JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONS
Year:2012 | Volume:11 | Issue:41|Papers Count:8

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of self-efficacy, task value, mastery, performance-approach, performance-avoidance and cognitive engagement on students’ mathematics achievement using path analysis.280 third grade high school students majoring in mathematics in a high school in the city of Mahabad participated in the study. The studentsfilled out Middleton and Midgley’s Mathematics Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (1997), Midgley et. al’s Achievement Goals Scale (2000), Pintrich et. al’s Task Value Subscale (1991), and Kember et. al’s Deep and Surface Learning Strategy Subscale (2004). The results of path analysis revealed that the exogenous variables of self-efficacy and task value exerted a direct, positive and significant effect on mathematics achievement. The direct effect of self-efficacy on mastery, performance– approach and performance – avoidance goals, as well as deep cognitive engagement was also significant. Task value had an indirect significant effect on mathematics achievement with mastery goals and deep cognitive engagement being the mediating variables, however, the indirect effect of selfefficacy on mathematics achievement was not significant. Mastery goals had an indirect, positive and significant effect on mathematics achievement, while deep and surface learning strategies were the mediating variables. on the other hand, performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals had an indirect negative effect on mathematics achievement through surface cognitive engagement. The direct effect of deep cognitive engagement on mathematics achievement was not significant, however, surface cognitive engagement had a direct, negative and significant effect on mathematics achievement.

Cooperative learning is one of the most extensive theoretical, methodological and effective executive areas in education. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the effectiveness of a cooperative learning method- Student Teams Achievement Division (STAD) – on cognitive, metacognitive and emotional indicators in mathematics' learning at guidance school level. The research sample consisted of 313 third grade guidance school students from Tabriz. Research design was semi-experimental with pretest -posttest with a control group. Student teams achievement division method was conducted during the 6-weeks in the experimental group. Three instruments were used in this study: 1) Mathematics Achievement Test to measure academic progress in mathematics, 2) The School Attitude Assessment Survey – Revised to measure emotional outputs, 3) Cognitive – Metacognative Strategies and Knowledge Questionnaire for measuring changes in cognitive – metacognative strategies and knowledge. Results showed that students in Teams Achievement Division Method are more effective than the conventional method one in academic achievement and part of the emotional indicators. But this effect was not observed in the metacognition outcome. Based on the findings of this study and review of theoretical and empirical studies, we could conclude that application of this method compared with individual teaching method could be more effective on the development of cognitive, academic, emotional and verbal skill of students.

Types of learning motivation in Tabriz high school students: A person-oriented analysis This study examined students' profiles regarding motivation orientations and tested whether profile groups differed on metacognitive competencies. The study was performed on Tabriz high school students. The instruments employed in the study were The Academic Motivation Scale and Students' Motivational-Metacognitive Competencies Questionnaire. The results revealed 4 profile groups: (a) students with low level of both controlled and autonomous motivation, but high level of amotivation (b) students with moderate level of controlled motivation, but high level of amotivation, (c) students with high level of both autonomous and controlled motivation, but low level of amotivation and (d) students with high level of autonomus motivation. In addition, it was found that students in the high autonomous/high controlled group reported the highest degree of metacognitive competencies. Hierarchical cluster analysis method, discriminant analysis and MANOVA was used to determine the optimal cluster structure of students.

The main goal of this paper was to study the relationship between school culture and teachers readiness for innovation adoption in using ICT in teaching-learning process. The research population included the whole secondary school teachers of first and third districts of Shiraz and the deprived districts of Galle Dar and Doshman Ziary.211 subjects were selected through stratified random sampling. Research instruments were School Culture Measure of Philips, G (1993) and Innovation Adoption Questionnaire made by Reid Ball (2005) that were distributed among subjects after calculation of their reliability and validity. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (multiple regressions). Results showed: 1- Process has the highest and task has the lowest power in predicting male and female teachers’ innovation adoption in learning ICT and teaching by internet.2- Process has the highest and task has the lowest power in predicting teachers’ innovation adoption in learning ICT and teaching by internet based on their major.

