JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONS
Year:2013 | Volume:12 | Issue:45|Papers Count:10

The most important responsibility of our holy Prophet and Imams (p.b.u.them) is to convey the God’s message in the most fluent way to the people. To achieve this goal, they used all possible and available instruments and methods. Some of the novel and most effective ones which were frequently used in their lectures and speeches were gestures, body language and also the available things and realia.Researchers believe that in order to convey a message, the use of non-verbal messages along with speech could play an effective role and its influence and impact on audience is undeniable. In this paper, some examples from the Imams’ tradition (p.b.u.them) were mentioned, in which we can witness some of their artistic creativities in embodying and displaying the religious facts.

The aim of this research was evaluation of the output of primary school fifth grade Koran curriculum at the academic year of 1388-1389. The data included test scores on accuracy and speed of reading Koran and textbook of Koran education and also the viewpoints of students about their interest in the holy Koran. Data was collected using oral test of academic achievement and interest and attitude assessment questionnaire. The materials consisted of primary school fifth grade textbook of Koran education and the also the holy Koran. The data was analyzed using a variety of descriptive statistical methods (enumeration questions, percentage, frequency, mean, standard deviation, tables and graphs) and inferential statistics (one-way ANOVA, post hoc, and Chi-square test) depending on the type of data. In general, research has shown that primary school fifth grade students correctly read the Koran on average level. Although this result is acceptable, however it is not desirable. Given the nature of the education system, Koran education needs more careful planning. Also, the result showed that primary school fifth grade students could not read Koran with appropriate speed, as they read Koranic texts with rather low speed. Another finding of this study was that the accuracy of students’ ability in reading verses of the holy Koran was weaker than Koran education textbooks. So, it is necessary to use Koran more along with school textbooks. An interesting point is that although the accuracy and speed of Koran reading of primary school fifth grade students is not desirable, but they are interested in the Koran. Findings of attitude questionnaire showed that generally students’ attitudes have been positive. Therefore, Koran curriculum planners and practitioners should properly take advantage of this opportunity to take action to eliminate existing weaknesses. Another major finding of this study was that primary school fifth grade girls are better than boys in Koran reading. Overall, the outcome of primary school fifth grade Koran curriculum is acceptable, but not desirable. It is necessary for the planners and practitioners to act with sensitivity about this subject.Based on the research findings, some applied suggestions have been presented to improve students’ accuracy and speed in Koran reading.

The main aim of this study was comparing critical thinking skills of bilingual students with monolingual ones. The research method was causal-comparative. The statistical population consisted of all guidance school bilingual and monolingual students of Kermanshah city. Using cluster random sampling method, about 381 students were selected as research sample. Research instrument was Californian Critical Thinking B Form Questionnaire. Data were analyzed Using descriptive statistic indexes and inferential statistic tests such as independent sample t-test and multiple regressions. Findings showed that critical thinking skills mean is low (6.93 of 34) and there were significant differences between critical thinking skills of bilingual and monolingual students. Also, bilingual students’ critical thinking skills were more than monolingual students. Moreover, stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the variables language and gender can predict students’ critical thinking skills. Based on findings of this research we could say that bilingualism is not a threat, instead it could enhance other cognitive skills including critical thinking skills, if careful and on time attention be paid to mother tongue education.

Reading process includes visual recognition of word, detection and extraction of meaning at phrase and sentence level and detection and extraction of cohesion among text propositions. So, poor readers’ problems are classified at three levels of word’s understanding, syntactic analysis of text sentences, and making consistency among propositions of the text. Syntactic awareness is one of the most important factors that affect detection of meaning at sentence level. Research showed that poor readers are not able to recognize syntactic structures of text and they prefer to read word by word instead of processing the text as meaningful units. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the relationship among syntactic awareness, working memory and reading comprehension. The study was conducted with 157 grade four (9-11 years old) primary students who were selected from male and female schools in three regions of Tehran (5, 6, 12). They were selected through multi-stage cluster sampling method. The data collection instruments included reading literacy tests containing literary and informational texts (tests of PIRLS) for assessing reading comprehension, researcher-made syntactic test for assessing syntactic awareness, and Information Processing Index (IPI) for assessing working memory. Regression analyses revealed that syntactic awareness predicts variance of reading comprehension. The result also showed that the relation between syntactic awareness and reading comprehension was mediated by working memory.

