Integrating Multiple Intelligences and Islamic Values in Early Childhood Education: An Integrative Literature Review and a Tauhid-Oriented Pedagogical FrameworkMultiple Intelligences (MI) theory is wterature and a Monotheism-Oriented Pedagogical Framework
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59890/ijels.v4i8.77Keywords:
Multiple Intelligences, Islamic Values, Early Childhood Education, Tauhid, Multimodal Pedagogy, Integrative Review.Abstract
Multiple Intelligences (MI) theory is widely used in early childhood education because it offers a perspective that values children’s diverse potentials. Its educational use, however, often shifts into labeling children according to a single intelligence or equating MI with learning styles, while the theory’s psychometric basis and intervention effectiveness remain contested. Islamic education, meanwhile, positions tauhid, fitrah, adab, worship, and stewardship as orientations for whole-child development. This article synthesizes the convergences, tensions, and possibilities for integrating MI and Islamic values and develops a more defensible pedagogical framework for early childhood education. An integrative literature review was conducted through problem identification, structured searching, source evaluation, comparative-thematic analysis, and conceptual synthesis. The corpus covered foundational MI literature, empirical criticism, childhood spirituality and moral education, Islamic education, and early childhood studies published in international and accredited Indonesian journals. The synthesis indicates that MI is most productively employed as a heuristic for diversifying learning pathways language, reasoning, visual representation, movement, rhythm, interaction, reflection, and nature exploration rather than as a fixed classification of children’s abilities. Islamic values provide an axiological orientation that directs those pathways toward adab, initial faith formation, self-regulation, empathy, responsibility, and environmental care. The article proposes the Tauhid-Oriented Multiple Pathways Pedagogy framework, integrating value orientation, multimodal learning experiences, developmentally appropriate practice, family-school-community ecology, and authentic assessment without labeling. The framework contributes to a holistic, inclusive, and empirically cautious curriculum and pedagogy for Islamic early childhood education.
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