JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONS
Year:2004 | Volume:3 | Issue:8|Papers Count:6

According to Bandura"s social learning theory, self-efficacy belief is an important factor which effects one"s development, adaptability, and performance. Self-efficacy belief is, itself, under the influence of successful experience, model taking, verbal persuasion, and emotional/physiological conditions. In this research, 895 high school students have been asked to answer to the study"s scales. Bandura"s self-efficacy questionnaire has been applied to investigate different dimensions of personal self-efficacy including academic achievement, self-regulating learning, extracurricular activities, meet others" expectations, self-assertiveness, and motivational self-regulation. Kim & Park"s questionnaire has been used to assess collective self-efficacy. Life satisfaction scale is also used to see how much support the students receive from their parents, teachers, and friends. The study showed that there is significant positive relationship between: life satisfaction and personal and collective self-efficacy; between personal and collective self-efficacy; and between academic achievement and personal and collective self-efficacy. The study indicates that personal and collective self-efficacy among high school girls students are more than boys. Also, life satisfaction is under the influence of 1) personal selfefficacy and 2) the family"s well-being level.

Globalization is regarded as a process or a project or a process/project which is most rapidly developing. Globalization, in case of occurrence, will put its impacts on all dimensions of human life including knowledge and practice. Particularly, its impact on epistemology and education would be remarkable. Given that the appearance and development of informational revolution is the most important background for globalization, the first challenge of globalization relates to the nature of knowledge. According to the information revolution, the most important characteristic of knowledge is to be sought in this equation: knowledge = information. This involves reducing different facets of knowledge to quantitative information which leads to knowledge legitimacy crisis. In addition, having a communicational dimension, knowledge will be qualified by means of the shape and characteristics of community in the era of globalization. The viewpoint of virtual community calls us from another side to rethink on knowledge as well as on the problem of identity because in the consequence of virtual community, virtual identity of pupils is being claimed which involves identity fragmentation. To deal with these challenges, education needs: a) ,to resist the reduction of knowledge to information and equate knowledge with wisdom rather than information; b) to extend imaginative and creative procedures; c) to develop interdisciplinary studies as an important way of extending imagination; and finally, d) to provide relationship between virtual and real communities of the pupils.

Realistic curriculum planning for schools requires the contribution of all groups, especially teachers, who influence the process of decision making in education. Since teachers have valuable experiences about school activities and are aware of the students" needs and problems, they should be considered as the main important element of decision making on curriculum planning. This. research has tried to show the extent, and the possibility, of teachers" contribution in curriculum planning in Iran and have investigated the results of such contribution as well. A researcher-made questionnaire has been used to collect data from a sample of high school teachers in Tehran and experts of curriculum planning of the Ministry of Education concerning the extent of teachers" contribution in curriculum planning, the factors which facilitate this contribution, and the positive and negative effects of it.

Some school students, in spite of their normal intelligence and healthy visual and hearing sensation, are not able to follow educational instructions of the classroom and have difficulties to understand special concepts while are thought by the regular methods in schools. These students are usually named as learning disabled children. Mathematical learning disability is one of L. D. problems which leads to difficulty in understanding mathematical concepts. In this research, the effectiveness of three methods of teaching mathematics, i.e. task instruction, process or ability instruction, and task-process instruction in teaching mathematics, have been investigated. Research findings indicate that 1) there are significant differences between pre-test post-test marks on mathematical achievement as a result of applying different instruction methods; 2) task instruction method and process or ability instruction method are significantly influencing the L. D. students" learning mathematics.

Paulo Freire has been one of the most influential educationists of the 20th century. This article focuses on the application of Ferirean ideas to education. It considers the critical, social and educational dimensions to Freire"s thought. A number of key instructional principles in Freire"s work are identified. The article suggests that Freire"s theory is built on a dialectical approach toward the world, a practical view of knowledge and the human ideal, and a deep commitment to the liberation of the oppressed.

Since achievement of a superior and efficient educational system requires informant, experienced, and competent educational principals, the purpose of this research is collection of standards (competencies) of performance of educational principals in middle school and rendering suitable pattern to standardize performance of such principals. In this research a collection of competencies of performance of educational principals has been firstly made on the basis of library studies and survey of research literature, (this collection includes six main indicators, forty sub-indicators, and 160 behaviors which indicate competency, "performance Indicators"). Then, perceptions of experts, directors, teachers, parents and Students of middle school about each of the indicators and sub-indicators collected were studied through applying "360 degree feed back" method. Responses of members of sample society were analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistical methods and, at the end, a model for standardizing performance of educational principals of middle school was compiled by applying findings of the research and each of comments of experts of educational management. The usefulness of the model proposed was evaluated from the standpoint of specialists of educational management and was confirmed with average mark of 4.25 out of 5.