The Relation of Multiple Intelligences and Spatial Perception with Performance in Geography Education

Abstract

This pilot research was conducted in order to examine the impact of students’ and teachers’ multiple intelligences and spatial perception on students’ performance in geography, and their attitude towards the lesson. The sample was 86 students and 4 teachers in the 6th grade from both a pilot school and a traditional school in Athens. In this paper we present the results from the survey (validated and evaluated for their reliability), which indicated that: 1) There is inefficient geographic knowledge, 2) Most students seem to have lowly developed spatial thinking abilities. In a spatial perception test, they only demonstrated high records in the questions concerning the plan views and the orientation, 3) Geography is considered as a less important subject, 4) The majority of students and teachers had moderate or negative attitudes towards geography, 5) Children with higher spatial thinking abilities had better performance in geography, 6) Spatial intelligence correlated with all types of intelligence, apart from musical, 7) Statistically, no difference between the students’ attitude and spatial thinking was determined based on the type of school.