نشریه مطالعات آموزش و یادگیری
سال پنجم شماره 1 (پیاپی 64، بهار و تابستان 1392)

One of the key elements of the curriculum planning and instructional designing is the teaching and learning methods. Also all the actions and decisions are put into practice through methods and then learning occurs. In instructional designing, issues such as objectives, evaluation methods, and educational supplies get practical through teaching methods. If teaching methods are selected and practiced logically, creativity is undoubtedly boosted in children (Fazlikhani, 1388). It is through the teaching methods that concepts are understood, skills are acquired and attitudes are internalized. Therefore, the more appropriate the methods are the more effective the learning would be. In fact, it can be said that with the teaching methods, ideas are put into practice and the decisions of the curriculum planners and teachers are realized (Maleki, 1387, p.94). The teaching of sciences is considered to be one of the most important areas of education and the best area to practice and grow the academic thinking and problem solving. Using problem solving could be the best teaching method to achieve the instructional goals. This research is intended to model the impact of problem solving on creativity and academic performance of the students in the chemistry course. According to the relevant literature, the following hypotheses were proposed:The research hypotheses: 1-Creativity of the students who learn chemistry through problem solving is higher than those learning it through traditional methods. 2- The students who learn chemistry through problem solving will have a better academic performance than those learning it through traditional methods. The method used in this study was semi-experimental with pretest - posttest control group design. The population of the study included all the female first grade high school students of Sanandaj in the year 1392-92. Two intact classes of 60 students were randomly selected from the available students through a multi-stage random sampling procedure and were then assigned to experimental and group controls. The instruments used for data collection included Abedi’s innovation questionaire to measure the participants’ creativity and the common class chemistry test (focusing on knowledge, skills and attitudes) to measure their academic performance. To analyze the data, multivariate analysis of covariance was employed. The creativity in this study was checked based on the pretest and posttest scores of students in the experimental and control groups according to Abedi’s innovation questionnaire. This questionnaire contains 60 questions focusing on four components of fluidity, initiativeness, flexibility and expansion. Each item has 3 options A, B and C, which are interpreted into the scores of 1, 2 and 3 respectively. 1- Problem solving model has a positive impact on students’ creativity.2- Problem solving model has a positive impact on students’ academic performance.3- Problem solving model is effective in improving fluidity in students. 4- Problem solving model is effective in improving innovation in students.5- Problem solving model is effective in improving flexibility in students.6- Problem solving model does not influence the development of students. It was found that problem solving has a positive effect on improving fluidity in students. This was clear by comparing the control and experimental groups. Problem solving had also a positive effect on academic performance. It could be stated that problem solving will develop students’ understanding. Based on the research findings regarding the important role of the teachers in providing learning opportunities for students, it is recommended that they provide their students with challenging opportunities designed to develop creativity. Therefore it is better to run workshop classes such as problem-solving for the chemistry classes. The results of this study showed that teaching chemistry through problem solving can enhance students’ learning in three areas of knowledge, skills and attitudes. Therefore it is recommended that in-service teachers be informed of such findings and become familiar with holding such classes.

Multimedia education embraces a combination of words and images which may include either written or spoken words, images or design, static pictures or dynamic ones as the animations. The animation can be effective for learning in two cases. First, when the events during the time are dynamic and changeable and the learner cannot learn through static images; second, when the learner is a beginner and cannot make a good mental model of the process, therefore cognitive load is enhanced. Animation can reduce the cognitive load of learning in beginners. The literature suggests that individuals with low spatial ability have a better performance with dynamic presentation and those with high spatial ability have a better performance with static images. Also, the issue of gender differences in multimedia education has been taken into consideration. The findings indicate that the presence of animation can effectively eliminate the performance differences in girls and boys. To enhance the effectiveness of animation in multimedia learning, application of visual cues could be of high importance. Visual cues are of two type: cues (e.g. color) which belong to the content are called internal cues, and cues (e.g. flash) that are detached from the content are called external cues. This study aimed to investigate the effect of visual cues, presentation forms (animation, & static picture) and their interaction on comprehension and transfer. The role of gender as a moderating variable in multimedia learning was also taken into account. Research questions: 1- With the spatial ability being controlled, to what extent does the use of animation versus static pictures affect transfer and comprehension?2- With the spatial ability being controlled, to what extent does the impact of animation versus static pictures on transfer and comprehension is modified by visual cues?3- With the spatial ability being controlled, to what extent does the impact of animation versus static pictures on transfer and comprehension is modified by gender?

