فصلنامه نوآوری های آموزشی
پیاپی 58 (تابستان 1395)

The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating role of attitude toward math and math self-efficacy on the relationship between the teachers’ perception of academic optimism with math achievement. To do so, 315 high school students of Birjand (133 females and 182 males) were selected using multi-stage cluster sampling method. They completed attitudes toward math questionnaire (Aiken, 1978), the teachers’ perception of academic optimism questionnaire (woolfolk Hoy, Hoy & Kurz, 2008) and math self-efficacy scale (Liu, Koirala & May, 2009). Also, math achievement was assessed through math test grade of students at the end of the term. The data was analyzed using path analysis. The path analysis model showed a good fit to the data. The findings suggested that the direct effect of the teachers’ perception of academic optimism and attitudes toward math on math achievement is not significant, but the direct effect of the math self-efficacy on math achievement is significant. Findings also showed that the indirect effect of the teachers’ perception of academic optimism on math achievement through attitudes toward math and math self-efficacy is significant. In addition, the direct effect of the attitudes toward math on math self-efficacy is significant and the indirect effect of attitude toward math on math achievement through math self-efficacy is significant. It was concluded that the student's perceptions of teachers’ academic optimism through other mediated variables, i.e., the attitudes toward math and math self-efficacy in math achievement is effective.

The purpose of this research was the study of the philosophy of social science from the critical realism’s point of view and its role in the educational research. The main problem of this research was that considering the attitudinal difference of this viewpoint which is in the middle of the two spectrums of realism and anti-realism and special attention to the philosophy of social science, which attitudinal and functional changes will occur in the educational research? Overall, it was a qualitative research which started with qualitative content analysis of the authentic texts and then with inferring implications, the hints of this viewpoint for the research were extracted. Findings showed that the critical realism considers the distinction between the natural world and the social world justifiable and due to this, the social condition of actions and their structural background is of high importance in educational research. As a result, the interpretation of meaning distinct from the structure, unlike those who believe in hermeneutics, is unacceptable. Also in terms of epistemology, critical realism, on the one hand with reliance on the assumptions underlying positivism and on the other hand, with explanation of the features associated with the network of educational and social studies, considers mathematics as a powerful tool to identify the educational and social phenomena. And at the same time, it has a radical orientation toward building an all-round sensory experience and challenges the whole reliance on induction.

The purpose of this research paper was to review approaches dealing with "Philosophy for Children’s Curriculum" and selecting appropriate alternatives for implementing this curriculum in Iran. Qualitative research and analytical method was used. In the steps of study, at first philosophy for children’s curriculum, introduced by the Institute for the Advancement of Philosophy for Children was presented and its strengths and weaknesses was checked out. Then, the approaches and strategies dealing with this new educational program in Iran were analyzed. Finally, the appropriate solution for the application of this program in Iran was suggested. The results showed that considering the local conditions, culture and philosophy of the educational system of Iran, the philosophy for children’s curriculum has numerous strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, considering the strengths and weaknesses of this program, three approaches was identified regarding the implementation of this program in Iran. The first one was "the Knockout Approach" which considers "removing the program" strategy, due to the weaknesses of the program. The second one was "the Passive Absorption Approach" which emphasized "the full assimilation" strategy due to the strengths of the program. The third one was "the Localized Approach" that suggested maintaining, modifying, refining and developing the program, considering both the strengths and weaknesses of the program. Considering the weaknesses of the program, this approach protects the educational system of Iran from the probable disadvantages and it helps to develop a program, appropriate with Iran’s philosophical and native culture. Among the suggested approaches and strategies, this study offered a localized approach and the "maintaining, modifying, refining and developing the program" as an appropriate strategy for application of the curriculum of philosophy for children in Iran.

Human is known as an organism with great capacities and capabilities. One of these capabilities is imagination. This research was conducted with the goal of analyzing the function of education system with focus on the role of content of Persian Literature textbooks and teachers’ teaching methods on the development of students’ imagination. The research method was descriptive. Data was collected using content analysis and semi-structured interview. Twelve primary school Farsi textbooks were analyzed based on 2 components of imagination including mythic and romantic understanding and 15 teachers were interviewed as well. Findings of the textbooks’ content analysis indicated that comparing with romantic understanding; mythic understanding had more contribution to imagination development. Regarding the teaching method, teachers illustrated that they put more emphasis on reading, writing and structure and they taught students based on the predetermined education goals and whatsoever they learned during in-service training. It was explained that imagination has been ignored one the one hand because of the one-sided concentration on acquiring predetermined skills of reading, writing and structure and on the other hand, due to teachers’ lack of familiarity with educational strategies and teaching methods, effective on the development of imagination.

Teachers are the most important factor in enhancing the quality of students’ learning, so, their professional development and identification of barriers in this regard is of high importance. This study was conducted to identify barriers to professional development of teachers. According to the research aims, it was an applied study and according to the method, it was a mixed methods research. The data was collected using a semi-structured interview and a researcher-made questionnaire, extracted from the interview. The interview participants were selected through purposeful snowball method (N=31) from among educational experts. Also, the questionnaire participants consisted of 159 primary school teachers of Tehran who participated in the in-service training classes in 1394-95 academic year. They were selected through stratified sampling method. In the qualitative pase of study, the technique of content analysis and in the quantitative phase of the study, factor analysis, Man Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Friedman tests were used. The results showed that the identified markers are related to the specified dimensions, and the barriers were divided into the "individual", "structural", "economical" and "technological" ones. Also, the identified markers showed an acceptable measure of factors. The structural barrier was the most effective one to the professional development of teachers. Professional development of teachers was the most effective structural barrier. Low quality of in-service training, weakness of programs to increase people's sense of cooperation, inadequate equipment and training facilities and inappropriate payment system had the highest rating. According to the findings, identification of barriers to the professional development of teachers and planning to solve them should be considered as one of the priorities of the educational organizations’ programs.

The aim of this paper was describing and explaining charisma and charismatic teacher’s characteristics. Contrary to the common belief that sees charisma as Weird and congenital concept, this paper explains that charisma is not limited to certain individuals but it relates to special behavior and speech that can be learnt and taught. In Neo charismatic view (insight), charisma is characterized mostly by the ability to understand others and communicate with them, having altruism, having the ability of eloquence and in general being able to influence others. To analyze the concept of charisma, the concept analysis method and to present the concept of a charismatic teacher, the conception development method has been used. For this purpose, after describing charisma and its components, the characteristics of effective and charismatic teachers have been explained. The behavioral characteristics include items such as having passion for teaching, the ability to listen well, having a sense of humor, and to communicate effectively with students. With regard to speech, having rhetoric and oratory skills such as proper using of metaphor and simile, using story for better understanding and creating the image and perception via speech and mental visualization have been mentioned.

This study aimed to normalize the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory among high school students of Isfahan. The research design was descriptive and exploratory factor analysis. Four hundred and forty-eight students were chosen using multistage cluster sampling method in Isfahan and they filled out the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory. The data was analyzed using internal consistency, concurrent and discriminant validity and exploratory and confirmative factor analysis. The analysis was done using SPSS-21 and AMOSS. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the two factors of 'exploratory' and 'absorption' jointly explained 68.25 of the total variance. Furthermore, the results showed that the Cronbach's α coefficients were ranged from.78 to.83 for the extracted factors, .84 for the entire scale, and the correlation coefficient of the inventory with Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was obtained 0.27 (p