(JOURNAL OF INSTRUCTION AND EVALUATION) JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL SCIENCES
Year:2017 | Volume:10 | Issue:37 |Papers Count:8

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of perfamance tests on the academic achievement, academic attitude and retention power of jounior high school students in Mobarakeh. The research populations of this study were all male and female students studying at jounior high schools in Mobarakeh in the academic year 1393-1394, who were 3886 students. From among this population, two male and female high schools were randomly selected, and from each high school, two grade seven classes were randomly selected as the sample of the study, one class as the experimental group and another class as the control group. The reseach design was quasiexperimental with pretest, posttest, and control group. A pretest and posttest were used to measure the participantsʼ retention power and academic achivment and a research-made questionnaire with 30 items were used to examine their academic attitude. The validity and reliability of the instruments were checked. The reliability coefficients of the academic achievement test, retention test, and the questionnaire were 0.88, 0.87 and 0.85 respectively. Aslo, a panal of experts confimed the face and content validity of the instruments. The collected datd were analyzed through covariance analysis. The results indicated that there was a significant difference among the means of academic achievement, retention and academic attitude between the experimental and control groups in the posttest (p<0.01). Hence, it was found that administering performance tests can have a positive effect on the academic achievement, academic attitude and retention in experimental sciences courses.

The aim of this study was to investigat the effect of homework on mathematics achievement of sixth grade elementary students in Urmia. The study was a quasi-experimental research with pretest - posttest design and control group. The statistical population consisted of all sixth grade students during the academic year 1393-1394 in Urmia. The sampling method was multistage random sampling in which 60 students in three experimental and one control groups (each including 15 students) were selected. To gather the data, the participants’ mathematics achievement tests scores, and Ravens standard progressive matrices were used. To analyze the data, the researchers used covariance analysis. The results showed that all three types of assignment, practice, preparation, and combined, have an effect on the participants’ mathematice achievement, but the effect of combined assignment (practice and prepation) were more than the effect of practice and preparation alone. Also, the effect of preparation assignment was far more than practice assignment. Based on the findings it can be concluded that teachers and education staff can assign practice and preparation assignment together to improve studentsʼ educational outcomes.

The main purpose of this study was to investigate teaching different dimensions of local history in history courses from the perspective of secondary school history teachers and students. To conduct the research, 16 teachers were selected purposefully and 285 students were randomly selected. The data collection tools for the quantitative data were two researcher made questionnaires for history teachers and students. The content validity was checked to determine the validity, and the Cronbach' s alpha was measured to determine the reliability, which was 68.2 and 97.3 for the questionnaire number one and two, respectively. The qualitative data, in addition to the open-ended questions of the students’ questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews with 8 history teachers, were analyzed through grounded theory. The results showed that students and teachers have positive attitudes towards teaching the local history of the province.From the students points of view, teaching political history have the most importance and economical history has the leastimportance as compared to other dimensions. History teachers found teaching cultural-social history the most important and teaching economical history as the least important dimension of local history. Morever, among the teachers and students points of view regarding the importance of teaching local history in the history courses were: pedagogical necessity, understanding one’s living environment, meeting the spiritual needs of individuals, strengthening the spirit of patriotism, representation and preservation of local identity and multilateral development of the community. In order to teach local history, history teachers proposed the following methods: cooperative teachingbased teaching-learning method, narrating historical stories by the teacher (oral history), and teaching by electronical resources.

The aim of this study was to classify the criteria and indices for assessing the quality of textbooks in order to make a valid and reliable scale for assessing the quality of elementary textbooks. It was a qualitative research including all electronic and print resources in the field of curriculum development, published in the period 2000-2015, and all elementary teachers (3150 people) of Malayer in Hamadan province, teaching in the academic years 2014-2015. Among the teachersʼ population 380 teachers were selected through convenience sampling. To gather the data, a researcher made questionnaire was made and implemented after validation, based on the six critevia extracted from the current resources in curriculum development, entitled “the questionnaire of assessing the quality of textbooks”. The results showed that the instrument had ample face validty, content validity, and reliability, and can be used in assessing the quality of elementary textbooks. It was found that the quality of the third grade elementary textbooks, in general, and regarding the six criteria, was appropriate. Also, it was revealed that, according to the participants, the criterian retaled to the match between the content and religious attitudes has been observed more than other critevia in the grade three elementary textbooks

The aim of this study was to predict 8-11 years old childeren’s reading performance based on the short term storage (phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad) and central executive of working memory. The study was correlational and the statistical population consisted of 43304 students in primary schools of Tabriz in second and fifth grades from among whom, via multistage random sampling, 352 individuals were selected. The measuring tools were forward digit span task, Kim Carrad test, counting span task and a researcher-made reading comprehension test. The data were analyzed using stepwise multivariate regression analysis. Among the components of working memory, phonological loop in the second grade (p=0.000) and central executive in the fifth grade (p=0/000) could predict reading comprehension more than other components. Based on the results, it can be said that working memory, as a primary means of facilitating learning, can help improve reading performance.

The aim of the current study was to examine the structural relationship between hopefulness and academic achievement with the mediating role of academic procrastination among students. The participants included 150 second grade middle school male students who were chosen through multistage cluster sampling method.Solomon and Rothblum’s academic procrastination scale and Snyder’s hope scale were administered. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and Bootstrap tests were conducted to explore direct and indirect pathways of the study modelrespectively. The results showed that hopefulness and academic achievement areantecedents and consequences of academic procrastination among students respectively.The results indicated that academic procrastination has a significant mediating role on the relationship between hopefulness and academic achievement.The findings of this study could help school counselors, education psychologist, and teachers to reduce students’ procrastination and academic problems.

The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of sex education on enhancing parents’ sexual knowledge and their sense of competence. The statistical population of this qusoi-exerimental study included all parents in Urmia among whom 30 paris were randomly chosen, 15 pairs in the experimental group and 15 paris in the control group. The experimental group recived child sexual training whereas the control group did not receive any training. To measure the research variables, a researcher-made questionnaire about parents’ sex education and Ohan and Johnston’s Parenting Sense of Competence scale were used. To analyze the data, the mean and standard deviation were calcutaled and covsriance analysis was conducted. The results showed that the mean of the parents’ knoeledge and sence of competence increased after the training in the experimental group but not in the control group. Hence, it can be concluded that educational mediation through sex education can enhancs parents’ knoeledge about child sexual training and their sense of competence.

The purpose of this study was examining the techniques to enhance the competencies of department heads. The statistical population included all students (N: 15724) and faculty members (N: 239) of Islamic Azad University of Kerman, and also experts in management. The research method was mixed. The study comprised of three parts: 1) analyzing the gap between current and ideal status of department heads competencies; 2) Competencies prioritizing; 3) Identifing and prioritizing techniques for enhancing the competencies. In the first part, the sampling method was stratified random sampling and the data collection instrument was the questionnaire of current and ideal status of competencies. In the second part, the sampling method was purposeful and the data collection instrument was the questionnaire of competencies paired comparisons. In the third part, the sampling method was purposeful and the data collection tools were semistructured interviews and questionnaires of Quality Function Deployment.The data were analyzed by Paired Samples T-Test, Analytical Hierarchy Process, Content Analysis and Home of Quality Matrix. The findings indicate a significant gap between the current and ideal status of department heads competencies. The findings also identified and prioritized 69 techniques to promote the competencies of department heads. In the end, the results were discussed.