VII. International Multidisciplinary Congress of Eurasia, Antalya, Turkey, 24 - 26 April 2019, pp.21-23
The constructivist approach is an approach where individuals are effective in their learning process and can construct their own knowledge. Since the construction of knowledge is influenced by the characteristics of individuals, individual differences need to be taken into account when designing teaching-learning processes. With teaching methods that specially designed for individuals with different learning styles, learning becomes easier and productivity is increasing. However, there are some problems in designing and implementing a teaching-learning process based on individual differences. One of the most prominent is the lack of time to focus on individual differences in the classroom. Computer-aided materials designed based on individual differences can be used to overcome this limitation. Computer-aided materials help students' learning processes and provide support especially for teachers to save time. These teaching materials can be supported by various multimedia technologies, so they provide students a learning environment equipped with visual and audio elements. These materials also provide an opportunity for individuals to work in line with their own learning needs, and thus to manage their learning. In this study, a computer-aided material based on the individual differences of the students was developed. The computer-aided material is about chemical bonds and mixtures. The material was developed based on Gardner's Multiple Intelligence Theory (MIT). The theory forms a framework for many educational strategies. According to the theory, each individual has 9 different types of intelligence, including linguistic-verbal, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial, intrapersonal, interpersonal, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalistic and existential. These types of intelligence can be dominant at different levels in each individual. The use of MIT together with the technology allows the teaching-learning process to address many different types of intelligence, and to meet the needs of the students with different learning styles. The aim of this study is to develop a computer-aided instructional material about chemical bonds and mixtures, which is based on MIT, and to evaluate the ability of this material to address individual differences. 34 students from seventh grade participated in the study. First, the dominant intelligence areas of the students were determined in the study. It was determined that the dominant intelligence areas of the students in the class were collected in the fields of social, logical-mathematical, visual-spatial and interpersonal intelligence, and there were few students who have linguistic-verbal and naturalistic dominant intelligence areas. Computer-aided, online material has been developed according to the predominant intelligence areas. In the material there are; chat environments for the interpersonal intelligence area; similarity-difference, grouping, classification studies, building relationships and experimental studies for the logical-mathematical intelligence area; animations and simulations for the visual-spatial intelligence area; animal and nature pictures for the naturalistic intelligence area; detailed explanations for the linguistic-verbal intelligence area. Since the material allows students to manage their own learning, it also addresses students with intrapersonal intelligence area. The developed material was presented to the expert opinion and applied to the students after the necessary arrangements were made. Semi-structured interview technique was used to evaluate whether the material was suitable for the individual differences of the students. In this context, two students from each dominant intelligence area were randomly selected and individual interviews were conducted with 12 students. The findings show that the students love the activities about their individual differences. As a result, the computer aided material was found to be successful in
addressing the individual differences of the students.