INNOVATION IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION (JOURNAL OF MODERN THOUGHTS IN EDUCATION)
Year:2011 | Volume:6 | Issue:4 (24)|Papers Count:9

The purpose of this study was validating the Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (MTEBI) in pre-service teachers in primary schools. The population of this research included all college students in the field of primary education in South Khorasan province (N=186). To study reliability and validity of the questionnaire, 140 pre-service teachers were chosen by cluster sampling method from Teaching Training Center of Birjand. Then, Mathematics Teaching Efficacy Beliefs Instrument (MTEBI) was administered. The instrument validity was measured using factor analysis methods and Cronbach's alpha was used to evaluate the reliability. The results of factor analysis showed that this questionnaire include two fundamental underlying factors since all the items were loaded under two factors which are self-efficacy and expected results of teaching. The results also showed that the reliability of MTEBI was in acceptable level with the overall reliability index of 0.73 and the reliability index of self-efficacy subscales as 0.80, and the reliability index of the expected results of teaching mathematics as 0.66.

The main objective of the present study was to investigate the impact of job stress on job satisfaction of public school principals of Islamshahr town in the academic year 2008- 2009. It was a descriptive (causative- comparative) study. The population consisted of the entire 196 male and female principals of public schools including primary, secondary and high schools of Islamshahr town. The sample included 123 people, selected by means of Morgan Jesse Table via stratified random sampling. To collect data two inventories were applied: Onderdoph inventory for the assessment of job stress and an author-made questionnaire for job satisfaction assessment.Content validities of inventories were confirmed by professors' opinion and then their reliability was calculated 0.91 and 0.92 by Cronbach's Alpha, respectively. To analyze data, descriptive statistics (mean, mode, median, standard deviation, diagram, and tables) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation coefficient, one-way analysis of variance and two-sample t test so as to compare two-group means) and SPSS software were utilized. Results suggested that there was a negative significant relationship between job stress and job satisfaction. In terms of job stress, there also observed a significant difference between male and female principals and their job satisfaction. Further, the study found a significant difference between principals' job stress in the whole levels of education and their management background.

The main purpose of the study was to pursue the relationship between transformational and transactional leadership styles Concerning Fars Province Educational Office experts' attitude toward organizational change. The population and sample of the research consisted of all Fars Province Educational Office experts in academic year 2007-08. The sample consisted of 202 male and 28 female experts. Two instruments were used: one was designed for transformational leadership and the other for measuring attitude towards organizational change. The first questionnaire consisted of five dimensions: 1. Charismatic leadership 2.Intellectual stimulation 3.Individual consideration, 4.Contingent reward, and 5.Management-by-Exception. Of the five, the last two dimensions belonged to the transactional leadership. The second questionnaire consisted of three dimensions including 1.cognitive, 2.affective, and 3.behavioral. The reliability and validity of the instruments were measured and approved. In order to analyze the data, statistical techniques such as Pearson Correlation Coefficients and Multiple Regression were used. The results were indicative of several points: There were significant relationship between charismatic leadership (r=0.32, p<0.01) and cognitive dimension, intellectual stimulation with cognitive(r=0.21, p<0.01) and behavioral (r=0.23, p<0.01) dimensions, contingent reward with cognitive (r=0.28, 0.01), affective (r=-0.15, p<0.01), and behavioral (r=0.23, p<0.01) dimensions, management-by-exception and affective (r=-0.20, p<0.01) dimension, but the relationship between dimensions of transactional leadership and affective dimension of the attitudes towards organizational change was negative. Results also showed that charismatic leadership dimension was capable to predict affective (b=0.52, P<0.003) and cognitive (b=1.1, P<0.001) dimensions and that contingent reward was capable to predict behavioral dimension (b=0.41, P<0.001) of the attitude towards organizational change.