The present study is of quasi-experimental design. The research variables included form of presentation (animation vs. static pictures) with two levels as the independent variable, comprehension and transfer of learning as the dependent variables, visual cues (color & Flash) with two levels and gender (male & female) with two levels as the moderator variables. The survey was done in summer semester of the year 1391-92 and included 120 male and female participants of Islamic Azad University of Mahdi Shahr, Semnan. The participants from different majors of Architecture, Law, Electronics and Computer Engineering took part in the study. 60 boys and girls were selected voluntarily and were randomly assigned to 8 groups. Educational content of the course focused on biology including an introduction to different hemispheres and parts of the brain. The first group received static pictures with the color cue, the second group static pictures with flash, the third group animation with flash and group 4 animation with colors. This grouping was applied to both males and females similarly. The same explanations were offered to the groups. Training duration was 15 minutes. The instruments used for data collection included a reading comprehension test, a test of learning transfer, and Wechsler’s revised IQ test for adults. The short form of this test contains 4 subtests. The data were analyzed through multivariate analysis of covariance.

The findings showed that animated form was more applicable in comparison to static picture in both comprehension and transfer tests. On the other hand visual cue of color in comparison to the visual cue of arrow had more effect on comprehension and transfer. No interaction effect was observed between the forms provided and the visual cues, but a significant interaction effect was found between gender and presentation formats. The average learning in presenting animation form was higher than that of static pictures in girls, but there was no significant difference in boys. In addition, there was no interaction effect between gender and visual cues. In designing multimedia environments and electronic contents using animation combined with color cues will increase the efficacy of learning. This is especially effective on girl's education rather than the education of boys. Practical implications of the findings are also discussed.

The results showed that when spatial ability is controlled, learning through animation will be higher than learning through static pictures in the comprehension test. The results of this study along with the results of previous studies lend support to the efficiency of animation. A possible explanation for this finding is that animation enhances learning motivation. The findings also showed that animation is superior to static picture in learning transfer. Also, it was found that the visual cue of color functions better than the arrow cue in the comprehension and learning transfer. A possible explanation is that because the internal cue is embedded in content it increases the level of attention. The study also found that there existed no significant interaction effect of presentation form and type of visual cues on comprehension and transfer. The effect of color cue was found to be the same in animation and static pictures. Another finding of this study was that with the spatial ability controlled, the girls had a better performance in comprehension and transfer of learning when received animation rather than static pictures. This finding is inconsistent with the explanation proposed in previous studies. In a previous study it was found that girls have a lower spatial ability than boys and the use of dynamic presentation can diminish the difference. It can be argued that women's cognitive and emotional processes interact with each other and emotions are activated accordingly. This will affect the working memory and cognitive processing of women. In summary, the use of animation combined with color cues can increase learning efficiency. This is especially the case with girls than boys.

