CURRICULUM PLANNING KNOWLEDGE & RESEARCH IN EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES
Year:2014 | Volume:10 | Issue:12 (39)|Papers Count:16

The previous studies indicated the influence of problem-based learning to increases intrinsic motivation for learning, meaningful and sustainable learning. This study was conducted with the aim of focusing on the problem- solving process in the content of elementary sciences textbooks' exercises. In this study, the exercise has been the unit of analysis and deductive approach used in the coding process. Coding categories were determined by using the Dewey's six stages of problem solving. The study area was consisted of all content of elementary sciences textbooks' exercises. The population was studied by using census. The Findings from content analysis of the first to five textbooks of the elementary school showed that the solution (fourth stage of the problem solving process) has more consideration unlike the stages of "dealing with problem", "change location" and "the building of problem". Moreover, the results of this study stated that the sciences textbook of the third elementary school had more emphasis to the stages of problem- solving unlike the science textbook of the first elementary school. Among the points emphasized in this study, it could be noted to problem-based approach in the elementary school science textbooks and increasing the vertical relationship in elementary school science textbooks for facing the students with problem solving.

The purpose of this research was to study the relationship between organizational dimensions climate and acceptance of curriculum innovation in Isfahan University. This study was applied and the research method was a descriptive-correlative (survey). Statistical population was included all 503 faculty members of the University of Isfahan. 126 faculty members were chosen as a statistical sample. The research tools were two questionnaires. One of them was designed by Gole (2008) for organizational dimensions climate (rules, discipline, democracy, social and cultural factors of organizational image, total goal) and the other questionnaire was used for of acceptance of curriculum innovation (innovation goals, content, learning-teaching, evaluation). In order to analyze data at the level of inferential statistics, multi Regression, Levin and ANOVA tests were used. The findings showed that: 1) There was a positive and significant relation between organizational dimensions climate and acceptance of curriculum innovation. 2) There was a positive and significant relation between organizational dimensions climate and acceptance of curriculum innovation goals, content, learning-teaching and evaluation. 3) There was a significant difference between the mean of organizational dimensions climate in terms of university, college, tenure, academic trips for grading the faculty members of the University of Isfahan and the faculty members of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (p<0.05). 4) There was not a significant difference between the mean of organizational dimensions climate in terms of the gender of faculty members of Isfahan University (p<0.05).

The aim of the study was the design of educational software for the fifth-grade sciences course based on meta-cognition and reviewing its impact on the motivation and academic achievement of students. Research method was quasi experimental with case control and pretest-posttest. Statistical population was 12192 students of primary school in Kermanshah. 105 students as the sample were selected by random cluster sampling method and pot in to the experimental and control groups randomly. Research´s data gathering tools were standard, academic motivation questionnaire and academic achievement test. Statistical analyzing was ANOVA and ANCOVA. The result showed that there was a statistical significant difference between the score of students motivation in experimental and control groups (p=0.01). Finding the sub components about motivation showed that there were significant differences among the scores of experimental and control groups regarding the components of tendency to progress (p=0.000), self-reliance (p=0.009), hegemonies (p=0.010), purpose circuit (p=0.023), bonus material (p=0.026). The results also indicated that there was a statistical significant difference between the scores of students learning in experimental and control groups (p=0.015). However, there was no statistical significant difference between the scores of students retention in experimental and control groups (p=0.077).

This research was conducted with the aim of Johnson’s constructive pattern impact in problem-based learning in-service training programs for teachers. The research method was quasi-experimental. In order to measure satisfaction and attitude variables posttest design with control group was used and to measure the learning variable pretest-posttest design with control group were used. The statistical sample consisted of two groups of teachers participated in a descriptive evaluation in-service course in the city of Lamerd. The number of participants in this group was 68. The descriptive evaluation course was designed based on David Johnson’s constructive problem based learning. Research tools included two questionnaires to measure satisfaction, attitudes and the test was used to measure academic achievement. The content validity was used as a validation method for all means in this study. The reliability amount of satisfaction and attitude questionnaires calculated by using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient and the results were 0.96 and 0.94, respectively. At the mean time, it was 0.83 for a test questionnaire by using Cooder Richardson method. The obtained data were analyzed using multi-variable variance and single-variable covariance analysis. The results indicated that designing constructivist problem-based learning environment in in-service education could increase the learner’s satisfaction and more positive attitude, getting better results in academic achievement and increased the overall effectiveness of the instruction.