Usually listening is considered to be the same as hearing. However, they are different. Listening consists of hearing and comprehension of oral texts. Hearing is a biological gift that needs no formal instruction. However, comprehension of oral texts requires serious instruction. The first aim of this research was developing the indicators of listening instruction in national language curriculum at elementary level. The second aim was clarifying the strengths and weaknesses of "the guide to Farsi curriculum of Iran at elementary level" according to the developed indicators of listening instruction. To achieve these aims, the content of the language arts curriculum at elementary level of America (the state of New Jersi, 2004), England (2007), Singapore (2006) and Iran's (2009) were qualitatively analysed. Findings showed that within the framework of “the guide to Farsi curriculum of Iran” at elementary level, listening is something that is taken for granted, as there is no obvious definition for it and also its sub-skills are not introduced. The lack of conceptual framework for this language art leads to ambiguous and inconsistent educational objectives for elementary educational level. Careful analysis of this curriculum showed that, here listening instruction is not planned in accordance with context (situation). Also, it is not planned to be instructed critically, and if formally considered, there is no operational definition for it and no practical strategy is introduced for its instruction. Finally, listening is not planned to be instructed using information and communication technology.

Hermeneutics is an emergent discipline in the western thinking school which dates back to religious amendment movement and the e nlightment era. It has recently been in the spotlight and received an outstanding philosophical status along with epistemology, analytic philosophy, and aesthetics. Now, some scholars even boast that hermeneutics has t aken over the stage of western philosophical thoughts since 1970s and has t ranscended other theoretical orientations.When we talk about hermeneutics, what stands out is how wide it covers the various ideas. While it was primarily considered just as a method for interpreting the holy books, but Dilthey gave it a new position by making it the exclusive methodology of the humanities. By this, Dilthey meant to promote the humanities and gave it a position as high as the natural sciences. Since the beginning of the 20th century, Martin H eidegger promoted the hermeneutics to a philosophical school, one that unlike the previous thoughts was not confined to a methodology for understanding the texts and exclusive methodology of the humanities. Hermeneutics was taken into the area of the curriculum by education n eo-conceptualist theorists such as Pinar, Reynolds and Slattery.Although a new-comer, it has influenced areas like curriculum t heorizing, curriculum research and development. In this paper, we try to examine the curriculum status in terms of theorizing, research and planning in philosophical hermeneutics with emphasis on Heidegger and Gadamer’ viewpoints through a glance in the roots and historical background of hermeneutics.The results indicated to what extent philosophical hermeneutics could influence curriculum theorizing and development. We concluded that according to philosophical hermeneutics, curriculum development and theorizing is a pluralistic, dialectical, and contextual entity.

One of the prominent necessities of the information age is the need for education in the 21st century. Due to the importance of media literacy education at present, its further study and analysis is expected. Since Canada & Japan are known as the pioneers in this field, the natural selection will put them into focus as a model. In this research, media literacy education in the two mentioned countries has been carefully studied, using the descriptive method. Our studies showed that contrary to what was expected, the schools in the various states of Canada did not follow a standard and uniform method for the education of media literacy, rather each state applied a more fitted version, which was tailored according to the requirements of each individual student and the particulars of the location within the state. In Japan, the ministry of post and telecommunications was the first organization to adopt the media literacy education and supervise its adoption. Since information literacy owns a higher priority in comparison with media literacy in Japan, its educational system has added information literacy as an optional part of its school curriculum all over the country. Information literacy focuses mainly on the efficient use of the teaching content and on increasing the skills of the Japanese students in using the computer. Such use of this education in the above-mentioned countries has left the students with more control and a better understanding of the media output. The students know what they really want from the media and can actively analyze and evaluate the media content to better understand the underlying message they convey.