JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONS
Year:2012 | Volume:10 | Issue:40|Papers Count:14

This research is an endeavor to survey the content of primary and middle school social science textbooks to see how much prophet Mohammad’s traditions are included in them. In addition to the analysis of the contents of the above-mentioned books, the viewpoints of teachers were used. Population investigated in this research consisted of primary and middle school social science textbooks and also the whole number of middle school teachers. The research sample included: 1. primary and middle school social science textbooks, which were analyzed for their content.2.80 middle school teachers who were chosen using Cochran formula.Research tool for collecting the teachers’ views was a researcher-made questionnaire that was arranged according to Likert scale. In order to study the life skills according to Holy Prophet’s tradition, referents of life skills was identified. To classify the data, the descriptive statistics was used. Research hypotheses were tested using referential statistics, i.e., one way analysis of variance and post hoc (sheffe) tests. Then, survey was done according to the research questions and the results were as follows: The amount of life skills with regard to Holy Prophet’s traditions in social study textbooks were rated as average and below average. The aforementioned rate was recognized higher in the 5th grade primary school textbooks than 4th and 3rd grade and it was higher in the 1st grade middle school textbooks than the 2nd and 3rd grade ones. However, most of the teachers were dissatisfied with the amount of social study textbooks content and the time arranged for its teaching. Most of the 1st and 2nd grade teachers believed that life skills with regard to Holy Prophet’s traditions in social science textbooks were at average rate. However, 3rd grade teachers believed that in 3rd grade social science textbook, this issue was at below average rate.In sum, the social science teachers of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades stated that in these textbooks, the Holy Prophet’s tradition was not explicitly and clearly indicated. In addition, in their answers to open questions of questionnaire, most teachers suggested the use of Holy Prophet’s tradition in the social science textbooks.

National identity (NI) is one of the most important and dominant issues in every society. It is one of the most important and essential issues due to its role in national unity and solidarity. Educational system, having the most national manpower could take considerable and effective steps to reinforce and deepen NI. Many previous researches showed that there has not been sufficient attention on NI in curriculum and school textbooks. On the other hand, books, dissertations, papers and research have not been used the same components for studying national identity. The main aim of this research was identifying the components of national identity in curriculum based on grounded theory method. For this purpose, 43 books, 44 dissertations and thesis and the interview with 9 prominent expertises in thefield of national identity were chosen as data. Then the data were analyzed using the grounded theory method.The results showed 6 main components and 19 subcomponents for Iranian national identity. These components were presented in a theoretical model based on grounded theory. The main components were: territory (country), language, culture, history, religion and symbol.

In this research, the status of ethnicity in Iran’s explicit secondary education curriculum in literature and humanity sciences has been analyzed. The preassumption of explicit curriculum’s components was Acker’s viewpoint and the qualitative content analysis was used as research method. For qualitative content analysis, Phillip Mearing’s systematic model has been used and the unit of content analysis consisted of the content, pictures and the activities of the textbooks. The research population consisted of eight secondary school and pre-University textbooks on social studies, history, sociology and social sciences containing more than 1470 pages. In this research, the purposeful sampling method has been used. Findings indicated a lack of interest for bringing up the issues of ethnic groups, implicit emphasis on the ethnicities’ conflicts and ethnicity and ethnic issues’ ignorance in the textbooks. Also, based on the research findings we could claim that in the textbooks, the notion of ethnicity has an oxymoron status. As a result of this chaos regarding the status of ethnicity, teachers and students face a lot of conflicting and challenging information.

