Original Research Paper
e-learning
S. Niyaie; A. Imanzadeh; Sh. Vahedi
Abstract
flipped teaching method. The goal of this study was determining the effect of flipped teaching on students' math anxiety and math performance. Methods: The statistical population of the study was comprised of all fifth grade female students in Marand City in the academic year of 1397-1398. The statistical ...
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flipped teaching method. The goal of this study was determining the effect of flipped teaching on students' math anxiety and math performance. Methods: The statistical population of the study was comprised of all fifth grade female students in Marand City in the academic year of 1397-1398. The statistical sample was targeted I such a way that from two neighboring schools (Atieh School and Rah-e Behesht School) in the same area of Marand City that were selected as a convenience sample. Rah-e Behesht School was selected as the school using the traditional teaching method and Atieh School was selected as the one using the flipped instruction. Rah-e Behesht School with 27 students was selected as the control group and Atieh School with 29 students was selected as the experimental group. Mathematical Anxiety Scale was used to measure math anxiety of the subjects. Moreover, to evaluate the performance of the mathematics course in the form of mathematical problems at different levels of cognitive domain, a researcher-made test with 20 questions that was approved by the experts in this field was used as the pre-test and post-test. Flipped teaching was used as four sessions per week of the fifth grade elementary math course in which two sessions per week were performed at home (during which learning occurred at home by using educational CDs prepared by the teacher) and two sessions per week were performed in the class during which activities were done. Findings: The results of the MANCOVA and t-test showed that the four dimensions of mathematical anxiety (including learning anxiety, problem solving anxiety, math teacher anxiety and math evaluation anxiety) decreased significantly in the class using the flipped teaching method as compared to the traditional class. The math performance of the flipped teaching was also increased compared to that of the traditional class. Conclusions: To explain the results, it can be said that the flipped class facilitates deep learning through learning activities in the classroom and increases the motivation of teachers and students and makes the classroom more attractive and communicative for them; thus, the students' self-confidence increases in learning math. In the flipped classroom, students experience different skills, such as open and closed questions, active listening, direct questions, addressing inconsistencies, as well as support and encouragement from the teacher which make the students capable of setting goals and solving problems. As a result, such students would have less anxiety in comparison to those who learn math in the traditional way. On the other hand, in this type of learning, more time can be spent in the classroom for thinking skills. Also, learners are more actively involved in learning and creating knowledge, and, at the same time, they are testing and evaluating their knowledge. The flipped classroom helps learners to gain a broad understanding of their learning styles and practices. Increasing teachers' knowledge in the area of flipped teaching and holding in-service courses for teachers, as well as providing flipped teaching information are among the practical suggestions of this article.
Original Research Paper
Educational Technology
M. Ghasemi arganeh; S. Pourroostaei Ardakani; A. Mohseni Ezhiyeh; R. Fathabadi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Pillars of civilization of any society is based on the system and structure of education; and without any doubt health, comprehensiveness and efficiency of the education system of that society depends on the scope, breadth, diversity and quality of comprehensive educational ...
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Background and Objectives: Pillars of civilization of any society is based on the system and structure of education; and without any doubt health, comprehensiveness and efficiency of the education system of that society depends on the scope, breadth, diversity and quality of comprehensive educational programs and educational services that are offered to students in regular schools or special classes. We have often seen students who are very similar in terms of learning ability and talent; but there are many differences in their academic achievement. We see these differences not only in school learning but also in other non-academic activities. This aspect of human behavior is related to the field of motivation. Psychologists often see motivation as a process that is involved in motivating, directing, and sustaining behavior. Motivation is the basis of human behavior and the most important factor of various behaviors and in fact the driving force of human activities and their directing factor. Gamification is currently one of the techniques that can increase motivation. Gamification is a new method that has been translated as ‘playmaking’ in some sources and means the use of playful elements and thoughts in areas that are not the nature of the game. Gamification has been one of the topics discussed in recent years, which can be used to increase efficiency and user interaction. Properly applied gamification in educational environments will lead to better learning of users. This study investigates the impact of gamification on educational motivation for mentally disabled students. Methods: This research utilizes a quasi-experiment research method through which pre andpost-tests are organized for two groups of students, i.e., control and experimental. The reserach population covers all mentally challenged students in Kermanshah Providence in Iran. The experiment sample consists of 32 students selected using a convenience sampling method. They randomly formed two groups of 16 as control and experimental. The experimental group was taught by game-based instructions, whereas the control received ordinary lessons in the classroom. For this, a 20 sessions (ordinary and game-based) course were designed for both groups of students. Harter motivation test was used in this research to collect data from the students. The collected data was analyzed using a one-way analysis of covariance. Findings: In the descriptive statistics section, the studied variables were analyzed using statistical index tables, mean and standard deviation; and in the inferential statistics section, the research hypotheses were analyzed using analysis of covariance. According to the results, game-based education has a positive impact on educational motivation for mentally disabled students and the effect size of the Eta squared in research is 0.49 on the internal motivation and 0.51 is the external motive. Conclusions: According to the findings of the analysis of covariance, gamification-based teaching methods have a positive effect on internal and external academic motivation (p <0.01). It is concluded that motivation plays a key role in learning, specifically if the students with mental disabilities join game-based educational environments.
Original Research Paper
e-learning
R. Mohamadrezaei; R. Ravanmehr
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Many conventional e-Learning systems are based on static information and consider all learners the same, so they cannot meet their diverse needs and tastes. The main drawback of these systems is ignoring the previous interactions and interests of the learners. The e-learning ...
