Investigating the Gardner's Multiple Intelligences Components in Elementary School Math Textbooks: The Shannon Entropy Method

The purpose of this study was to analyze the content of the Persian textbooks of the elementary school from the perspective of emphasizing the components of Gardner's multiple intelligences.   The research method was content analysis and statistical population includes all elementary Persian mathematic textbooks in 2020-2021 that the statistical sample is equal to the statistical population. The research tool was a checklist of based on Gardner's multiple intelligence components theory (linguistic-verbal, mathematical logical, visual-spatial, kinetic-physical, intrapersonal, interpersonal and musical). Pages are the unit of analysis and the book's exercises and activities are the unit of recording were coded by deductive method. Validation of data was calculated by independent coders and the Inter rater or observer reliability was 87%. Data were analyzed using entropy technique in SPSS. The results showed in the textbooks of the elementary school, the highest coefficient belongs to mathematical-logical intelligence (0.31); visual-spatial intelligence (0.26) and linguistic-verbal intelligence (0.23). Individual intuitive intelligence (0.10), physical-motor intelligence (0.09) and intrapersonal intelligence (0.03) are also after. Musical intelligence has the least frequency. The results show the using of multiple intelligence components in the mathematical textbooks and activities are different and the balance way are not considered. Although the musical intelligence component is one of the important components in increasing students' attention, it has been neglected and ignored. Therefore, due to the researcher’s emphasis on the role of multiple intelligences in learning math, it is necessary to consider this important issue for authors and designer in writing books.