The MIDAS Profile of the Children. A Useful Instrument [611096]

The MIDAS™ Profile of the Children. A Useful Instrument
for Consolidating the School -Family Partnership
Diana -Crina Marina,*, Mu șata Bocoșb
aDoctoral School “Education, Reflection, Development”, Babeș -Bolyai University Cluj -Napoca, 7
Sindicatelor Street, 4 00029, Romania
bBabeș -Bolyai University, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, 7 Sindicatelor Street,
400015, Cluj -Napoca, Romania

Abstract
The current study aims to present the main advantages of using the MIDAS for KIDS™: My Young
Child questi onnaire. This research tool, designed by Branton Shearer, Ph.D., was used to assess the
level of development of the multiple intelligences of 227 children that were enrolled in the preparatory
grade, during the school year 2016 -2017. We have discovered that the most developed types of
intelligences of the children are naturalist intelligence, interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal
intelligence. The content of the MIDAS questionnaire was considered accessible and attractive by the
parents involved in o ur research.

Keywords: MIDAS for KIDS™: My Young Child; The multiple intelligences theory; multiple
intelligences, Preparatory grade; School –family partnership; Family Involvement

* Correspond ing author. Tel.: +4-072-616-0363
E-mail address : [anonimizat].

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1. Introduction
In order to successfully manage the partnership relationships between the school
and the family, teachers need a good professional training. The current training
programs of the teachers should be focused on promoting the most effective
strategies, through which the school and the family partnership should be consoli dated
and through which the family involvement in children’s education could be increased
(Greenwood & Hickman, 1991; Smith, Driessen, Sluiter, & Sleegers, 2007). Not only
the quality but also the frequency of interpersonal interactions is influencing the
quality of school family -partnership. (Izzo, Weissberg, Kasprow, & Fendrich, 1999).
Adams & Christenson (2000) highlights that the quality of the interactions with
parents is more important than their frequency.
Collaboration, trust, positive attitudes, d ecisional transparency and mutual respect
between teachers and parents are the foundations of an authentic partnership betw een
the school and the families (Adams & Christenson, 2000; Addi -Raccach & Arviv –
Elyashiv, 2008 ; Guerra & Luciano, 2010 ; Ho Sui C hu, 2007; Lazar & Slostad, 1999 ;
Schmidt, 2000). Students’ harmonious development is significantly influenced by the
quality of parent -child relationships and, at the same time, by the effectiveness of
home -school cooperation (Epstein, 2001). The educational a ctions performed within
the school -community partnership have a positive influence on the school
performance achieved by students ( Valli, Stefanski, & Jacobson, 2014 ). The effective
communication between parents and teachers influences positively the schoo l-family
collaboration relationship, pupils’ school performance and parents’ level of
confidence in the teaching staff (Hobjilă, 2014; Swick, 2003). During primary
education, parents generally have a high level of trust in teachers (Adams &
Christenson, 2000).
The use of the theory of the multiple intelligences in the educational f ield has
positive effects on the motivational level of the students and on their school
performances (Bordei, 2 014, Vîrtop, 2014; Vîrtop, 2015 ; Shear er & Reith, 2011;
Shear er, 2004; Stanciu, Orban, & Bocoș, 2011). This theory is sometimes very
difficult to be put into practice if the teachers do not have relevant information about
the children’s profile of intelligence, the school manuals and other resources used in
the class are not designed from the perspective of this theory, or the student’s
evaluation is based on standardized tests, which stimulate only a few types of
intelligences (Bocoș, 2013; Burhan, Selim, & Emrullah, 2010; Constantinescu, 2014).
The process of understanding the gender differences in regard to the degree of
development of the multip le intelligences, help us understand better the factors that
influence the efficiency of the pedagogical actions realized in various educational
contexts (Todor, 2014).
2. Methodology
2.1. Objective
Our research is guided by the following research question: Whi ch are the most
developed types of intelligences of the students enrolled in the preparatory grade in
the Romanian educational system? The theory of the multiple intelligences,
discovered by Howard Gardner, is considered an effective way of improving the
various types of educational activities. The application of this theory in the
instructional process by teachers should be realized after a strong understanding of the
pupils’ abilities and interests. Understanding the configuration of the profile of
intell igences of their students give them the chance to adapt their teaching methods to
maximize the success of their educational activities. The vision of the parents in
regard to the potential of their children to obtain high performance in their learning
processes influence their degree of invo lvement in children’s education (Pancu,
2016). The purpose of this study is to investigate the teachers’ and parents’ vision
about the relevance of assessing the degree of development of the multiple
intelligences of the children. We were also interested to investigate parents’