Students are usually faced with a host of information and stimuli, and in order to use them properly and make the right decisions, they are obliged to evaluate and critique them. Then, they need to accrue critical thinking and process related to it such as critical thinking disposition. So, research about the facts that affect and are related to critical thinking disposition is important. Studies conducted on intrinsic motivation have shown that environment plays a key role in this regard. Family, school and community contexts all have an important role in the formation of critical thinking. Despite the theoretical research conducted on the relationship among the parental perception, motivation and critical orientation, the need to study such relationships in a single study is felt. Family and understandings relating to it have a significant role in the inclination toward critical thinking, and according to SDT theory of motivation and the related processes, this relationship is mediated through motivation. It can, therefore, be mentioned that parental perceptions directly and through motivational processes are related to critical thinking. Research Question: This study was aimed at investigating the relationship between the perception of parenting and motivation with critical thinking disposition based on a causal model. The research question focuses on whether the proposed model fits the data collected from the university students? The statistical population of the research included students of BA level at Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in the academic year 1389-90. The sample included 359 students that were selected through non-proportional stratified sampling. The data collection instruments were California Critical Thinking Disposition (Facione & Facione, 1992, as cited in Nowshadi & Khademi, 2010), Perception of Parents Scale (Grolnick, Ryan & Deci, 1991), and the Work Preference Inventory (Amabile, 1994). Cronbach's alpha reliability of the Perception of Parents Scale in the original source has been reported to vary from 0.79 to 0.86 (Kareshk1, 2008). The Persian version of this scale has a good alpha coefficient for the subscales. In a study, the results of factor analysis with varimax rotation showed that only 40 items with six factors underlay the sacle (Tanhaye Rshvanlv, 2009). Therefore, we can say that scale has good validity and reliability for Iranian students. The reliability and validity of the California Critical Thinking Disposition scale have been verified for Iranian students by Nowshadi and Khademi (2010). The reliability and validity of Work Preference Inventory have also been verified for Iranian students by Shaykholeslami and Razavi (2005). Pearson correlation coefficient and SEM were used for analyzing the data. To test the proposed model, the data were collected and necessary assumptions for SEM such as independence of errors, normality, multivariate normality and multi-co linearity were verified. The results are reported in two parts. The results indicated that there was a significant and positive relationship between the perception of parenting and academic motivation (r=.13, p<0.05). There was also a significant and positive relationship between the perception of parenting and critical thinking disposition (r=.11, p<0.05) and also between motivation and critical thinking disposition (r=.35, p<0.01). The results of structural equating modeling showed that the proposed model fitted the data and that critical thinking disposition is predictable by the perception of parenting and intrinsic motivation (GFI=0.94, RSMEA = 0.05, 2=193.30, df=82, GFI=0.94, AGFI =0.92, 2/df=2.35). In other words, the perception of parenting is related to critical thinking disposition directly and indirectly through intrinsic motivation. The results speak of the direct effect of perceived parental perceptions on critical thinking dispositions (.13), the direct effect of parental perceptions on motivation (.57), the direct effect of motivation on critical thinking dispositions (.55) and the indirect effect of parent's perceptions on critical thinking (.31). This indicates that the indirect pathway of parental perceptions to critical attitudes is a stronger direction. In this study, the relationship between parental perceptions and motivations with critical thinking dispositions was examined. The results of structural equation modeling analysis provided support for the research hypothesis; that is, motivation and perceived parental disposition correlate with critical thinking; and there exists an indirect relationship between the perceived parental disposition and critical thinking through intrinsic motivation. Overall, parent's perceptions and motivations are able to predict changes of critical thinking dispositions. In other words, students who have a higher internal motivation tend to have higher critical thinking. These results are consistent with other studies (Jafari sani, Pakmhr & Malekzadeh, 2011; Fan, 2009; Byvrs, 2010; Gayvdt, 2010). Another path through which this model was tested was the relationship between parental perception and motivation. The findings of the research are consisting with others (Fancy & Karshky, 1388; Sbry, 2006; Shaw, 2008; Ryvrs, 2008; Huang, 2007; Gottfried, Fehling, & Gatfyrd, 1994). According to the results, it is important to instruct the parents to help develop critical thinking skills in their children. Given the impact that motivation has on critical thinking, more research is needed to identify how to improve aspects of motivation.

