نشریه پژوهش در آموزش معارف و تربیت اسلامی
سال چهارم شماره 4 (زمستان 1402)

The purpose of the present research is to study viewpoints of student teachers about methods of teaching theology courses at Farhangiyān university. The research method is quantitative survey and the statistical population consists of 1711 students at Frahangiyān university in Arak among whom 313 members were chosen by multistage stratified sampling. For data collection, Halimi Jelodār Questionnaire (2015) was used. The results show that 83% of student teachers assume that using modern methods is necessary for teaching Islamic theology. Besides, they are interested in the adaptation of Islamic theology courses and teaching them based on their own specialized majors. 27.7% of students consider the quality of Islamic theology textbooks as average and evaluate the performance of their professors to be 46%. Student teachers demand profound and practical education of the above courses and emphasize on some elements such as analysis as well as criticism of subjects for the improvement of students.

The purpose of the present study is to review the role of media literacy and parent-child model on the formation of religious identity in children. The research method is descriptive correlational design. The statistical population consists of all female high school students in Tehran. The research sample includes 345 students who were chosen by cluster sampling. For data collection, Religious Identity Questionnaire (Khoushāvi, 2011), Media Literacy Questionnaire (Falsafi, 2014), and Parent-Child Model Questionnaire (Bāqeri, 2013) were used. Data analysis was conducted by multivariate regression model using SPSS (version 26). The results showed that there is a significant relation between media literacy and formation of religious identity in teenagers and that those with higher media literacy have more stability in their character. Furthermore, the analysis of media literacy indices showed that there is a significant relation between a person’s skill in comprehension of the content of media messages, informed selection of them, critical outlook on them, their analysis and formation of religious identity in teenagers. The results of the parent-child test also revealed that there is a positive and significant correlation between relationship with father and mother and development of religious identity.

Blended and interdisciplinary education is one of the most important and effective methods in teaching. In this regard, the present research has studied blended teaching of experimental science lessons and the Noble Qur’an chapters using a descriptive-analytic method and qualitative approach. To this aim, first relevant experimental science lessons in physics, chemistry, biology, and experimental science books in 12 school grades were analyzed and then the mentioned Qur’anic verses in those curricula were extracted. Afterwards, some usable Qur’anic verses were extracted for teaching those lessons which had not used any verses from the Qur’an. Finally, the 25th verse of Surah al-Hadid was mentioned to explain the miracle of iron in the chapter of “from Mine to Home” in the 7th grade experimental science book. The case study of the 25th verse in Surah al-Hadid showed that the Qur’an has talked about iron and its features so science teaches at schools can use it for teaching chapter 5 (from Mine to Home) in the 7th grade science book to explain some issues such as how iron was created, features of its net material, its benefits, and so on to prove them by the Qur’anic verses within a section entitled “creation miracles in the Noble Qur’an”. Of course, it seems that the main challenge in this method is teachers’ mastery of teaching interdisciplinary courses and their dominance over an accurate interpretation of different aspects of the Noble Qur’an wonders. Therefore, if this method is adopted for teaching experimental science books, teachers should become familiar with Qur’anic discussions through some workshops so that they can answer their students’ questions in this regard. Moreover, the results showed that although experimental science books have mentioned a few verses as an introduction to some chapters, they were not enough and not chosen accurately. Experimental and Islamic science experts ought to pay more attention to the better explanation of the Qur’anic verses to familiarize students with the miracles of the Noble Qur’an.

The purpose of the present research is to study the effectiveness of participatory learning techniques (cooperation) compared to monologue methods on the motivation and students’ educational achievement in the course of Religion and Life. The research method is semi-experimental using pre and post-test with a control group. The research statistical population consists of female students in the 2nd grade of high school in Mah Valāt. 104 students were chosen from Hazrat Hojjat high school using the convenience method, among whom an experimental group (26 members) and a control group (26 members) were chosen as the sample. Data collection instruments were 2 questionnaires of Pham and Taylor Academic Performance Scale and Harter’s Motivation Scale as well as course assessment after each method of teaching. For data analysis, SPSS, multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA), and univariate analysis of covariance were used. The results indicate that based on statistical analysis, teaching the course of Religion and Life by a participatory method has a significant effect on the variables of students’ motivation and academic performance. This effect significantly increased variables of motivation and academic performance in the experimental group compared to the control group. With respect to Eta coefficient, it can be said that 52.7% and 43.5% of the difference in the average of moderated scores after post testing the variables of motivation and academic performance in the experimental and control group is attributed to the participatory learning and teaching method. The courses that are taught based on monologue methods decrease the students’ motivation and their academic performance. As a result, they don’t show interest in learning and fail in education. However, the research results show that if teachers make use of new methods in their teaching, it leads to the improvement of students’ motivation and betterment of their academic performance. Since it is required to adopt active teaching methods like participatory learning technique (cooperation) to teach the book of Religion and Life, it is recommended that some in-service-training classes be held for teachers to acquire new and active teaching methods in this regard.

The purpose of the present study is to review the harms related to teaching methods of religious courses from the view of educational psychology. This qualitative study was conducted by an analytical research method. For data analysis, an inferential analytical method was used and then relying on the research theories and findings in educational psychology, each category was analyzed. The results show that harmful methods of teaching religious courses include: teacher-centered education, excessive reliance on monologues, individual teaching, weakness in conceptual knowledge, lack of pedagogical knowledge, memorization, weakness of class management, traditional class arrangement, and not using new technologies in education. The research results reveal that for the betterment of religious education, new methods such as learner-centeredness, group discussions, project-centered group activities, and participative teaching should be used.

Nowadays, storytelling is an effective means in education and upbringing because it can convey important educational points from different aspects. In this regard, the purpose of the present research is to review and analyze to what extent stories in the Qur’anic Course Book through 6 stages of elementary school are based on 6 aspects of the fundamental transformation document of education and upbringing. The research method is descriptive content analysis and the obtained results were analyzed by Shannon Entropy. The results showed that in the Qur’anic Education Book of the elementary school, 22 stories are mentioned which deal with the following aspects: 19 cases about beliefs, prayers, and morality, 14 cases about social and political fields, 4 cases about aesthetic and artistic fields, 2 cases about biological and bodily fields, 2 cases about economic and professional fields, and 1 case about scientific and technological fields. Among aspects under review, beliefs, prayers, and morality with the data load of 0.97 and the importance factor of 0.30 have gained the highest attention while scientific and technological aspects with the data load of 0.0003 and the importance factor of 0.0009 have gained the least attention.