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Background and Objectives: Many conventional e-Learning systems are based on static information and consider all learners the same, so they cannot meet their diverse needs and tastes. The main drawback of these systems is ignoring the previous interactions and interests of the learners. The e-learning recommender systems have been introduced with the aim of overcoming these problems and offering the most suitable personalized courses to each learner. The goal of this article is to propose a trust-based e-learning recommender system using fuzzy clustering while taking into account the learners' previous interactions and interests. For this purpose, the weighted association rules and rank prediction were used to produce a candidate list of learning courses and reclassification of the candidate list to generate the final recommendations list. Methods: In this paper, a novel approach is proposed, which is based on combining the trust relationships among users and their common interests in order to calculate their similarities in an e-Learning recommender system while using fuzzy clustering and weighted association rules, which are aimed at recommending learning courses to the users. In the proposed method, after analyzing the similarities among users and constructing a trust matrix, the next stages are divided into two general phases: the clustering phase of the users and the phase of recommending suitable learning courses for the users. The clustering phase consists of two stages. In the first stage, the optimal number of clusters is obtained using the X-Means algorithm, and in the second stage, the fuzzy C-Means clustering is performed based on the number of clusters obtained. In the recommendation phase for the user, using the weighted association rules and the final clusters obtained for the users, the rank intended by the target user is predicted for each learning item according to the neighbors of the user’s cluster. Finally, based on the predicted rankings, N higher ranking course items are suggested as the target user's favorite items. Findings: Implementation and evaluation of the proposed method on the Moodle dataset demonstrate that with the reduction of the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), the accuracy of the proposed recommendations is increased, utilizing trust relationships, and the coverage rate of the users and ranks has increased, using fuzzy clustering and weighted association rules, respectively, as compared with the other existing methods. These findings result from employing the fuzzy clustering of users based on their interests and the trust relationships among them, which make it possible for each user to join several clusters with different degrees of membership. Moreover, in utilizing weighted association rules, the association rules that are most compatible with the courses taken by the user are selected. Rules selection scores are calculated on the basis of not only the reliability factors but also a combination of the reliability factors and the user’s interest in learning courses. Conclusions: Utilizing the criterion of trust among users increases the accuracy in choosing neighbors and limits the users' harmful effects and invalid opinions, which will ultimately lead to more accurate recommendations. Also, according to the fuzzy clustering of users, the prediction of the rating of different learning courses is done only based on the neighbors existing in the clusters of the target user. As a result, it will perform more efficiently for the massive volume of information available in an e-Learning system and it shall reduce the problem of data sparsity.
Original Research Paper
Educational Technology
B.E. Zamani; S. A. Azimi; N. Soleimani; F. Parish
Abstract
Background and Objectives:The present study aimed to investigate and compare the extent of using educational technologies to enhance students’ critical thinking in Iranian and Russian first-grade elementary school experimental science textbooks. Methods:The research employs descriptive-analytical ...
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Background and Objectives:The present study aimed to investigate and compare the extent of using educational technologies to enhance students’ critical thinking in Iranian and Russian first-grade elementary school experimental science textbooks. Methods:The research employs descriptive-analytical method. Its sample consists of Iranian and Russian first-grade elementary school experimental sciences textbooks. The research instrument is a researcher-made checklist of critical thinking and soft and hard technology. The validity of this checklist was confirmed by experienced teachers and four professors in the field of educational sciences (educational technology and primary education). The reliability and validity of the tools have been calculated by using the formula of William Rumi. Findings: The results of analyzing the content of the experimental sciences textbooks showed that the first-grade textbooks of both countries used hard and soft technologies to teach critical thinking. The percentage of using soft technology was 75.65% and that of using hard technology was 24.35% to foster the critical thinking spirit in the Iranian first grade textbooks of experimental sciences. Moreover, the percentage of using soft technology was 51.64% and that of using hard technology was 48.35% to enhance the critical thinking spirit in the Russian textbooks. In addition, among the components of critical thinking, the highest percentage of 25.49% in Iran was related to the engagement component and in Russia, the highest percentage of 32.02% was related to the engagement component. In Iran, the lowest percentage of 2.87% among the critical thinking components was related to the judgment and evaluation componentand in Russia, the lowest percentage of 3.84% was related to the judgment and evaluation component. Combining soft and hard technologies in the contents of the first-grade textbooks of experimental sciences provides the possibility of learning more effectively and makes the process of learning more attractive for the students. The percentage of the other components of critical thinking in Russia and Iran has been as follows: the component of appropriate questioning in Russia was 18.33% and 11.60% in Iran; the collectiveness component in Iran was 10.01% and 10.04 % in Russia; the analytical component in Russia was 7.30 %and 5.15 % in Iran; the argument component in Russia was 7.63% and 5.15 % in Iran; the composition component was 7.95 % in Russia and 5.6 % in Iran. Conclusion: The composition of soft and hard technologies in the content of textbooks provide the possibility of more effective and attractive learning for the students. In fact, soft technologies complement and consolidate hard technologies and give rise to hard technologies and enable the growth and development of critical thinking and related areas. Hard technologies, as accessible and tangible tools, and soft technologies, as a set of ideas, plans, innovations, and initiatives which are crystaliized in educational design, determination and management of educational approaches and patterns, play an important role in increasing the effect of teaching and improving the students' learning. Hard technology in itself has no value; rather it is soft technologies that give credibility and value to hard technologies. It should be borne in mind that formal and superficial changes will not be responsive in revising the curriculum and fundamental logical changes are needed in all curriculum processes. As a result, researchers recommend the coherence and integration of critical thinking in educational textbooks. In this regard, the method of using hard and soft technologies and their implementation in the form of critical thinking components in the first year science textbook of Iran and Russia have been studied and emphasized.
