JOURNAL OF THEORY AND PRACTICE IN CURRICULUM
Year:2019 | Volume:6 | Issue:12 |Papers Count:7

Nowadays, there is a growing interest in transdisciplinary approach to university curriculum development. Transdisciplinary studies are about the realms and goals of the transition field. The early phases of transdisciplinary in higher education curriculum can be complex and so there are challenges to defining and operationalizing this approach to the university curriculum. In this paper, with respect to the different perspectives on the subject, the conceptual framework and the model of the curriculum based on the causal layered learning are explained and the challenges and obligations of the subject are conceptualized based on four different types of curricular issues: philosophical and pedagogical considerations, issues and responsibilities affecting the teaching process, issues and responsibilities affecting students learning, issues and responsibilities affecting course design and issues and responsibilities affecting learning assessment. In the end, it has been pointed out that curriculum, teaching and learning in higher education encompass a range of institutional adjustments and adaptations that are not easily adaptable and structured within the framework of current situation, thus it is very useful to address obligations and responsibilities in designing a course of study, curriculum goals, and evaluation and preparation of students to face the challenges posed by new forms of curriculum.

The purpose of this study is to explain the practical knowledge (skills and activities) of a teacher educator based on the excellence of exercise. The research method is synthesis research, interpreting and analyzing the opinions of the thinkers and teachers of the elite in the field of teacher education and based on the tacit action. The results of this study revealed that the determination of practical knowledge, "Group collaboration", "Learning and teaching courses" and "Teachers' individual talents and abilities" will form the basis of "individual talent and abilities along with teamwork". "Social formations", "specialized organizations", "school formations" and "supra-school associations" will form the principle of "heterogeneousorganizations". "Classroom Experiences", "Developing the Quality of Educational Experiences", "Decision Making and Practice in Situation, " "Educational Position Based Problem" and "Learner-Learner Interaction" will form the basis of the "Educational Position Analysis". "Practicing action, " "Creating educational change, " will form the principle of "expanding thinking in action. "

The objective of this research is to study the role of intercultural education through bicultural art experience for improving intercultural competence. To this aim, an action research was designed as a qualitative study to introduce different aspects of Persian culture among 9 years old Brazilian children. It included four steps: making interest, comparing two cultures, experiencing bicultural art creation and evaluating its durability. The triangulation of data as a method kind was used for the validity and reliability. The results indicate the effects of art experience on improving cultural understanding. Furthermore, bicultural art experience was effective for shifting from denial stage, decreasing polarization significantly. It also increased the ability of minimization and acceptance. Finally, art experience caused durability of intercultural understanding among children.

The main objective of This research was to identify and validate the characteristics of the effective teachers at the primary levels. In the first part, the Q-method was used. The statistical population in this section included all faculty members of educational sciences of Tehran universities (N=349), that 20 individuals were selected based on purposive sampling and snowball. The data collection tool is the Qdiagram. The reliability of the tool was confirmed by reviewing 40 documents and was approved by 3 university experts. The validity of the questionnaire was 0. 84. The second part is based on exploratory factor analysis. The statistical population of this study was all the professors of educational sciences in Tehran universities and elementary education groups of Tehran (N=987). 325 individuals were selected though random sampling method. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire with content reliability confirmed by 3 experts and validity of α =0. 96. The main findings indicated that 65 characteristics were identified in 7 dimensions of personality traits, religious-ethical education, reflection, qualifications and competencies, effective teaching, effective classroom management, and monitoring and evaluation. The 7 dimensions were confirmed, but among 65 characteristics, 5 characteristics were validated.

Teachers’ epistemological beliefs play a crucial role in their professional behaviors. Different factors affect these beliefs. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of demographical variables on pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs. This study was carried out via qualitative approach and with the help of survey research method. The population included all the education pre-service teachers in Shahid Hashemi Nejad Campus in Mashhad (n=562) in the academic year 2016-2017. The sample was selected based on Morgan Table (n=228) and the method of random classification sampling. The data were gathered through Epistemic Beliefs Inventory (EBI). The results revealed that pre-service teachers’ epistemological beliefs are at the rather high level. There is no significant relatsionhisp between pre-service teachers’ academic year and their epistemological beliefs but there is a significant relatsionhisp between preservice teachers’ marital status and their epistemological beliefs. Again there is no relationship between the academic achievement of pre-service teachers’ and their epistemological beliefs.

The purpose of this study was to study the sexual education curriculum in primary school. The method of this research is a combination of exploratory research. In the first stage, the viewpoints of experts were investigated in a henomenological manner and finally the desired feature was extracted in four elements. In the second stage, a descriptive survey method was used. The statistical population of the first part consisted of professors and faculty members of the educational sciences and psychology department of Tehran University, Arak, Allameh Tabataba'i and Boulylisina and sexual education experts in the province of Hamedan. The statistical population of the second part included all elementary teachers in the province of Hamadan in 2015. The findings of this study indicate that the status of sexual education in students' curriculum is not desirable. The activities in the element are more focused on the cognitive and relatively modest dimension in which the sexual and emotional dimension of sexuality is mainly ignored. In the content element, the very small and insignificant content has not been able to provide an appropriate opportunity for the sexual education of students and requires a double attention and a serious overhaul. Accordingly, the educational methods as well as evaluation can not be effective due to the weakness and weakness of educational content. In general, the results indicate that there is no coherent and logical planning in the field of sexual education curriculum.

One of the problems of students’ transition from secondary education to higher education, is the weakness of English language skills along with the shortage of incentive to improve their learning. The purpose of this study was to re-explore the motivation to English learning in undergraduate students and the factors affecting it from the viewpoint of English language instructors in universities. This research was conducted using qualitative approach and Grounded Theory strategy. The population of study included all the English language instructors in the public universities of Sanandaj. And 14 individuals were selected purposefully using theoretical sampling, and theoretical saturation of data was the end of sampling basis. The instrument used was the semi-structured qualitative interview. The process of coding and modeling of qualitative data, has been done through qualitative data analysis software (MAXQDA 11). Reflexivity strategy was used to determine the validity of the process of coding and interpreting qualitative data. According to the findings, pedagogical themes; structural themes and motivational themes are described by explaining "Motivation-based Education" model as a focal theme, along with the causal conditions (with concepts of active teaching methods, teaching-learning process, and Appropriateness of content), the interventionist conditions (with concepts of cultural features, and educational challenges) and the contextual conditions (with concepts of emotional attitudes, and perception components). The strategies include strengthening pedagogical themes and modifying structural themes, and the outcomes include improvement of the motivational themes in learning English language.