For any particle in the original language, there are several equivalents in target language with different functions and translations. One of the difficulties that Arabic language novices confront with is the selection of equivalent and function of that particle from the mass of functions which comes to readers› mind. The particle “vav” in Arabic is considered as the most frequent one, as it could be a case assigner or not, it could come before a verb and also before a noun, it could assign different functions and cases to its following word, and creates new meaning beyond the relations between independent words. One property of the particle "vav" is relating different meanings and connecting those meanings that are irrelevant to each other. “Vav” in its simplest meaning is the conjunction that comes between two items to put them under one form and case. As it is untilized in various forms and meanings, in this paper we decided to study different kinds of “vav”, and then deal with their classification and instruction. In this research, we considered Koran as the main source of case and exercise. The results of this research could help the writers of Koran and Arabic textbooks in exact and careful classification of the instruction of the particle «vav» and its different types, avoidance of its misuse and the appropriate application of it. Also, findings could familiarize teachers with different applications of particles in textbooks and could help them to instruct the rules fluently and easily.

This study was conducted with the goal of content analysis of guidance school textbooks based on emotional intelligence components. Out of 33 guidance school textbooks for the three years, 9 textbooks in field of Persian literature, religious education and history were selected. Content of textbooks were analyzed based on ability model of Mayer and Salovey’s four components of EI including: 1) Perception and identification of emotion, 2) Use of emotion, 3) Understanding of emotion and 4) Management of emotion. When analyzing the content of textbooks, all parts of lessons including words, sentences, questions, exercises and images were investigated in order to make clear their emotional messages and to what degree they deal with emotional intelligence components. Findings indicated that textbooks had emotional messages, but not in systematic and purposeful manner to foster EI. Out of three studied fields, literature had more contribution for EI education, whereas the contribution of history was not considerable. History textbooks were confined only to the description of historical events. It seems that the degree of attention to emotions and abilities of EI is affected by one way emphasis of education system on cognitive goals, in addition to the cultural musts and values. On the other hand, the newness of EI education in education theorizing and policy making could also be considered when dealing with the components of EI.

The purpose of this research was to examine the effect of value system of students on their field selection in Universities. Statistical population included all of the students who were competing for academic selection at Universities of Isfahan.Statistical sample consisted of 700 students from Isfahan that were participating in this competition. The research instruments were the Elizur Personal Values (2003) and Field Selection Criteria (Nasr et al., 2003) Questionnaires. Factors relevant to each questionnaire were determined by factor analysis and multidimensional scaling. The results of regression indicated that value factors predict the field selection criteria, significantly.

Schools are not better than the teachers that teach there; therefore professional development is crucial issue for teachers’ progress and their professional development. The aim of this study was exploring the process of teacher professional development in teacher training centers, using systematic design of grounded theory. The participants were selected among the teachers and teacher educators in teacher training centers, and the researchers interviewed 11 instructors and principals and arranged interview in the form of focus groups with 5 groups of primary school and guidance school teachers. After three stages of data analysis including open, axial and selective coding, results showed the eleven categories in the paradigmatic model including causal conditions (external and internal motivation), main category (participation in professional learning), professional development strategies (individual, partnership and training), context (focus on content and duration of course); environmental factors (organizational and psychological factors) and outcomes (learning transfer, change of attitude and knowledge and negative outcome as unsatisfied expectations). Finally, based on the obtained results, some strategies have been suggested to improve the professional development of teachers in teacher training centers.