This research aims at investigating the relationship between motivational strategies (achievement goal orientation, self-efficacy and test anxiety), learning strategies (cognitive learning strategies including rehearsal, elaboration and organization and metacognitive learning strategies including critical thinking and metacognitive self-regulation) and creativity with academic achievement of mathematics in gifted students of Isfahan. The problems of mathematics learning may come from internal individual factors or external factors. Internal problems are related to motivation and learning while the external problems are concerned with cultural, social and teaching factors. External problems can be related to achievement goals orientation, motivational strategies, cognitive learning strategies and creativity. These variables have been identified as important determinants of academic achievement.According to Elliot (1999) and Pintrich (2000a) students have four goal orientations: approach mastery goal, avoidance mastery goal, approach performance goal and avoidance performance goal. Individuals with general approach mastery goal emphasize the learning and are interested in challenging tasks. Those with avoidance mastery goal avoid the duty. On the other hand, those with approach performance goal try to outrun the others and finally individuals with avoidance performance goal try to catch up with others (Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Ames, 1992b; Midgley et. al. 1991; Bong, 2009; luo et al, 2011). Many studies have showed that mastery and approach performance goals have a positive relation with academic achievement and avoidance performance goal have a negative relation with academic achievement (Elliot & McGreegor, 2001; Pintrich, Conley & Kempler, 2003; Wolters, 2004; Mouis & Edwards, 2009; Hanchon, 2010; Dickhauser, Bush & Dickhauser, 2011).Self-efficacy is judgment about one’s ability to organize and run a series of tasks to achieve specific functions (Bandura, 1986). Self-efficacy has a significant and positive relationship with academic achievement (Elliot, 1999; Wolters, 2004; hanchon, 2010). Test anxiety is a set of responses that come with worry (Zeidner, 1988). Anxiety has a significant and negative relationship with academic achievement (Zeidner, 1988; Dusek, 2000; Liem, Lau & Nie, 2008).Cognitive learning strategies include: rehearsal (surface strategy), elaboration, organization, critical thinking and metacognitive self-regulation (deep strategies). Deep strategies lead students to higher academic achievement, while surface learning has a positive relationship with lower academic achievement (Biggs, 2007).Another factor that contributes to the academic achievement is creativity. Kerr and Gagliardi (2006) defined creativity as creating new ideas and innovative products. Studies have showed that creativity has a significant and positive relationship with academic achievement (Mann, 2006; Runco, 2007; Davis, 2008; Fleith, Renzuli & Westberg, 2009). This study aimed at investigating the relationship of achievement goals orientation, motivational strategies, cognitive learning strategies and creativity with academic achievement of math lesson.Research Questions: 1- Can achievement goals orientation, motivational strategies, cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies and creativity predict academic achievement of math lesson?2- What is the contribution of each of the variables of achievement goals orientation, motivational strategies, cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies and creativity to the academic achievement in math lesson?3-Which of the variables of achievement goals orientation, motivational strategies, cognitive and metacognitive learning strategies and creativity is the best predictor of academic achievement in math lesson? The research method employed in this study was correlational that investigated the relationship of achievement goals orientation, motivational strategies, cognitive learning strategies and creativity with academic achievement of math lesson. The population of this research included the third grade high school students of Isfahan. 200 students (92 boys and 108 girls) were selected using stratified sampling. All of them completed the achievement goals orientation questionnaire (Elliot & Murayama, 2008), motivational strategy for learning questionnaire (pintrich et. al. 1991) and creativity questionnaire (Torrance, 1974). Correlation and Cronbach alpha of the three questionnaires showed acceptable validity and reliability for these scales. The collected data were analyzed through correlation and step-wise regression. The results of correlation matrix showed a positive and significant relationship between self-efficacy, mastery approach goal, organization, critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation and creativity with academic achievement and a negative and significant relationship between test anxiety and academic achievement. Self-efficacy, test anxiety and creativity in one predictor model predicted 42 percent of variance of achievement in math lesson. Self-efficacy was the best predictor of academic achievement in this regard. The results of correlation matrix showed a positive and significant relationship between self-efficacy, mastery approach goal, organization, critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation and creativity with academic achievement and a negative and significant relationship between test anxiety and academic achievement. So it can be said that the students who are high in variables of mastery approach goal, self-efficacy, organization, critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation and creativity and also are low in the variable of test anxiety have higher academic achievement. Therefore, based on the current results we suggest that the education system should encourage mastery approach goal and emphasize the process of learning instead of product in education. Furthermore, it must train self-efficacy, organization, metacognitive strategies and creativity. In addition, teachers and also education system should decrease test anxiety to improve academic achievement. Another finding of this study was that self-efficacy had the highest contribution to the academic achievement. The educational and theoretical implications are discussed in the paper.