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availability to be actively involved in the process of understanding the children’s best –
developed types of intelligences. We consider that their positive attitudes and the
acceptance of the conten t of the theory of multiple intelligences are determining their
desire to know more information about the MIDAS ™ profile of intelligence of their
students/ children.
2.2. Participants
The data was collected in the school year 2016 -2017 using the MIDAS
questionn aire. The MIDAS for KIDS: My young child is designed to assess the
degree of development of all eight types of intelligences developed by Howard
Gardner. The participants in our research were 227 pupils enrolled in the preparatory
grade in the school year 2016 -2017. The questionnaires were filled in by parents of
the pupils from both urban and rural areas from Cluj County, Romania. 12 classes of
students from 5 school units were involved in our study.
2.3. Instrument
The MIDAS for KIDS™: My Young Child was cre ated by Branton Sherar, Ph.D.,
in order to assess the level of development of the multiple intelligences of the children
aged 4 -8 years. The questionnaire evaluates all eight types of intelligences discovered
by Howard Gardner: musical intelligence, bodily -kinesthetic intelligence, logical –
mathematical intelligence, spatial intelligence, linguistic intelligence, interpersonal
intelligence, intrapersonal intelligence and naturalist intelligence.
2.4. Procedure
The questionnaires were filled in by 227 parents of t he students enrolled in the
preparatory grade. The parents were guided to give very sincere answers about their
children’s abilities. All the recommendations formulated by the author of the scale
were taken into account in the process of the translation, d ata collection and during
the interpretation of the results.
2.5. Data analysis
In order to establish which are the most developed multiple intelligences at the
level of all the classes involved in our research, the average of the scores obtained by
each of the students was calculated, for each type of intelligence. Results revealed that
the most developed types of intelligences of the children are naturalist intelligence,
interpersonal intelligence, and intrapersonal intelligence (see fig. 1). It is important t o
outline, that these types of intelligences were identified as the most developed
multiple intelligences of the children, during our research conducted in the 2014 -2015
school year (Pancu, 2016). The research was conducted on a sample of 33 students,
from Cluj County, Romania.

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Fig. 1. The a verage of the scores obtained for each scale

From the analysis of table 1, we can conclude that the naturalist intelligence is the
type of intelligence wit h the highest score average, for the majority of the classes
involved in our study. The lowest average scores obtained for all the classes involved
in our study were those for musical intelligence and bodily -kinesthetic intelligence.

Table 1. Results ob tained at each of the classes involved in our study

The identification code
of the class Type of intelligence with the
highest average score Type of intelligence with the
lowest average scores
C1 Naturalist intelligence Musical intelligence
C2 Naturalis t intelligence Bodily -kinesthetic intelligence
C3 Naturalist intelligence Musical intelligence
C4 Naturalist intelligence Bodily -kinesthetic intelligence
C5 Naturalist intelligence Bodily -kinesthetic intelligence
C6 Intrapersonal intelligence Bodily -kinesthetic intelligence
C7 Linguistic intelligence Bodily -kinesthetic intelligence
C8 Intrapersonal intelligence Musical intelligence
C9 Intrapersonal intelligence Musical intelligence
C10 Naturalist intelligence Musical intelligence
C11 Naturalist int elligence Musical intelligence
C12 Naturalist intelligence Bodily -kinesthetic intelligence