Original Research Paper
e-learning
D. Rahimi Kinchaa; A Abbaspour; M. Taheri; E. Zaraii Zavaraki; A. Khorsandi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The professional development of the faculty members of universities and higher education institutions is the key to improving the quality of higher education. If the faculty members have the desired level of professional growth and development, then it can be expected that ...
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Background and Objectives: The professional development of the faculty members of universities and higher education institutions is the key to improving the quality of higher education. If the faculty members have the desired level of professional growth and development, then it can be expected that the other resources of the university will be used well and continuous quality improvement will occur in various activities and missions of the university. Over the past few years, online education has received increasing attention in higher education. Numerous aspects of university education, such as staff training, curriculum and professional development have been influenced by online learning processes. In this situation, most universities and higher education institutions have moved towards offering online courses. With the development of online education, the need of the faculty members to develop and teach online courses increases. It is, therefore, essential that the methods to improve the professional development of faculty members who teach online courses can be identified and used. Preparing and providing online courses for university professors can be very different from the traditional face-to-face teaching models. University professors need to change the way content is presented through the curriculum and the type of students’ assignments. To provide effective online courses, empowerment and professional development of faculty members who teach in these courses are of particular importance. Providing and implementing continuous professional development programs for faculty members help to improve the quality of online education. The aim of this study was to investigate the needs and challenges of the professional development of the faculty members of Allameh Tabataba'i University in online teaching and the relationship between demographic characteristics of professors and their needs and challenges in online teaching. Methods: This research was conducted quantitatively, using the descriptive-analytic technique. The research population included the faculty members of Allameh Tabataba'i University, 113 of whom were selected from 10 different faculties in an accessible basis. To collect data, a researcher-made questionnaire was used. Its validity was determined by experts and its reliability was determined by Cronbach's alpha 0.849. Findings: The results of this study showed that there is a significant difference between the age, academic status, and years of teaching experience of the faculty members on the one hand, and their needs and challenges in online teaching, on the other hand. Moreover, no meaningful relationship was found between the gender, years of online teaching experience of the faculty members, on the one hand, and their needs and challenges in online teaching, on the other hand. These challenges were categorized under three general components: the use of technology, attitude to online teaching, and administrative support. Conclusion: Regarding the needs and challenges of professional development of faculty members in online teachingthe needs and challenges of faculty members in relation to online teaching can be determined by using literature review and concerns-based adoption model. To ensure the successful implementation of online teaching, the professional development challenges of the faculty members who are teaching online should be considered and examined. Based on the findings of this research, from the perspective of the faculty members, the use of technology, the attitudes to online teaching, and administrative support, respectively, have priority in determining the needs and challenges of the faculty members in online teaching.
Original Research Paper
e-learning
M.S. Ghoraishi khorasgani; M.S. Karimi Mehrabadi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: MOOCs as a form of e-learning, with their great potential and capacity in learning and teaching, can meet different needs of a diverse group of learners. Therefore, universities can utilize it as an effective educational tool in their educational and research courses and help ...
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Background and Objectives: MOOCs as a form of e-learning, with their great potential and capacity in learning and teaching, can meet different needs of a diverse group of learners. Therefore, universities can utilize it as an effective educational tool in their educational and research courses and help improve the quality of their education. Faculty members are among the most important pillars of the university and, accordingly, they play a major role in knowledge transfer and learning; therefore, it is necessary for faculty members to be aware of the latest methods of teaching such as MOOCs as well as knowledge acquisition and information literacy in this field. As a result, the present study has been conducted with the aim of investigating the MOOC-based information literacy of the faculty members of Al-Zahra University. Methods: The research approach used for the study is quantitative; the method is of descriptive-survey type, with a practical purpose. The research population includes the faculty members of Al-Zahra University. Through quota stratified sampling and based on Morgan table, among the 381 faculty members, 181 individuals were selected as the research sample. To collect data, based on the theoretical foundations and research background, a researcher-made questionnaire was developed with a five-point Likert scale (very high, high, medium, low and very low). In order to measure the validity of the questionnaire, the views of experts on new teaching methods and new approaches to teaching and learning were applied. The reliability coefficient of the data was calculated using Cronbach's alpha, with the obtained value of 0.97 which indicates the high reliability of the devised questionnaires. To analyze the data, SPSS 22, one-group t-tests, Friedman and multivariate analysis of variance were used. Findings: The findings indicate that from the participants' point of view, in the components of ‘knowledge’ (1.54), ‘preparation’ (1.53) and ‘analysis / implementation of the course’ (1.61), ‘evaluation’ (1.74), ‘review’ (1.78), ‘optimization’ (1.76) and, in general, the information literacy status of the faculty members based on MOOC (1.66) are rated below the average. The components are prioritized as ‘optimization’, ‘review’, ‘evaluation’, ‘analysis/course implementation’, ‘preparation’ and ‘knowledge’, respectively. Accordingly, ‘optimization’ (3.74) is in the best and ‘knowledge’ (3.25) is in the worst condition. In addition, among the views of the research participants on the ‘gap of information literacy of the faculty members towards the MOOCs’, there is no significant difference among the distinguishing indicators, such as ‘history, gender, academic status, age, and department’. Conclusion: The results of this research show that MOOC-based information literacy is low among university faculty members and their knowledge and awareness of the MOOCs is very low. Lack of up-to-date faculty members, lack of various trainings, such as holding workshops, conferences, specialized meetings in the field of MOOCs, inattention and lack of emphasis laid by higher education institutions on the need to use new teaching methods by the universities, lack of attention to practical skills and familiarity with new teaching approaches in the world as a qualifying feature in employing the faculty members, lack of approval and demand of students from the faculty members to use the MOOCs in their teaching-learning approaches and the dominance of the traditional approach to teaching in the universities can be enumerated as the reasons for the results of the study.
