JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONS
Year:2007 | Volume:6 | Issue:19|Papers Count:12

Information Technology, as the latest technological product with regard to vast presence in various domains of human life - such as education- and like other aspects and events of education needs to be reflected upon through philosophy or rationality. In this essay various philosophical views on information technology and education will be reviewed with regard to their similarities and differences in theoretical foundations. These views have been divided to three and have been reviewed. Then, their weaknesses and advantages & strengths have been summed up together. After that, their implications for educational policies have been presented.Modernism as the first attitude, looks at Information Technology as an instrument for human thought and because of its eager and ideal view toward technology has been called "Romantic" in this article. Critical attitude with this regard is in contrary with modernism and holds that value neutrality in this view brings up a lot of problems. Critical view names modernism as tragic because of its destructive and negative results.The third attitude, post modernism, rolls up traditional lands and goes beyond steady structures and divisions like subject and object, sexuality, social layer and race and for attaining this aim uses methods like interpretation. So this attitude has been renamed "Transformational".

This is a comparative study of Information & Communication Technology Integration method in education in countries such as Finland, England, South Africa, and Singapore in order to present a suitable pattern for Iran. The reason for selecting these countries is that they have completely integrated ICT in their education system. This descriptive survey research is of comparative type. The scholar has answered the research questions by referring to the documents related to ICT integration with instructional program in countries being studied by searching pertinent Internet sites such as those of UNESCO, Dissertation, Proquest, Ministry of Education Sites in countries of study, and by referring to the documents related to Iran's instructional program in this field according to the George. Z. Beredy's study method.The statistical population of this research was the curriculum with the ITC integration approach in the world countries, and the statistical sample was the curriculum integrated with ICT in the selected countries. The result of this research shows that in countries being studied, the instructional programs emphasize the procedure of ICT integration. Based on this, specific goals and executive program are considered. Noting the studies, the researcher has considered the experiences of successful countries in order to design a pattern of ICT integration in instruction program in the General Education system in Iran. The researcher has proposed the perspective of ICT integration in this system.She has then codified values and principles ruling the interaction program with ICT integration method and its strategies. She has then presented a sample instructional program with this method in the science lecture for elementary-school & middle-school education.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of distance education activities as one of the new educational methods and approaches in the country, which are implemented and directed by the institute of Distance Education of the Ministry of Education. The effectiveness of education activities of this method is based the approvals of the institute for reaching distance education goals. These goals include enhancing flexibility in instructional methods, the impact of technology on the method of education offering, the degree of students' self - reliance and self - study, and the aim of assessing implementation of guidelines. In order to do so, a survey questionnaire consisting of 35 questions were presented to a sample of 290 principals and tutors of distance education centers at the high school level across the country. The results of this descriptive study show that educational activities of this institute have reached the aims of distance education at an optimum level across the country. In addition to this, we have found interesting results which through the of principals' and tutors' viewpoints: overextension of distance educating centers, the preference of self - instructional materials over other kinds of learning materials. The overall result of this study shows that distance education activities are in accord with the aims, which are defined and confirmed by the institute and the ministry of education.

Great educators put emphasis on thinking and cultivating it as one of the main aims of education (Shariatmadary, 2003, p . 379; John Dewey (1916-1966); & Jonson, 2002, p. 102). Educational systems should provide conditions to cultivate children's thinking. Instead of simply transferring information to them (Shabani, 2003). Thinking and more specifically critical thinking, however, do not cultivate by themselves. Rather it needs to be instructed and practiced (Powell and Older, 2000; Andolina 2001; Shabani, 2003). This article will take into account the nature and components of critical thinking and also ways to instruct and cultivate it in school children.

The purpose of the present article has been comparison between training rates and quality of education in qualitative and quantitative ways in the best private and governmental schools in the province of "Chaharmahal and Bakhtyari". In the quantitative part, educational ratios for all students in the primary schools, guidance schools, and high schools in a 6-year-period were accounted. It should be mentioned that the statistic society and the sample were equal. In the qualitative part, 8 guidance schools and high schools were purposefully selected. 76 students and 74 teachers participated in this study as available random sampling.The study questions focused on investigating on the students' registration ratio, the ratio of passing one grade or having to repeat it, and the ratio of students who remain in school with the drop-outs in public and private schools. To find a response to the hypotheses, this study, investigates the degree of teacher's mental health, degree of student's satisfaction and teacher characteristics in private and governmental schools.Instruments in the quantitative part were a 28 questions questionnaire about general mental health, Eyesing's 21 questions test on evaluating the character, and the 24 question test on client's satisfaction that have enough validity and reliability. In qualitative part also, 4 investigation- trained staff attended schools and observed situations and interviewed the individuals. Study findings are:1. There isn't significant difference between degree of teacher's mental health of public schools and private schools.2. Students who study in private schools are more satisfied about quality of services than those of governmental schools.3. There isn't significant difference between teacher characteristics in private and governmental schools.4. Grade-repetition rate in governmental schools in each sections (primary schools, guidance schools and high schools) is more than private schools.5. examination passing ratio in private schools in 3 sections are more than governmental schools.6. results obtained by interview and observation showed that quality of education environment and classes, activities by the parents and teachers association, as well as the holding of exams in governmental schools has been better than private schools; but quality of relationships between parents and school, quality of sport lessons and laboratories in private schools were better than governmental schools.

This paper examines the relationship between metacognition beliefs and mental health and academic achievement in male high-school students of the city of Oshnaviyeh in the 2006-2007 school years. Among these, 210 students selected through cluster sampling. The instruments for this study were Goldberg & Hillier Metacognition Scale, and Cartwright, Hution & Wells Mental Health Scale for measuring academic achievement, the researcher applied the students' average scores during the academic terms.Results indicated that there is a significant relationship between metacognition and mental health. (p <0/01).