Pluralistic and Communalistic Pedagogies and Intellectual Abilities Among High School Students: A Case Study

One of the overarching goals of education is the development of intellectual abilities (IA). Yet, there are not enough tools to identify pedagogies that maximize students’ IA. In this research, we consider the way teachers’ reinforcing of versatility of opinions (pluralism) vs. teachers encouraging community views (communalism) has on developing high school students’ IA. Although it has been argued that both of these pedagogies benefit students, the impact on the development of students’ IA has not been shown. Data including 12 teacher interviews, their students' assignments, student surveys and 409 alumni reflections on their learning processes were collected over a period of two years. Findings show that pluralistic pedagogy strengthened students’ IA. Together with that, a communalistic school environment is crucial for effective pluralistic teaching in class. Implications and suggestions for education are discussed.