Multiple Intelligences and Academic Achievement: Investigating Multidimensional Relationships and Predictive Among Undergraduate Students in STEAM Disciplines in Punjab, Pakistan

Abstract

The concept of multiple intelligence (MI) has significantly altered the educational paradigm by acknowledging that students have diverse cognitive strengths and learn styles in different ways. The present study aimed to establish the relationships between multiple intelligences and academic performance in a multidimensional context study among undergraduate students pursuing STEAM disciplines in Punjab, Pakistan. It also involved a comparison based on gender. Students from the Pure sciences and arts & humanities departments of the University of Sargodha were conveniently selected to be the participants. A self-report checklist of 80 items adapted from Armstrong's (1993) Multiple Intelligence Checklist, which was pilot-tested and shown to have high reliability (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.89), was used for data collection. Various statistical techniques, such as the T-test, correlation, and ANOVA, were used to investigate group differences and relationships between variables. It was found that there was a very weak and statistically insignificant association between multiple intelligences and academic achievement, and that female students had higher overall intelligence scores than males. Besides that, only the verbal-linguistic intelligence type showed a slight positive correlation with academic marks, and no significant difference was observed across educational boards or academic grades. University teachers should introduce multiple intelligence-based teaching methods in their classrooms, not only for the sake of accommodating different learning styles but also for the purpose of enhancing students' engagement and thus improving learning outcomes in STEAM education.