The present study was conducted with the aim of identifying the barriers and challenges for executing the descriptive evaluation plan from primary school teacher’s point of view and the responsible experts of primary education. The research method was descriptive and survey kind. The first third grade primary school teachers as well as the responsible experts in this field in Isfahan were included in the study with the number of 3097 individuals. The sampling method was done randomly. The samples were consisted of 165 teachers and 9 responsible experts. The relevant information was analyzed by utilizing the researcher’s questionnaire including 72 questions in 11 domains. The relation between education was observed by using single variables, unilateral variance and t-test independent analysis. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (0.95) was calculated for the reliability and validity. It was including the outward validity, content, orientation validity. The obtained results indicated about the barriers and challenges of descriptive evaluation plan from the teachers’ point of views. They were as follows: the framework and educational resources teachers accurate education; parents justification organization factors; scholastic books schedule suitable status; relation between education organization and the university; parents lack of cooperation; methods of using from descriptive evaluation means; teaching and learning process; students mental health promotion. The barriers and challenges of this plan from the viewpoints of responsible experts were specified hereunder: the students’ mental health promotion and new concepts of education and training zone.

Reading skill is the most important necessity for the students learning in modern life. This skill is related to abilities in subject understanding interpretation and inference of texts and reception of concept and meaning of the written message. Educational success and achievement for each student have direct relationship with his/her capability in subject understanding. The aim of this study was checking the reading literacy rates of the 4th grade of elementary students of Shahriyar city and the comparison with the average student performance of the 4th grade of elementary students in the whole country. The research procedure in its story was section surveying which was a discretional research technique and its implement was an international standardized notebook (PERLZ), which was performed on 260 male and female students in the grade 4 in Shahriyar city. They were selected with multi-step cluster sampling method. The study findings indicated that there was not a considerable difference in operational average between the Shahriyar students and the whole country in grade three and four (inference levels). However, but in the first and second levels (recitation levels), Shahriyar students were higher than the students in the whole country were. In understanding of literary texts, the students of Shahriyar did not have a considerable difference with others, but in understanding of informative texts, they had a better operation than the students of the whole country did.

E learning is one of the research new threads. This research was carried out with the aim of studying the virtual learning implementation as a feasibility study in the Khorasgan branch of Islamic Azad University (Isfahan). The study method was survey-descriptive and the statistical population has been the 307 faculty members of this university. The sample size was calculated as 74 by using the Cochran formula. Therefore, 108 samples were studied to be ensured. Research tool was a closed questionnaire responses including four dimensions (technological, social-cultural, organizational and educational). The questionnaire reliability by using the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.966. Face, content and construct validity were conducted through factor analysis. The sampling method was simple random. The questionnaire answers have been analyzed in two levels, descriptive and inferential statistics with SPSS software. The results have shown that in the aspect of faculty members, possibility to run e-learning courses in all four dimensions was upper than medium. There was no statistically significance difference between the mean of respondents’ comments regarding demographic features (gender, age, educational group and experience). According to the obtained results, it was understood that there is the ability to run e learning at the university, but the deficiencies must be corrected to prevent problems during implementation.

This study was conducted with the aim of Comparison of school anxiety and its components on the fourth-grade students of elementary schools in both traditional and descriptive evaluation systems. For this purpose, 400 students (boy & girl) have been selected. 200 of them received descriptive evaluation and the other 200 received traditional evaluation. They were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method. The Philips school anxiety questionnaire was used in order to compare the school anxiety. The collected information was analyzed in descriptive and inferential statistics. The results showed that there were no differences in school anxiety and its components between the two mentioned groups (p>0.05). There was a difference between girls and boys in the test of anxiety and the girls showed more anxiety (p<0.05). There was a difference between both of descriptive and traditional evaluation systems among the boy students in the test (p=0.01) and school anxiety (p<0.05). The students who received traditional evaluation showed more anxiety. There was a difference between boy and girl students in descriptive evaluation in the test of anxiety and the girls showed more anxiety (p<0.01). Therefore, based on the result, it can be concluded that the descriptive evaluation is more useful for the boys and it can reduce the amount of school anxiety in them.