Original Research Paper
e-learning
N. Alipour; D. Noroozi; M. Nourian
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The purpose of this study is the systematic study of the characteristics of an e-learning environment that is considered from all aspects in the teaching-learning process in the curriculum and its practical implementation. Learning environment means the space in which the most ...
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Background and Objectives: The purpose of this study is the systematic study of the characteristics of an e-learning environment that is considered from all aspects in the teaching-learning process in the curriculum and its practical implementation. Learning environment means the space in which the most important aspects of educational activities and learner interaction with the teacher take place. This environment is influenced by culture, tradition, technology and richness in design and construction. Learning environment can refer to an educational approach, cultural context or physical environment in which teaching and learning take place. E-learning is a creative approach to convey insights, skills, and information designed for a specific purpose. It is learner-oriented, interactive, flexible, expandable and innovative produced using the achievements of digital technology; and they are transmitted through network infrastructure and the Internet. Methods: The research approach is qualitative using content analysis. To achieve the above explanation, the synthesis research method has been used. To find the features and components of the learning environment, the recent studies have been systematically selected, content analyzed, screened and categorized. The study population is comprised of the research conducted from 2000 to 2020 during which classification and screening have been done through content revision, and about 97 studies that were appropriate and met the required criteria were purposefully selected. First, with the performed analyses, coding and classification were performed and patterns, theoretical bases, and main themes were extracted. Nvivo-8 software was used to analyze the data by open and axial coding method. Findings: Using content analysis, 29 subcategories were identified and the components of e-learning environment that were extracted using content analysis in 7 dimensions include: the learner, the teacher, curriculum approaches, the teaching-learning process, the teaching content, the physics of e-learning environment and evaluation. To assess the validity and reliability of the coding, the trust feature was used. it includes four criteria, namely reliability (the degree of belief in research findings), confirmability (the ability to identify the place from which the data of a particular study has come) and verifiability (the findings are practically based on the data) and transferability (the results of a qualitative study can be transferred to a different environment) Conclusion: By classifying the sub-components, the main components were extracted and the conceptual model was designed. The learner dimension with six subcategories includes the learner’s individual characteristics, cultural considerations, the learners’ relationship with each other, the learner-teacher relationship, the learners’ presuppositions, the learners’ interaction with the environmental physics. The curriculum approaches include 5 subcategories, i.e., the learner-centered process, the social approach to education, the behavioral approach, the constructivist approach, and the constructivist approach. The teacher dimension with four subcategories includes the teacher competence, the interactive relationship with the learner, the teacher’s experiences. The teacher’s relationship with school authorities and the teaching-learning process with four subcategories include teaching and learning methods, curriculum planning, participatory learning strategies, the learner’s motivation. The educational content dimension with two subcategories includes content selection, the teaching aid materials and media. The physical dimension of the learning environment with four subcategories includes the physical environment, the environment layout, lighting, location, sound, safety in the learning environment. The evaluation dimension with four subcategories includes self-evaluation, homework, the teacher observation, the criteria in evaluation. Despite many efforts that have been made to achieve the goals of a national curriculum, there is no special design for the e-learning environment. Therefore, according to the model proposed in this research, the components of the model can be considered and the e-learning environment can be designed according to the curriculum approach.
Original Research Paper
Educational Technology
N. Basiri; F. Ahmadi; M. Neek-Amal
Abstract
Background and Objective: Today, a positivist one-dimensional view of science, where it considers scientific propositions to be objective, definite, and fixed, is not credible enough, and the interdisciplinary and multidimensional nature of science is considered. Science is a human endeavor to explain ...