In the present research, the researcher sought the effects of creativity, intelligence, and personality traits on the appreciation of Shahriar's and Vahabzadeh's poems among the single and male youth between the age 17 and 18 in Iran and Azerbaijan. The main question of the research was: can creativity, intelligence, and personality characteristics decrease the degree of understanding? In order to answer the main question of the research, the following null hypothesis was created. Creativity, intelligence, and personality characteristics affect the appreciation of Shahriar's and Vahabzadeh's poems among single and male youth. The methodology of the present study was descriptive and survey. The population of the research included the whole youth community of Iran and Azerbaijan from which the researcher chose 120 young people from Iran and 120 young people from Azerbaijan who were male and single at the time. The instruments used in this research involved Torense creativity test, Estanford-Bineh intelligence criteria, NEO personality Traits, and rhythmic poems, all of which had more than 70 percent of validity and reliability indices. Finally, using the multivariate regression model, the findings showed that there is a meaningful positive relation between creativity, fluid analysis, flexibility and the degree of understanding, so that, with the increase in creativity, fluid analysis, knowledge, their ability to appreciate Shahriar's and Vahabzadeh's poems increases.

The main goal of this study is the effect of life skill training on mental health and self-esteem of female students in the fifth grade of primary school. The Design of the study was quasi-experimental design with pretest-post test control group. The research population included all fifth grade female students of primary school in Roshtkhar during academic year of 2009-2010. The 60 students were randomly selected and divided into experimental and control groups (each group 30). Research instruments included the Mental Health Koldberg test, Cooper-Smith Self-Esteem and practical guide to teaching life skills. Analysis of Covariance and independent Sample t Test indicated that teaching life skills to the students improves their mental health and self-esteem. Also, teaching life skills affects the physical symptoms of anxiety and insomnia but has no significant effect on productivity and depression. The effect of teaching general life skills on self-esteem, social self-esteem, and academic self-esteem has been proved significant. That was not significant for family self-esteem.

This research is done to investigate the teachers' encouraging methods to use lesson plans in junior high school in Damavand town. Based on the related theoretical principles found in the literature, a list of factors which could have any influence on teachers' encouragement to use lesson plan was identified. Then a questionnaire was constructed to collect the 165 secondary school teachers' attitudes towards the use of lesson plan in the class. The obtained data were analyzed using one sample t test, independent t test, and one-way ANOVA. The results showed that unawareness of how to prepare lesson plan, unawareness of lesson plan benefits, lack of time, the length and kind of lessons, passing training classes, and managers' reactions have important roles in the use of lesson plans by teachers.

The aim of this paper was to determine the relationship between organizational culture and social capital of teachers in boys' high school of Tabriz. To get to the mentioned aim, four hypotheses have been compiled and tested. The population of this study included all the teachers of Tabriz boys' high School in five zones in years 2008-09. Using Morgan table, the statistical sample was estimated to be 320 teachers which have been sampled through stratified random sampling. To collect the related data to test the hypotheses of the study, we used the standard questionnaire of organizational culture of Denison model and the researcher's questionnaire of social capital. For analyzing data, Kolomogorov-Smirnov and Pearson correlation coefficient tests were used. The result of the study showed that there is a meaningful relationship between adaptability culture, mission culture, participative culture, consistency culture, and social capital.

The base and foundation of development is creativity. Therefore, because of the high importance of creativity and entrepreneurship, the present study explored this subject. According to the scope of this research and the method of studying the questions, the method of research was a description of correlation, and the target population involved about 400 employees of science and technology parks of Shiraz, 70 of whom were selected as samples by Cochrane formula. The random selection method is simple and due to these points, the questionnaire for evaluating specifications of the entrepreneurs with consistency and justifiability of 87%, and the questionnaire for evaluating creativity with consistency and justifiability of 84% were distributed among the employees of science and technology parks of Shiraz. After gathering data, they were analyzed by SPSS software. In this research, descriptive charts of absolute abundance, abundance percentage, central index (mean), standard deviation, different types of diagrams, linear regression, and correlation test were used. The results showed that there is a significant relation between entrepreneurship and creativity, and this relation is linear and direct. Furthermore, it was found that there is a significant relation between these two and the level of education, and the employees with higher education have more creativity and sense of entrepreneurship. Other results showed that there is a positive correlation between the four dimensions of creativity (fluidity, flexibility, innovation, and expansion) and entrepreneurship.