The classes involved in our study were both from rural and urban areas from Cluj
County, Romania. We have decided to compare the results obtained by the
particip ants from urban areas with the ones obtained in the rural area. The mean scale
scores obtained by each of these categories of participants are listed in figure 2. We
have discovered that the mean scores obtained in both rural and urban areas are
similar. In the rural area, we have obtained the highest mean score for naturalist
intelligence. The highest score obtained in the urban area was obtained for the
interpersonal intelligence. A possible explanation for these results could be the fact

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that children f rom rural areas are more often involved in gardening and animal care
activities. At the same time, children from urban areas have more opportunities for
spending their free time and the chance to be involved in more interpersonal
relationships with other c hildren or adults. In both urban and rural areas, the writing
abilities of the children were associated with the lowest mean scores . A possible
explanation for this phenomenon is the fact that during the preparatory grade, children
are more involved in act ivities that stimulate the other subscales of the linguistic
intelligences, such as reading or speaking. This ability of the children will be
developed more frequently during the first grade. The results obtained could not be
generalized, taking into accou nt the dimension of the sample of participants and the
fact that they live in a single county of Romania, but they are interesting to be
outlined and could form the basis of further researches in Romania.

Fig. 2. A comparison of the results obtained in urban and rural areas of Romania

The results obtained by both boys and girls involved in our study revealed that both
boys and girls obtained higher mean scores for the naturalist intelligence. The girls
obtaine d higher mean scores than boys for musical and b odily -kinesthetic
intelligences ( see fig. 3).

Fig. 3. A comparison of the results obtained, taking into account the gender differences

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The high value of the a verage scores obtained for the naturalist intelligence
suggests the necessity of stimulating more frequently this type of intelligence during
the learning activities realized at school or at home. The increased interest of the
students for plants and anima ls should be taken into account as a factor that can
ensure the success of the educational activities organized during the preparatory
grade.
3. Results
We can conclude that the most developed types of intelligences of the pupils
enrolled in the preparatory grade are naturalist intelligence, interpersonal intelligence,
and intrapersonal intelligence. The results of our study are useful for the primary
school teachers and school counselors. The most important advantage of the
administration of the MIDAS questi onnaire consists in speeding up the process of
understanding the students’ abilities and interests. Another advantage is related to the
fact that the instrument can offer the teachers and the parents the chance to talk about
the abilities of the children a nd to formulate strategies and action plans in regard to
children’s education.
4. Discussions
We have discovered that the process of investigation of the MIDAS profile of the
children enrolled in the preparatory grade is beneficial. The most important fact
revealed by this study is that this research instrument can be used to consolidate the
school -family partnership, taking into account the positive attitudes of both teachers
and parents to find out more information about their children’s profile of intellige nces.
For a good evolution of the school -family partnership, it is very important for the first
interactions between the students, the parents, and the teachers to be realized in good
conditions. The preparatory grade, as the first class of the primary edu cational system
in Romania, is an important moment to build strong relationships between the school
and the families, based on trust and positive attitudes. The understanding of the
MIDAS Profile of the children could make teachers and parents formulate ed ucational
objectives regarding the children’s learning opportunities from home or school.
Teacher’s observations in regard to the children preferences and behavior, the
discussions with the children and the parents confirmed the results revealed by the
MID AS Profile of the children, which help us conclude that this research instrument
could be used successfully by researchers, teachers and school counselors in Romania.
Attention should be paid especially to the stimulation of the naturalist intelligence of
the children, in order to ensure the success of the educational activities realized during
the preparatory grade. All the teachers that teach to the class where the students are
enrolled should know which the most developed types of intelligences of each c hild
are, in order to apply in good conditions the applications of the multiple intelligences
theory in their teaching activity. All the parents involved in our study wish to
cooperate well with the teachers of their children.
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