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Background and Objective: Today, a positivist one-dimensional view of science, where it considers scientific propositions to be objective, definite, and fixed, is not credible enough, and the interdisciplinary and multidimensional nature of science is considered. Science is a human endeavor to explain natural phenomena that require interdisciplinary knowledge. The product of this effort, in which people from all cultures and branches of science participate, is scientific knowledge. This knowledge is based on empirical evidence, rational reasoning, and skepticism; and while it is enduring, it is transient and temporary. Over the past century, the debate over the definition of science and how science works has given rise to the realm of the "nature of science." The nature of science is a common issue in the philosophy, history, sociology, and psychology of science that addresses questions such as science and how it works. Scientists respond to how society functions as a group and how society and science interact. In this field, various components such as observation and inference, transience and temporality, imagination and creativity, society and culture, laws and theories in science and multiple scientific methods are studied, which are referred to as "components of the nature of science". In this article, with a descriptive-survey design and with a quantitative approach of science students, "students' understanding of science and scientific exploration" was assessed. Methods: The population consisting of second and third year undergraduate physics students of Tehran and Isfahan universities was considered. A statistical sample consisting of 4 classes from two universities was available. A questionnaire for students' understanding of science and scientific exploration was provided to students. Data were analyzed by one-sample t-test and correlation coefficient. Findings: The results showed that the assessed students have an incomplete understanding of the components of the nature of science. There is a significant positive correlation between physics students' understanding of the concept of mass and their views on the nature of science. In order to provide up-to-date solutions to increase students' familiarity with the nature of science, elements of 21st century super-technology - the Internet - for learning science and understanding the nature of science were introduced. It was shown that observation and inference, fantasy and creativity, society and culture, laws and theories, and in addition the transience of science and scientific methods all need to be taught with modern online methods. Conclusion: In this article: 1- with normal statistics, we proved that students and the general public do not know about science and its basic components; 2- we discussed the potentials of the web space to introduce science and its evolving and creative nature; and 3- suggestions were made in order to strengthen education and knowledge of science.
Original Research Paper
TVET
A. Kamarei; A. Khorshidi; F. Hamidifar; A. H. Mahmoodi; M. Shariatmadari
Abstract
Background and Objective:Professional development is one of the most important issues in the field of human resources, which results in the emergence of levels of professionalism within employees. In education, studies on professional development have been done with different approaches: identifying ...
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Background and Objective:Professional development is one of the most important issues in the field of human resources, which results in the emergence of levels of professionalism within employees. In education, studies on professional development have been done with different approaches: identifying and determining the professional needs of school principals and teachers; and examining the methods through which professional development takes place is among the most frequently done ones. Considering any approach, determining and measuring the dimensions, components and elemenst that construct professional development of principals and teachers has been essential required. The purpose of this study was to identify the dimensions and components of professional development and designing a model for professional development of technical and vocational school principals. Methods: This research is applied in terms of objectives, qualitative in terms of data and emerging- data in terms of nature and type of study. The population of the present study consisted of all science and management experts at the level of staff managers in the Ministry of Education and technical and vocational colleges, from whom 30 experts were selected as the sample of the study, based on purposeful snowball sampling. The instrument used in the study was a semi-structured interview for the development of which the dimensions, components, indicators and national and international theories in the field of prrofessional development model were studied and applied. First, a significant number of national and international models, findings, studies, and theories were examined and then through open coding more indicators were counted and classified into dimensions, components, and indicators by axial coding. Finally, the categorized indicators were set in the form of a semi-structured interview and opinions of 18 experts were obtained through this form. This process was followed by selective coding through interviews, Delphi technique, and brainstorming until theoretical saturation was achieved. Findings: After the research stages and applying three coding procedures (open coding, axial coding, and selective coding) 10 dimensions, 39 components, and 320 indicators for the professional development model of technical and vocational school principals were identified and finalized. Conclusion: Finally, the dimensions of school principals’ professional development in 10 dimensions were determined in terms of priority, including: knowledge, attitude, intellectual and mental abilities, management abilities, functional management skills, interpersonal skills, management skills, excellence and improvement, transformational leadership skills, professional and career skills, and psychological and personality traits, respectively. These dimensions included 39 components that constituted the final dimensions and components of the professional development model for technical and vocational school principals, which involved general knowledge, educational management, school principal, specialized knowledge, attitude towards human resources, attitude to change, transformation and improvement , attitude towards stakeholder participation, attitude to education, attitude to technical and vocational and skills training, attitude to entrepreneurship, strategic thinking, critical thinking, problem solving, creative thinking, general ability, vocational ability, technical and professional ability , people’s motivation , development training, planning and organizing, consequentialism, collaboration and empathy, team making, effective communication, networking, attention to stakeholders, organizational awareness, change and Improvement, authority, Ideal and charismatic influence, inspirational motivation, mental persuasion, individual attention and considerations, vocational skills, technical and professional skills, self-confidence, responsibility, honesty, perfectionism, and professional growth.
Original Research Paper
Learning Environment
S. Heidari; H. Moztarzadeh; H. Azemati; M. Taghipour
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Since students’ mental focus is one of the main conditions for learning and academic achievement, investigation of the factors that can help restoring this factor in students, is very important. In the meantime, it seems that in addition to the student’s individual ...