The purpose of this study was the comparison of intellectual preferences among female students of the second, third and fourth grades of mathematics’ sciences at Mashhad secondary schools. In this descriptive-survey research, the population was consisted of the total of female students of the high schools of Mashhad in the second, third and forth grades of mathematics field in 2010-2011. The sample was included 131 high school students (39 students at the second grade, 50 students at the third grade and 42 students at the fourth grade) who studied mathematics. They were chosen by using cluster sampling method from different regions of Mashhad. The short form of Ned Hermann questionnaire was used. Statistical analysis was done by descriptive and inferential statistic. The collected data was analyzed through ANOVA, Mono-vamethodes and Tukey follow-up test. The results indicated that the mean score of D-quadrant was decreased significantly (F=3.17, p<0.045) and D-quadrant brain dominance was decreased significantly (p<0.05) from the second grade to the fourth grade. The findings of the present research showed that the current process in the field of mathematics education did not provide the development of students' brain ability. Therefore, evaluating of the curriculum and teacher's method of teaching in this field by competent authorities seems to be necessary.

The purpose of this study was to develop a model based on 360-degree feedback for the evaluation of academic performance of students admitted without university entrance exam for graduate studies. Statistical population was included 1507 students admitted for graduate studies at Semnan University, in which 306 students were selected by using a stratified random sampling method as the sample. For data collection, a researcher's made questionnaire for measuring the academic performance in four dimensions was used. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed. For data analysis in addition to descriptive statistics, inferential statistics like T-student and McNamara tests were utilized. The results showed that students admitted without entrance examination has earned higher points in terms of education, academic ability and continuing education. However, there was no significant difference between the two classes of students in terms of research ability, dissertation grade, employment opportunity and finding a suitable job.

This research was aimed at a study of the present and desirable situation of effective teaching based on M.A Students’ viewpoints in Islamic Azad university of Ardabil branch. The method of research was descriptive and survey type. The population in this research was included M.A university students at the second academic term of 2010-2011. The sample group was selected by randomized stratified sampling method. For data collection, the research tool was a researcher-made questionnaire with Likert scale in two sections. The content validity and the reliability were obtained by using the Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. Collected data was analyzed with descriptive statistics, T-test and ANOVA test. In general, based on the collected data analysis, the results showed that there were significant differences between present and desirable situation of effective teaching. However, there was no significant difference in effective teaching components based on age, gender, discipline and employment situation variables.

Research is one of the most important topics in higher education. Some researches should be carried out in order to identifying and resolving the research problems and selecting qualified people. The aim of the present study was to focus on the research self-efficacy in the psychology and educational sciences graduate students. The research was conducted by using the descriptive-survey method. The statistical population was consisted of all MA students in psychology and educational Sciences at the Tehran Kharazmy University in 2011-2012 semesters. 120 students were selected by simple random sampling method. The used tool for gathering the data was a standard research self-efficacy questionnaire (Phillips & Russell, 1994). Analyzing the data showed the followings: 1- Practical research skills efficacy among MA students were high (Sig 0.000, p<0.01). 2- Writing skills efficacy among MA students were high (Sig 0.000, p<0.01). 3- Research design skills efficacy among MA students were high (Sig 0.000, p<0.01). 4- Quantitative and computer skills efficacy among MA students were not high (Sig 0.070, p<0.05). It can be concluded that the efficacy of practical research skills, writing and research design among these students were high. This result may be due to the familiarity with statistical methods and research, previous learning and their experiences. Quantitative and computer skills efficacy among the students were not high and perhaps it wad due to the lack of required familiarity to work with computers and statistical software.