فصلنامه نوآوری های آموزشی
پیاپی 43 (پاییز 1391)

The main objective of this study was to identify educational innovations from the perspective of methods of production, adaptation and implementation in Iranian general education based on global experiences and the related literature. The research question concerns methods of production, adaptation and implementation in Iranian general education. It was a mixed method research which tried to study the domestic and foreign documents and to get the consultation of experts through a qualitative method, comparative data, categorization and analysis. The research sample included Malaysia, India, Singapore, Australia and USA. The research instruments included documents, rules and regulations and research carried out on the related topic in Iran and the above mentioned countries, interview with experts and a researcher-made questionnaire. This study examind the process of the production, adaptation and implementation of educational innovations in these countries and tried to develop a model through scientific validation, so that it could be applied to Iran’s domestic situation.The results showed that the present condition of our education system is not ready to accept the suggested model and the situation is not ready for its implementation. Majority of the experts believed that the situation should be prepared in advance and a school should be established based on the characteristics of the suggested model, before the realization of educational innovations in our education system.

In its simplest definition, literacy means obtaining the ability to read and write in official language. Although most students try to get mastery on the two mentioned language arts; however, for students of non-Farsi speaking districts, education of Farsi as an official language has more limitations and difficulties. In the process of learning a second or foreign language, errors are considered as natural phenomena. Error Analysis (EA) is a method for indentifying educational needs in order to improve the quality of materials and techniques of education. Error Analysis means the comparison of sentences (written or oral) produced by learners with the sentences of native speakers according to their adjustment/non-adjustment with rules of language under study. In this research, written errors of non-Persian speaking students (Turk students learning Farsi as a second Language) of the intermediate and advanced levels have been analyzed. The body of the data were gathered from the letters and manuscripts of Iranian students writing to Roshd magazines and they were described and analyzed using descriptive method. They contained 100 error items which were categorized in four groups: orthographic (spelling), morphological (Lexical), structural and pragmatic errors. The aim of this research was finding the most frequent errors in the writing of non-Persian speaking Iranian students. The results showed that the most frequent type of errors is structural one (containing 72% of all the errors). In other words, Iranian non-Persian speaking students generally do have more problems and deficiencies in application of Persian grammatical rules in their writings. Consequently material developers and textbook authors should pay more attention to this finding especially while developing textbooks and educational aids for this group of students.

The purpose of present study was to investigate and compare safety standards of spaces and sport equipments in girls and boys’ schools at different districts of Tehran and to provide strategies to eliminate probable problems. This study was a descriptive survey. The statistical population included all sport spaces of Schools in educational districts of Tehran. 289 schools were selected as the statistical sample of this study from four educational districts of Tehran (districts of 1, 4, 11, 18) using multistage systematic sampling method. The required standards were collected using researcher-made checklists. 5 components in the safety conditions including inside field and surfaces, privacy and lines, design and dimensions, facilities and coverage and equipments were studied. To determine the safety status of different factors, descriptive statistics was used. Also, U-Mann-Whitney, Kruskal Wallis and Friedman tests were used for comparison of safety conditions of girls and boys’ schools at different educational districts in Tehran and comparison of different components of safety, using statistical software SPSS 11. No significant differences were shown between girls and boys’ schools according to safety conditions (P> 0.05). However, there were significant differences among different educational districts in Tehran, according to safety conditions of schools (P< 0.05), and no significant difference was reported among the various components of safety (P> 0.05). Using findings of this research and related literature, necessary solutions were presented in order to eliminate risk cases.

The main aim of this paper was to study the feasibility of smart school in female secondary schools from the viewpoint of teachers and principals. To do so, a theoretical framework developed which consisted of attitude, knowledge, and skills of teachers and principals along with financial resources, infrastructures, equipments, culture and administrative performance within the secondary schools. It was a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative) research. The research population consisted of teachers and principals of Ahwaz secondary schools, and the research sample consisted of 100 teachers and 8 principals of secondary schools which were randomly selected from zone 1 of Ahwaz city based on a cluster sampling method. Data was collected using interview, two questionnaires, checklist and researcher observation. Face and content validity of the instruments were confirmed by some experienced professors. The reliability of teachers’ questionnaire was computed 0.89 after a pilot study on 30 participants and the reliability of principals’ questionnaire was computed 0.94. The results showed that in general, the female secondary schools of Ahwaz were not ready to implement smart schools program.

This paper introduces the philosophy and method of critical conscie ntization in adult education and critical social analysis. An overview of some Iranian research papers on Freire’s views on education suggests that although some of his educational and social themes are familiar in our society and they have been discussed in different papers, however, they have not been considered as a coherent epistemologic - intellectual system. In line with this objective, the intellectual origins of Freire’s views have been explained based on Hegel’s philosophy, Frankfurt School critical theory, Goldman’s structuralism, and Vygotsky’s theory. In addition, his epistemological and ontological foundations have been studied in the context of critical hermeneutic and critical realism.

This research was conducted in order to investigate the guidance school teachers’ stipulated and tacit knowledge about learning theories and applying it in the teaching process. The sample consisted of 266 teachers (146 females and 120 males) who were selected randomly from among Tehran guidance school teachers. The data was collected using two researcher-made questionnaires. The data was analyzed, using descriptive and inferential statistics and the following results were obtained: There was a significant difference (p<.05) between observed average stipulated (.33) and tacit knowledge (3.61), and there was a weak correlation between two kinds of knowledge on learning theories(r=0/144). There was a significant difference between teachers’ knowledge on learning theories and variables such as, academic document, gender, and teachers’ teaching experience. However, there was not a significant difference between the teachers’ knowledge and the length of their in- service training (p ≥.05). So, enhancing the teachers’ stipulated knowledge of learning theories and special attention to teachers’ tacit knowledge should be considered by the educational authorities and planners.

Children’s health has been one of the essential aims of the activities of lots of international organizations. The environmental investigation of health condition of schools and the impact of health nurses in elementary schools have been important issues that play a very important role in promoting educational objectives. It was a survey research. The sample included 200 Iranian girl elementary schools that were selected from 10,511 girl primary schools, using a random sampling method. 100 schools which had health nurses were considered as experimental group, while 100 other schools which did not have health nurses were considered as a control group. Data was gathered using direct observation and control list form which included 30 questions in 10 different situations. Then, they were analyzed using the Chi Square method. The results indicated that there is a significant difference between schools based on presence or absence of health nurses in 19 out of 30 variables of environmental health. So, the presence of health nurses in schools will lead in the improvement of schools’ environmental health. Although providing such conditions is a multi-dimentional issue and different factors and variables in addition to presence or absence of health nurses could affect it, the overall investigation of these factors could provide clear criteria for designing children’s educational program and strategies for optimum use of resources (human resources, budget, time) to promote the level of awareness and health performance of children at schools. As a strategy, we could insert the required health materials in elementary school textbooks, with health nurses responsible for teaching them, while using one health nurse in more than one school.