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Background and Objectives: Since students’ mental focus is one of the main conditions for learning and academic achievement, investigation of the factors that can help restoring this factor in students, is very important. In the meantime, it seems that in addition to the student’s individual and the inner factors, the factors related to teaching and learning quality, physical variables in the classroom can affect this critical feature too. It seems that creating visual permeability and the optimal visual connection of classrooms with the view of outside through the classroom window as one of the physical variables of the classroom, by creating a visual opportunity, albeit short, to a view outside the classroom can be reconstructed student’s mental activity and help them to relieve their mental fatigue. The current research seeks to achieve an optimal state with restoration of mental focus of students via investigating some physical variables of the classroom window such as the window length and height variables. It can take a critical step in line with reducing the mental fatigue and restoration of mental focus of high school students who are in specific age range and have superior learning opportunities compared to other educational levels. From that point, the view from the window has a great impact on this process. It should be noted that the window in this study overlooks the natural elements and green space of the school yard. Methods: The statistical population of this research is all male and female students who were studying during the educational year of 2018-2019 in the high schools of Shiraz city in the age range of 16-18, who were selected as the sample pf the current study via cluster random sampling. The subjects were first assessed by a psychological test approved by psychologists and then completed a researcher-made questionnaire to make that subject more generalizable. To analyze research data and to find a relationship between physical variable of window length and height and student’s mental focus restoration, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used. Findings: The results show that changes in the physical state and the size of classroom window can affect the restoration of students’ mental focus. Accordingly, to the present research, decreasing the window length from 3.5 to 2.5 and 1.5 reduces the level of students’ mental focus from 149 to 148.9 and ultimately 148.1. As well, changing window height from 2 meters to 1.5 and 1 m, the students’ mental focus changes from 149 to 148.8 and 147.3. Conclusions: The level of students’ mental focus does not depend solely on the students' conditions, academic performance, the quality and teaching methods of teachers; but also, the physical environment of schools and the interior design of classrooms can have a significant impact on this importance. The presence of classroom window as one of the classroom physical variables, not only does not lead to the student's distraction, but also, via creating views toward outside natural elements, conscious placement, suitable dimensions can be a really important factor in restoration of the students’ mental focus.
Review Paper
Higher Education
P. Taghinezhad; E. Naderi; M. Seif Naraghi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The aim of the present study was analyzing the words and semantic units used to define entrepreneurship and describe the entrepreneur presented in the research articles on entrepreneurship education in higher education institutions. Methods: This study is a synthesis research ...
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Background and Objectives: The aim of the present study was analyzing the words and semantic units used to define entrepreneurship and describe the entrepreneur presented in the research articles on entrepreneurship education in higher education institutions. Methods: This study is a synthesis research (systematic review), but in terms of analytical methods, it is an analytical-synthetic research. For this purpose, content analysis and text analysis techniques were used. All articles with the subject of ‘entrepreneurship education’ in higher education which have been indexed in the Islamic World Science Citation Database, were selected as the statistical population. Using the preferred search strategy, 137 articles were retrieved and after considering the study criteria, such as having peer review and discussing entrepreneurship education in the university, 92 articles remained for analysis. In this process, sentences which had been used to describe entrepreneurship or an entrepreneur were analyzed using the software of Textstat2, MAXQDA10, and Excel. Findings: The findings of this study in the first level of analysis showed that the first ten descriptions ( that is, the first ten words) which are used more frequently for defining entrepreneurship or describing an entrepreneur in the research texts in Iran respectively are: innovation (frequency 156 and 8.8%), source (frequency 100 and 5.7%), work/activity (frequency 75 and 4.2%), process (frequency54 and 3.1%), business (frequency 43 and 2.4%), risk-taking (frequency 43 and 2.4%) , economy (frequency 41 and 2.3%), creation (frequency 41 and 2.3%), and opportunity (frequency 38 and 2.2%). The findings of the second level of the study, that is, the analysis of the semantic units, showed that the most frequently used semantic unit at the level of analysis of the main components belongs to the description of ‘the features of an entrepreneur’. Among all the subcategories of semantic unit analysis, the ten semantic units which have received more attention than the others, respectively, are: the first level of priority, with 33 semantic units, belongs to the semantic unit of ‘Risk-taking’. The semantic unit of the entrepreneur being ‘an opportunist’ with 22 semantic units was the second level of priority and ‘innovation’ with 16 semantic units was the third level of priority. Other priorities, respectively, are as follows: ‘creating new business’ with 16 semantic units, ‘supplying new product to the market’ with 13 semantic units, ‘creativity’ of the entrepreneur with 13 semantic units, ‘having the ability of mobilizing the sources’ with 12 semantic units, ‘self-confidence’ with 12 semantic units, ‘improvement of the economic condition’ with 11 semantic units, and ‘supplying new service’ with 8 semantic units. Comparison of the two levels of analysis showed that in the first ten components of both analyses, there is a lot of overlap; however, by comparing the order of priority of the components, it can be seen that the researchers in Iran consider entrepreneurship as being more dominated by ‘risk-taking’ and ‘opportunist’ individuals and their ‘innovation’ feature is at the third order of priority whereas in defining and describing entrepreneurship, the word ‘innovation’ has had more application. Conclusion: The results indicate that first, both at the level of semantic units and at the level of the words used, entrepreneurship education specialists in Iranian universities, in line with the experts of this domain, consider entrepreneurship as a driver of innovation leading to business and job creation. Second, since at both levels of analysis, the findings indicate that more attention is paid to the characteristics of the entrepreneur, so it can be concluded that entrepreneurship education specialists in Iranian higher education institutions consider entrepreneurship as an individual characteristic; that is why, somehow the characteristics of entrepreneurs are emphasized. Third and perhaps the most important result was that despite the extent and variety of concepts considered in the texts of entrepreneurship education in Iran, perhaps there are no approved and accepted curricula for teaching entrepreneurship to the students and in each of the implemented courses, a specific dimension on entrepreneurship is taught and many other topics are neglected or the required time for addressing them is not provided. The main limitations of the present study were the incompleteness of the collection of the sources required for the objective of this study as well as the extraction of the sentences from the /original text of the articles selected for analysis.
Original Research Paper
Learning Environment
S. Bitaraf; M. Kameli; B. Saleh sedg poor
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Due to the spatial-content development in domains of knowledge, it is necessary to pay attention to the new approaches to education by emphasizing opportunities and limitations. Therefore, in this paper providing an appropriate educational model compatible with an affordance-based ...