Today, there is no doubt about the role and importance of mathematics in the global economic transformation. Mathematics can be considered as a very important means by which pupils’ understanding, perceptions and reasoning ability are improved. Indeed mathematical literacy provides learners with an awareness and understanding of the role that mathematics plays in the contemporary and modern society. Mathematical literacy is a subject driven by life-related applications of mathematics. It enables learners to develop the ability and confidence to think numerically and spatially in order to interpret and critically analyze everyday situations and to solve problems. According to Langnink (2005), mathematical literacy will result in the ability to understand mathematical terminology. Additionally, it will also develop the use of basic mathematical skills in critically analyzing situations and creatively solving everyday problems.As knowledge expands and the economy evolves, more people work with technologies or work in settings where mathematics is a cornerstone. Problem solving, information processing, and communication are becoming routine job requirements. Outside the workplace, mathematics arises in everyday situation. Mathematical literacy is necessary both at work and in daily life. It is one of the keys to coping with a changing society.Research Questions: This paper aims to investigate the status of mathematical literacy among the fifth grade pupils and review its relationship with the pupils’ cognitive style. Therefore, the main research questions were as follows:1-To what extent are pupils qualified in mathematics literacy?2-To what extent is the pupils’ mathematics literacy affected by their gender?3-To what extent is the pupils’ mathematics literacy affected by their cognitive styles? This study has a causal-comparative research design. Using cluster sampling, 360 pupils studying at 18 Sanandaj primary schools were selected. These schools represented all-advantaged, semi-advantaged and deprived schools. Additionally, the participants included both male and female pupils on an equal basis. In order to collect the data, two scales and a personal information questionnaire were used. The first scale was an international performance test which examines pupils’ mathematics literacy. This test includes 44 closed-item questions. The second scale was a cognitive style test developed for examining individuals’ cognitive styles by Witkin and his colleagues in 1971. This test includes three sections in which over all 25 pictures are presented to the participants. To analyze the research data, both descriptive and interferential statistics including independent t-test, one-sample t-test, ANOVA and Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test were used. The results obtained from data analysis are given below in the same order as research questions are presented. Descriptive analysis was employed to examine and compare male and female pupils’ mathematics literacy. This shows that although both male and female pupils have had an average level performance on their mathematics literacy, there exists a significant difference between them in terms of mathematical literacy performance. This is while no meaningful difference is reported between male and female pupils in terms of their cognitive styles. In addition, the findings showed a significant difference between pupils with high and low mathematical literacy scores in terms of their cognitive styles. Moreover, the findings showed that the pupils’ mathematical literacy performances were significantly different in terms of type of school conditions (advantaged, semi-advantaged and deprived schools). As the research results showed, the performance of the pupils in mathematics literacy was not very satisfactory. This confirms the findings of TIMSS and TIMSS-R which have shown that Iranian students have low performance on Mathematics and Sciences. On the other hand, the result revealed that the pupils’ performance in ML was affected by their cognitive styles. This is while the pupils’ gender was not considered as an interfering variable on their performance in ML. However, as initially mentioned, mathematics is a fundamental human endeavor that empowers individuals to describe, analyze, and understand the world we live in. Mathematics is embedded in the way we live and work in the information age. Mathematical literacy, therefore, is a prerequisite for success in today’s world. With mathematical literacy, doors are open and the future is bright. This qualification involves more than executing procedures. It implies a knowledge base and the competence and confidence to apply this knowledge in the practical world. As a result, a mathematically literate person can estimate, interpret data, solve day-to-day problems, reason in numerical, graphical, and geometric situations, and communicate using mathematics. For this ML is as important as proficiency in reading and writing.In spite of this, the challenge of achieving mathematical literacy for all is a complex one calling for a multi-pronged approach. To achieve this vision, this research has suggested the following priorities for educators to focus on:-adopting the best mathematics instructional and assessment strategies for all pupils, with emphasis on strategies that direct them to have an appropriate and effective cognitive styles;-using information more effectively to identify and track the progress of pupils in ML;-providing stronger leadership at all the levels of the educational system to promote ML for all;-strengthening family and community links to support pupils at risk in ML; and-encouraging innovation to address barriers to the success of low achievers in ML.