Publishing articles in scientific journals is a way to enter the field of science, and getting acceptance for studies andfindings of researchers. Certainly, such a process requires a careful and delicate work, and it could present updated and applied information based on experiences and newfindings of the researcher.The importance of this process becomes more, when based on the published paper, other researchers begin new studies and use it as a reference due to its’ scientific credit. Production of science is also interlinked with the referee of scientific society. As a matter of fact, publication of scientific journals is based on the scientific referee. Through content analysis of rejected papers in the journal of educational innovations, we tried to identify, classify and prioritize the main drawbacks of the above-mentioned papers according to the referees’ views. To do so, we analyzed the contents of 402 referee documents of 207 rejected papers in the journal of educational innovations. It presents major faults with the articles from the viewpoint of arbitrators, and identifies, categorizes and prioritizes them. Findings of this study showed that from the viewpoint of the editorial board, the main drawbacks of rejected papers were not choosing an appropriate topic and lacking an academic structure (82.5%). Also, from the viewpoint of the referees, the papers drawbacks included lack of discussion and conclusion (14.9%), lack of research background (13.8%) and lack of theoretical framework (11.8%). Review of related papers and research makes the researcher aware of the studies conducted inside and outside the country on the related topic. Thus she/he faces an issue that has been paid less attention, selects appropriate theoretical framework and these enables she/he to present a scientific and evidence-based discussion and conclusion. Sources mentioned within and at the end of paper would clearly display this fact.

The purpose of this study was to examine the validity, reliability and standardization of organizational learning capability scale (OLCS) among middle school teachers in Isfahan city. The research population in this study consisted of the whole middle school teachers in academic year 1388-1389.Using a simple randomized sampling commensurate with Cohen and others (2000) formula, 506 teachers were selected. The research instrument was a 14 item questionnaire for the assessment of organizational learning capability (Chiva, Alegre and Lapiedra, 2007). The reliability of the instrument was computed using Cronbach’s Alpha, Spearman-Brown and Guttman coefficients, and the validity of it was considered using confirmatory and exploratory factor analysis. Results showed that Cronbach´s Alpha for OLCS and subscales (experimentation, Risk taking, interaction with the external environment, dialogue and participative decision making) were 0.22, 0.85, 0.66, 0.71, 0.84 and 0.50 respectively. The result of confirmatory factor analysis of organizational learning capability scale items showed five factors for OLCS with Goodness of fit statistics. The confirmed measurement scale for organizational learning capability could be implemented as an audit tool. Thus, principals could unveil which organizational learning issues are strong and which are weak. This would provide guidance for improvement across the norm tables.

This research focused on the study of guidance needs of Tehran high school students in physical, Social, psycological, occupational, educational, and religous aspects.The research sample consisted of 422 female and male students in Tehran governmental and nongovernmental high schools. Atfirst, the schools and districts were selected by cluster sampling. Then, using stratified sampling method, they were selected according to gender and school. Finally, some classes were selected using simple random sampling method from the selected schools. The research method was survey and research instrument was the Guidance Needs Inventory (GNI). To analyze the data, descriptive and inferential statistics were used.The results indicated that the students need different amounts of guidance in different above-mentioned aspects. Mostly, they needed educational guidance and occupational guidance was of secondary importance. Also, there was no significant difference between boys and girls in this regard.But in the other fourfields, there was a difference. There was no difference between govermental and non govermental students in physical and psycologicalfields and there was no difference in other parts. Boys needed more guidance than girls, and govermental school students needed more guidance than non-givermental school students.

In this study, we investigated the influential factors on the math attitude. TIMSS instruments were executed on 500 students who enrolled in the public high schools in the academic year 1386-1387 in Isfahan city (200 boys and 300 girls). This research used correlation method and random multistage cluster sampling. Data analysis showed that the research instruments have acceptable reliability and validity. The structural equation model contained 2 exogenous constructs-socioeconomic status (SES) and values (beliefs) about math learning; and 3 endogenous constructs-school culture, classroom processes and math attitude. The results showed that classroom processes had significant and direct effect on math attitude (β=0.35), the significant and reverse effect of school culture and socioeconomic status of family on classroom processes (β=-0.15,  g=-0.31), and also significant and direct effect of values about math learning on classroom processes (g=0.36) and math attitude (g=0.48). All other effects were not statistically significant. The results showed the effects of teacher efficient teaching, calm and safety and respectable relations, awareness of student to his (her) academic talent and competency on formation of positive math attitude and fulfillment of educational goals.