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Background and Objectives: Due to the spatial-content development in domains of knowledge, it is necessary to pay attention to the new approaches to education by emphasizing opportunities and limitations. Therefore, in this paper providing an appropriate educational model compatible with an affordance-based approach (including environment features and physical, cultural, behavioral and perceptual characteristics of users) at different levels of teaching the design of residential complexes is desired. The research studies conducted in this regard can be examined in two subjects: teaching residential architecture and affordances. In this regard, the purpose of this paper is studying the basics of teaching architecture, with two approaches including the affordances and the optimal relationship between environment and human being in the residential space and providing an operational model in educational planning of the course in designing the residential architecture. In fact, the analysis of the basic criteria for the design of residential complexes in the field of architecture education with a focus on improving the quality of these spaces based on the dimensions of sustainability are considered in this study. Methods: This research is applied in terms of purpose, descriptive in terms of data collection, and its type is causal-comparative. In the first phase of the research, the effective components of architectural education in the design of residential complexes were studied and collected in a qualitative and descriptive manner with the help of library and field resources and unstructured interviews with experts.Research instruments at this stage were a researcher-made questionnaire extracted from a primary model and an interview with the experts which included the following 6 components: 1- Environmental factors 2- Individual factors 3- Educational planning 4- PCK of education 5- PCK of teacher, and 6- Internal and external factors. The research was conducted in two stages with the aim of increasing the face validity (approval of the questionnaire by the experts) and the reliability of the research. The statistical population included experts and specialists in two groups of university lecturers and those involved in the design of residential architecture. The sampling method has been selected purposefully due to maintaining the principle of comprehensiveness and respecting the diversity of the community. In the second stage of the research, the variables were discovered using factor analysis tools in order to perform computational and statistical studies of the research for the purpose of explanation and prediction Then, the factors identified as affecting the residential architecture education were ranked. Findings: Theobtained results are descriptive statistics of respondents of both sexes holding master's and doctoral degrees and working as faculty members, university lecturers and those involved in residential architecture in three age ranges of less than 40 years, between 40 to 60 years and 60 years and above. The findings showed that among all the aforementioned six components that affect the architecture education, PCK of education, and environmental factors have the most significant impact. Conclusion: Based on the research studies conducted and the statistical results obtained, a comprehensive and operational model was developed for the educational planning of the residential architecture design course. In this pattern, TPCK and environmental components (including the design of light, the design of color, territory-oriented behaviour, ventilation, environmental equipment, security and respect for the environment) were introduced as the most effective components in residential architecture education. Also, based on the emphasis laid on the teacher-student interaction and the guidance role of the instructor and the facilitating role of the teacher in the type of the teaching method, an important feature of this model is the centrality of the aforementioned components in three dimensions of the instructor (teacher), the learner (student) and the environment.
Original Research Paper
Modern Educational Approaches
N. Safaei; E. Zarei; A. Samavi
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Today, creativity and fostering creative people is a very important issue in the education of any society. Creative people are actively able to direct their interests and desires. Creativity is a process whose application in adulthood is conditional on its upbringing in childhood. ...
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Background and Objectives: Today, creativity and fostering creative people is a very important issue in the education of any society. Creative people are actively able to direct their interests and desires. Creativity is a process whose application in adulthood is conditional on its upbringing in childhood. Accordingly, training creative, innovative and constructive people should start from the first years of their life. What is important in creating something new or new design and in the creative process in general is thinking, because creativity is a kind of intellectual activity. One of the prominent features of human and the basic axis of their life is the power of thought. During their life, human has never been free from thinking, and with the power of correct thinking, they have made decisions and have been able to solve problems and issues and achieve growth and excellence; Therefore, all human success and progress depend on fertile, dynamic and effective thought. Therefore, the present study has tried to investigate different theories related to creative thinking skills as one of the research variables, identify and extract its theoretical, philosophical, social and psychological foundations from different sources and based on it identify different components of creativity that is appropriate for elementary school children and design a creative thinking curriculum model based on the main elements of the curriculum (objectives, content, teaching methods, and evaluation). In addition, in order to validate the designed model, it was provided to curriculum specialists, education psychologists, and educational staff (educators), so that ultimately the designed model would be provided to specialists and educational staff with suggestions and solutions. Methods: This research is applied in terms of purpose. In terms of tools, it is an evaluation and its method is descriptive. The statistical population of the study includes curriculum specialists and education psychologists in public universities of Bandar Abbas, Shiraz and educational psychologists and educators working in primary schools in Bandar Abbas. The sample size was selected using stratified sampling method and a total of 208 people were selected. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire based on the creative thinking skills curriculum. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics (Chi-square) were used to analyze the data. Findings: Statistically, there is a difference between the views of the three groups, namely the curriculum group, educational psychologists and educators in the element of objectives, content, teaching methods and curriculum evaluation in relation to the curriculum model based on creative thinking skills for elementary students. Conclusion: The results of the study generally show that based on the designed curriculum model, creative thinking skills based on the three main components of knowledge, attitude and skills for primary school children, revising the usual student education programs and paying more attention to the creative factor is necessary in educational programs. It is suggested that curriculum planners and educators in the elementary school try to exploit the goals mentioned in this model and include them in their current and future plans. Also, the authors of the elementary school textbooks should pay attention to the use and arrangement of the content based on the suggested topics mentioned in the model and use the suggested teaching and evaluation. It is suggested that according to the model designed in the form of four main elements of the curriculum, which include: objectives, content, teaching method and evaluation method, in further research other elements of the curriculum such as teacher role, organizing space and learning environment, time, tools and learning tools, etc. be consdiered.