Taking the new approaches to learning and teaching process into account, in 1382 the descriptive evaluation system was applied at the elementary schools in Iran with the objective of making fundamental changes in the present evaluation system. The present research aims to compare the effect of descriptive and quantitative evaluations on the academic self-concept, creativity and achievement of the fourth grade elementary school students. In descriptive and evaluative systems, evaluation is the part and parcel of education. The study of evaluative systems of various countries has shown that the use of qualitative methods to evaluate the students’ ability has a very long history. Kemp and Toperoff (1998) have conducted a study on the educational evaluation of students by work folder and concluded that the use of work folder makes learners active and independent, and gives them internal stimulus to try and improve their academic achievements. In another study, Razzagh Manesh (1386) and Kord (1381) have studied the effect of feedback of tecoini evaluation on students’ academic achievement and concluded that this kind of evaluation, by presenting appropriate and revised feedback, leads to students’ academic achievements. One of the evaluatively-described strategies is self-assessment. In her study, Christopher (2010) has shown that the development of self-assessment strategies boosts reflective thinking in students and gives them the ability to give cognitive and emotional responses to their own learning. In addition, she asserts that immediate feedback, without any ambiguous and metacognitive obstacles, is one of the key elements in determining the effect of descriptive feedback by which self-regulation gets boosted, learning facilitated and academic achievement established. In recent years, this theory that individual talent is the only independent element playing a role in the academic achievement has affirmed and stressed the role of academic self-concept and its influence on the academic achievement. The relationship between self-concept and academic success has also been studied by researchers such as Brook Over (1981), March (1984), and Sekaluk (1986). Some research results concerning the impact and importance of self–concept in academic achievement have indicated the noticeable degree of correlation (0.4-0.6); however, some of the researchers have not found any sensible relationship between self-concept and academic achievement among whom mention can be made of Hunt (1997), Hushmand (1376), and Mohmmadi (1377).In addition to the academic achievement, another variable that is influenced by the applied evaluative procedure is creativity. In his research, Zarei (1388) concludes that the students who are descriptively evaluated are more creative than those qualitatively evaluated. This finding has been affirmed by other researchers such as Haghighi (1383), Mortezai Nejad (1383) and Shir Mohmmadi (1388). However, there are other studies with contradictory results. For instance, Shah Nemati, Valayi and Fani (1387) have shown in their research that tecoini evaluations, together with feedback, can lead to an appropriate mental atmosphere in the class and the development of academic achievement in the learners but it doesn’t have any effect on the learners’ creativity.The present study is aimed at investigating whether there are any observable differences between the qualitative-descriptive evaluation and quantitative-traditional one in determining the academic self-concept, creativity and academic achievement of the fourth grade elementary school students. In the present study, the research method applied is a descriptive, casual-comparative one. The results of the study indicate that there is a significant difference among the students in the descriptive and quantitative evaluation systems in terms of their academic self-concept, creativity, and academic achievement. It is found that the students in the descriptive evaluation system have a more positive academic self-concept, higher creativity and better academic achievement as compared with those in the traditional evaluation system. The results of the study indicate that the students in the descriptive evaluation system have a more positive academic self-concept, higher creativity and better academic achievement as compared with those in the traditional evaluation system This finding can be interpreted in terms of positive, descriptive and evaluative characteristics including a change from a distance scale to a rating one, the reduction in blaming and the removal of pressure in getting top scores.The descriptive evaluation forms a positive academic self-concept in the students by creating interactions and relationships between the teachers and students, by increasing the mental health in class, by using various evaluative parameters, by providing the field for the appearance of students’ talents, by concentrating on strong points and by revising weak points all of which can lead to the formation of a positive academic self-concept in students.Based on the psychological theories, the creativity appearance rests on dealing with obstacles and going beyond troublesome traditions. In academic evaluation, the focus on predicated and frame- based responses, strips students’ curiosity and hinders creativity manifestation. In this kind of evaluation, the students are not compared with each other and are encouraged to have new ideas resulting from lateral and divergent thinking.Based on the metacognitive learning theories, the use of metacognitive learning strategies in descriptive evaluation assures deeper learning and more academic achievement. While in descriptive evaluation, evaluation is in the service of learning; various formative evaluation means, strategies and active teaching methods are used and the learners receive metacognitive, descriptive and revised feedbacks in order to understand their lessons better and deeper.