Making a Case for the Use of Problem-based Learning to Develop the Multiple Intelligences of Accounting Students: A Pedagogical Perspective

Accounting demands students to engage in critical thinking and problem solving and challenges them to tap into their analytical, application, evaluation, practical and creative skills. Among others, the accounting equation, preparation and analysis of financial statements and budgeting require students to have a sound command of the above cognitive skills. Drawing from the pedagogical submissions of social constructivism and guided by the theoretical assumptions of multiple intelligences, this quantitative study makes a case for the use of problem-based learning to develop the Multiple Intelligences of first year Accounting Student teachers. A phenomenological research design and the interpretivist paradigm informed data collection using a Likert Scale questionnaire with eighteen statements while descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. The findings presented a compelling synopsis to advocate for the use of scaffolding to promote the multiple intelligences of students. This was ascribed to the congruity between scaffolding and problem-based learning in developing multiple intelligences. It is recommended that students be given teaching and learning activities that are underpinned by the cognitive and assessment provisions of multiple intelligences and social constructivism. Lecturers are thus discouraged from completely relying on textbook assessments. Instead, they should adopt a creative stance to integrate the cognitive constructs of multiple intelligences in their lesson presentations and assessments to develop the students’ analytical, creative thinking, evaluating and problem-solving skills. The cognitive requirements of multiple intelligences and social constructivism, in conjunction with the higher order level functions of bloom taxonomy need to find expression in all pedagogical practices and assessments.