Original Research Paper
Learning Environment
H. Hayaty; M. Behdarvand
Abstract
Background and Objectives: The mosque schools were the social, political, and religious centers considered as a refuge for the turbulent urban life in the Islamic countries. To teach religious affairs in a religious environment, the theocratic regimes in Iran began to construct a new building called ...
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Background and Objectives: The mosque schools were the social, political, and religious centers considered as a refuge for the turbulent urban life in the Islamic countries. To teach religious affairs in a religious environment, the theocratic regimes in Iran began to construct a new building called the mosque-school while benefitting from the background provided by the mosque-shrines and the mosque- monastaries. Despite the available studies conducted on the formation of these buildings and their physical features; it seems that the appearance of these mosque-schools still has many lessons for the contemporary architecture of Iran. It is not clearly known how the two educational (school) and worshipping areas (mosque) have been linked with each other in the two eras of Timurid and Safavid and what features distinguish mosque-schools from other combined forms of buildings. This research identifies the relationship between the educational and worshipping centers, which are in fact the so-called mosque-schools. The purpose of this article is to find out the relationship between the two educational and worshipping areas in the Timurid and Safavid Eras and the distinctive features of mosque-schools, as compared to the other combined forms. Methods: The present study used interpretive-historical and case study research methodology; and the analyses of the buildings are done by the method of logical reasoning. In this case, first, the two educational and worshipping areas in each era were considered separetly. Then the influence of these areas on the general form of the aforementioned mosque-schools and also the way their different parts are related to each other were analyzed. Findings: To make a comparative study on the relationship between the mosque-schools of the Safavid and Timurid Eras, seven cases of mosque-schools from these two eras were selected, using a purposeful sampling method. Regarding the relationship between the educational and worshipping areas, two general categories were introduced for typology. In these typologies, the mosque-schools were divided in terms of hierarchy, location, and the combination of the educational and worshipping areas. Moreover, the criteria for the simultaneous development of education and training, focusing on education, promoting the social interactions of the students in the mosqus and so on were introduced and, finally, these criteria were compiled and explained in terms of design principles of educational-religious centers. Principles, such as comprehensive development in various aspects, the importance of discussion, the improvement of social interactions, mentioning spiritual issues and other policies show the importance of these matters in the mosque-schools. Conclusion: The major changes in the Safavid schools provided more suitable residential, educational and worshipping areas for students. Sometimes schools had two separate entrances to access educational and worshipping areas. During the Timurid Era, these two sections were completely close to each other. Ghiasieh and Do-dar schools from the Timurid Era and Chaharbagh and Hakim schools from the Safavid Era are the proofs of this fact. With respect to the principles ruling over the in mosque-schools, for instance, respecting the privacy of the students which, in turn, leads to creating spatial hierarchies and observing order in the mosque-schools can be pointed out. Moreover, the importance of discussion and paying attention to the central courtyard could also lead considering open and semi-open spaces like porticos and also paying attention to natural elements in order to focus the mind on thinking and educational development. These principles lead to the organization and helped to focus on education along with worshipping in the school mosques.
Original Research Paper
Modern Educational Approaches
A. Badeleh,; H. R. Gholamrezaei
Abstract
Background and Objectives: This study aims at examining the effect of real-world teaching model on the visual-spatial visualization focusing on the role of technical self-efficacy of male technical-engineering students in technical drawing.Methods: This study applies semi-experimental design using pretest-posttest ...
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Background and Objectives: This study aims at examining the effect of real-world teaching model on the visual-spatial visualization focusing on the role of technical self-efficacy of male technical-engineering students in technical drawing.Methods: This study applies semi-experimental design using pretest-posttest method. The statistical population of the study includes 400 male associate students in technical courses among whom 40 students were selected as the sample, using random cluster sampling method. The instruments included researcher-made questionnaires of technical self-efficacy, visual-spatial visualization and evaluation of real-world teaching model. The validity and reliability of the aforementioned questionnaires were measured using the content validity as well as considering the ideas and suggestions of experienced professors, curriculum and psychology experts. Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient for subscales of self-confidence, motivation and perseverance, innovation and questionnaires of technical self-efficacy, visual-spatial visualization, evaluating a real-world teaching model were found to be 0.88, 0.75, 0.81, 0.90, 0.80 and 0.77, respectively.Findings: The results showed that the real-world teaching model has an influence on the male engineering students’ technical self-efficacy, its dimensions, and their visual-spatial visualization in technical drawing; and technical self-efficacy, with its mediating effect, is effective on the influence of real-world learning model on students’ visual-spatial visualization. Students are suitably satisfied with the teaching method that is based on the real-world model in the components involved in using this model to understand the maps, geometrical design, tangible 3-D models, and usefulness of the real-world models. However, their satisfaction with the components of using and applying practical teaching of the real-world models is not appropriate.Conclusions: Real models enhance students' vision for preparing the maps on the basis of the real-time industrial model as well as its reconstruction. Drawing maps on the basis of 3D images, simplifying the design of maps, and facilitating the process of working with real-time industrial collections and mechanisms to identify and understand the solutions for technical problems lead students to gain new and innovative experiences.
