teaching strategy effectiveness in the classroom setting. The interview will be in semi-structured form the purpose is to allow teachers to freely express their ideas and reasons for the strategies they are using and in order to find out if they are familiar with the subjects and its respected curriculum. The qualitative study will involve homeroom teachers who nominated students considered dominant in one of Gardner's seven theorized intelligences.  A series of verbal reports, considered as field data, were gathered as the subjects self-assessed their intellectual dimensions.  In short, they compared themselves to a series of scenarios. The scenarios utilized a common framework, presenting seven idealized grade eight students within the confines of typical school life.                      There has to be an analysis of the verbal protocol analysis appeared to be meaningful way of assessing intellectual profiles as outlined, an analysis of the field data from the transcripts provided evidence that such retrospective statements seemed to reinforce initial student comments. Nevertheless, the attractiveness of Gardner's MI model is that it provides educators, especially classroom instructors, with a theoretical basis for stating something that they may have already hoped would be true that students exemplifying different skills, regardless of the frame of mind. Moreover, teachers first need to discover their students' unique patterns or profiles of intelligence, this will empower the teacher or coach to help the students translate a difficult learning situation into an opportunity to operate from intellectual strength. The profiles provide a description of each student's intellectual strengths, weaknesses, and interests, and this information makes it possible for the teacher to personalize instruction in order to improve motivation and learning and help develop the whole child (Cited from, Kagan and Kagan, 1998).                   Many MI assessments have been developed to help educators create profiles for students one is, through the MI Test and the Facet Tests, retrieved in Kagan and Kagan). Thus, once the profiles have been created, instructors can use the following activities to engage and foster specific intelligence, the activities are not meant to replace usual teaching method, but just to enhance the learning process by broadening the physical education curriculum and stimulating the learning style most appropriate for the individual learner. In order to address the need for diverse strategies in teaching for reaching MI processes, there has to be ample recognition of the suitable learning styles and techniques used by the teachers. For example, in order for the teachers to help linguistic learners progress, they need to use language that the student can relate to and fully comprehend. If used correctly, language can provide a bridge between the material and the learner. Every intelligence possible can incur better ways for the teachers to understand and accommodate diverse learning styles. Teachers should structure the presentation of material in a style, which engages entirely of the intelligence types.                 Furthermore, the intelligence tests can have the potential value in every learner and it is part of teacher's job to nurture and help the children develop intelligence reasoning ways. Thus, the methodology process would involve such primary as well as secondary sources for bringing about a substantial studies that are literature based and theoretically inclined for which such research methods utilized may truly serve its first hand purpose for this study. The primary sources will have to represent original thinking of the MI in a way that it denotes teacher information as the core data for the research will have to be in case studies as well as survey questionnaires equipped with suitable statistical data and its measures as it can have direct observation to the research process as undergoing research should be handed in with empirical facets and crucial points gathered by the researcher. Thus, such techniques for teaching as used and utilized properly for cases wherein MI is visible can be in such patterns that involves the following substantial points to be conducted for the completion of the study:                   One, exposing of teachers and its respected faculty to the altering truth in reflect to such economic as well as political forces that affects the institutional value for teaching MI students. While insulating the academic core from external pressures may protect teachers and its instruction process from interference but, there insures that it will be in touch to the amiable environment for these learners. Ideally, MI strategies applied should be exposed to learners' feedback and to those certain valuable trends that affect the ideal sense of the differentiated instruction being imposed by the institutions. So, the challenge here is to discover right balance amid maintaining teachers' sufficiency and engagement in its teaching activities as reserved for realization.           Another, is to amicably observe how Ml schools respond to huge environment and encourage such protected academic units to be able to learn from them as the MI schools can possibly encounter environmental changes sooner than certain traditional disciplines within the academic core, they can alert teachers and administrators of the school to changes and help them have enough timeframe to consider shifts to MI implications respectively. Thus, helping teachers to consider how to be responsive to students' changing needs while nurturing independent critical thought and then, responding to the demands from MI environment learning from those successful teaching strategies as implied. Furthermore, fresh policies could make teachers in MI background to be responsible in terms of identifying good factors of learners' progress towards such teaching goals and purpose. Thus, such measures can include learner's performance and the excellence of faculty teaching, impact of teacher research to be designed for MI applications through utilizing better strategies and that such information would reveal functionality among teaching goals in lieu to the progress in differentiated instruction indicating corrective assimilation.           There is question that planning on ways to adjust to the changing environment has to be led by top administrative and academic leaders. But it must be embraced and energized faculty members with their own ideas and insights because, in the end, they must legitimate the process. Without their full participation, faculty members will remain uncommitted to any new direction and their lack of commitment will undermine even the best efforts. Planning and implementing changes that enable institutions of higher education to adapt must become integral by the faculty members as strategic exercises. Thus, considering how faculty members have reacted in case after case to heavy-handed tactics by school executives bent establishing better MI programs for different types of learners' intelligence cycles (Cited from, Astin and Astin, 2000). The hope is that teachers will be able to begin conversation with colleagues about establishing powerful voice in the affairs of the schools and have the efforts to create visible process of evaluation and adjustment for which teaching approaches accountable and retain substantial control on the part of the instruction processes. What is needed is examination of core assumptions and innovative strategies to help better MI transition and that teacher to learner's action is possible in the modern ay efforts for desirable education requirement catering to the different needs of every learner enduring right sense of attitude and behavior.           There should also be the integration of secondary data as findings and assumption studies made by several researchers can be a good option that supports any valid information as explored by the indication of teacher strategies as it impact the student's ability to comprehend and learn various subjects. The secondary resources will then analyze and evaluate information as being found in the primary sources and creates information more accessible to the readers and the parties involved as these were supported by good books, peer reviewed journals as well as articles and other publication types. The research paradigm for the research will be in practice of recognizing the application of various research methodologies and techniques as it should be grounded by means of comprehensive theories as well as better understanding of MI indicators that are to be integrated and interpreted in due teaching practice.