Open Collections

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a growing recognition of the need for educational environments that prioritize the diverse needs of all students, promote equity, and embrace constructivist approaches. This study adopts an inclusive and egalitarian ideology that centers on constructing "an education that is gifted for every student" by recognizing, celebrating, and cultivating diverse intelligences and talents. In this regard, this dissertation proposes an initial conceptual framework—the Intelligence-Friendly Classroom (IFC) Framework—which is designed to help educators recognize and cultivate students’ intelligences, talents, strengths, and interests. The framework integrates cognitive, sociocultural, developmental, and motivational aspects of intelligence by synthesizing four established theories: Cattell’s Fluid and Crystallized Intelligence (FCI), Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (MI), Sternberg’s Successful Intelligence (SI), and Dweck’s Implicit Theories of Intelligence (ITI). This new synthesis supports the creation of inclusive and responsive classrooms for fostering equity, diversity, and talent development in education. Employing a quantitative research methodology with a cross-sectional survey design, this study investigates educators' knowledge, skills, attitudes, and self-efficacy towards constructing an intelligence-friendly classroom through the application of these theories. Results indicate that educators are more familiar with, and more confident in applying the motivational and sociocultural aspects of the framework (ITI and MI theories). In contrast, the developmental and cognitive aspects (FCI and SI theories) are less familiar and perceived as more challenging. Despite variations in knowledge and skills, most participants expressed highly positive attitudes towards constructing intelligence-friendly classrooms and reported a moderate level of self-efficacy in building such classrooms. Therefore, this study contributes to advancing inclusive and strengths-based education by offering the IFC Framework as an initial step toward a practical model. By offering this integrative framework, it aims to support educators in designing enriched learning environments that recognize diversity, promote equity, and empower all students to reach their potential.