The research objectives are to find out: (1)The improvement of the students’ understanding of thematic concepts through the Multiple Intelligences Learning approach (PMI) is better than the students’understanding of thematic concepts through conventional approaches. (2) The interaction between the learning approach and the student's initial ability to increase understanding of students' thematic concepts. The instruments used were: (1) Initial Mathematics Ability Test, (2) Thematic Concept Understanding Test, (3) Likert Scale Multiple Intelligences Questionnaire, (4) Observation Sheet. The instrument has fulfilled the validity and the reliability coefficient requirements of 0.87 and 0.93 for understanding thematic concepts and multiple intelligences questionnaires. This research is quasi-experimental research.The research subjects were the students of State Elementary School 112270 Hasang and State Elementary School 118193 Pangujungan. The sample of the experimental class was 66 students, while the sample of the control class was 63 students which taken randomly. The research object: The understanding of the concept and the questionnaire. The data used are pretest and posttest. From the research the concept of understanding was obtained F count =5,461> F table =3.07 there was a different in the increasing the students’ understanding of the thematic concept of the Multiple Intelligences Approach (PMI) compared to the students who were given the Conventional Learning (PK) approach. For multiple intelligences questionnaire, it was obtained F count= 110,835> F table= 3.07 there is a difference in the increasing of students’ compound intelligence who were given PMI compared to students who were given PK. Based on the results about it can be concluded that an increaseof the students’ understanding of the thematic concept who use PMI is better than students who use PK. So it is suggested in this matter Multiple Learning Intelligence (PMI) should be an alternative learning for the teachers in elementary schools to improve understanding of students' thematic concepts.

Keywords : Thematic Understanding Ability, Multiple Intelligences Approach.