مجله پژوهش های برنامه درسی
سال دوم شماره 2 (پیاپی 4، پاییز و زمستان 1391)

Designing a Prevocational S kills Curriculum Guide forStudents with Intellectual Disabilities in Elementary SchoolsDr. Gh. Hemati Alamdarloo1 Dr. A. Beh-Pajooh2Dr.Gh.A.Afrooz3 Dr. B. Ghobari4 Dr. N. Moosapour5AbstractThe aim of this study was to design a curriculum guide of prevocational skills for students with intellectual disabilities in elementary schools. The study was of exploratory type accomplished in two stages of documentary and field studies. In the field study, the perspectives of 315 parents, 140 teachers and 52 professionals were examined using “the Prevocational Skills Questionnaire” which was developed by the researchers. The results revealed that six components of prevocational skills; that is, social skills, physical skills, functional academic skills, work skills and habits, daily living skills, and skills of understanding the concepts of time and place are necessary for students with intellectual disabilities and could be categorized into three groups of compulsory skills, elective skills and optional skills based on their importance. Also, in the second step the library study indicated that the aims of the curriculum for prevocational skills should be the development of the social skills, physical skills, functional academic skills, work skills and habits, daily living skills and skills of understanding the concepts of time and place. Moreover, we identified the content of the prevocational curriculum and found that the vertical organization of the content of such curriculum should be based on the cyclic gradual development of the social environment and the horizontal organization of the content should be based on a multidisciplinary method. Practical activities in actual environments are the best learning activities, and the actual materials in natural environments are the best materials. Also, demonstration, fieldtrip and project methods are the best teaching strategies. The best grouping is a small group of students with four members and homogeneous development. The starting time of training has to be from the beginning of the first grade in elementary schools. The best space for prevocational skills training is community-based school and the best assessment method for assessing the achievement is performance-based assessment.

The current research seeks to investigate the feasibility of bilingual (Persian and Turkish) curriculum planning in elementary education from the view point of teachers and principals. This study is an applied one and the research method employed is descriptive (survey). To collect the data, a researcher-made questionnaire was used. The validity of the questionnaire was examined by the views of experts and the reliability was estimated through Cronbach Alpha which turned out to be. 92. The statistical population consisted of 7231 of principals and teachers of elementary schools in Tabriz, Uremia, Marand and Khoy. Through calculating the variance of this population and then, by using Morgan sampling table, the sample size was estimated to be 400 which was selected through proportional stratified sampling. To analyze the data at the level of inferential statistics, variate T-test, bivariate T-test, ANOVA and Scheffe were employed. The findings indicated that the attitude of the respondents toward bilingual curriculum planning was positive and that the preparation for performing the program in the abovementioned provinces was moderate to high in terms of human resources and facilities. Also, there was no significant difference between the viewpoints of principals and teachers based on the ethnographic variables (place of service, gender, education, and position). However,there existed a significant difference between the viewpoints of the principals and teachers based on their experience.

The main purpose of this study was to determine the impact of school climate on the social skills of guidance school female students. The research method was descriptive-correlational. The statistical population included all the female students in Hamadan guidance schools in the academic year 1389-90. Using proportional stratified random sampling, 385 students were selected. The instruments used for data collection were standard climate questionnaire (Halpin & craft, 1993) and a researcher-made social skills questionnaire. After measuring the validity and reliability of the instruments, they were distributed among the sample students. Using Spss16, the collected data was analyzed by descriptive and inferential statistics such as frequency, mean, standard deviation, paired sample T test, repeated measure ANOVAs and multiple and multivariate regression. The results indicated that the open climate was the dominant climate. Significant differences were found between various dimensions of the student's social skills. Self expression had the highest and responsibility had the lowest mean. Also, the open social climate was the positive and significant predictor of the social skill dimensions of self expression, problem solving, cooperation, empathy and responsibility respectively, but close climate was not a significant predicator of social skill dimensions.

This survey aimed at investigating the third grade high school student's attitudes towards the course of “Religion and Life” in Neyshabour city, Iran. Among all the third grade high school students of both genders studying in the fields of Sciences and/or Humanities during the academic year of 2010-2011, about 323 students were randomly selected through stratified sampling. They completed 3 related questionnaires. The Attitude towards Religion and Life course Questionnaire had 3 components: importance, attractiveness and understanding of the subject matter. The results indicated that the participants had relatively positive attitudes towards the attractiveness, importance and understanding of the course. According to the t-test results there was a significant difference between male and female students with females having relatively negative attitudes toward the subject matter in understanding and importance components. No significant difference, however, was found between them with regards to the importance component. Considering the effect of student's socio-economical status on their attitudes, the wealthy ones had relatively negative attitudes in the component of attractiveness, and the poor ones had relatively negative attitudes in the component of understanding, respectively. There was no significant difference between these two groups in the importance component. Regarding the effect of the study field on the participants’ attitudes, there was no significant difference between the students of the two fields in the components of importance and understanding, but those studying in the science field had relatively negative attitudes in attractiveness component. According to the results of Pearson correlation, the relationship between the attitude to the teacher and religious identity and the attitude to the course was positive. There was no relationship between the participant's mean scores and their attitudes to the course. The results of regression analysis showed that:1) in the attractiveness component, the higher effects belonged to the religious identity, attitudes to the teacher and gender respectively,2) in the importance component, the higher effects belonged to the religious identity and attitudes to the teacher, and3) in the understanding component, the higher effects belonged to the attitudes to the teacher, gender, religious identity and socio-economic status.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of constructivism-based teaching method among the academic members of the Social Sciences Department at Mazandaran University. The descriptive survey method was used in the study. The statistical population of the study included the academic members and students of Social Sciences Department at Mazandaran University. The data was gathered through a researcher-made questionnaire and observation with checklist. In the observation process, the classes of all the academic members were observed. As for the questionnaire, data was collected through stratified random sampling. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS and the statistical tests such as one sample T-test and independent-samples T-test. The results indicated that the academic members did not use the constructivism-based teaching method in their classes; rather they employed the traditional teaching method. At MA level teaching was more constructivist, but this difference was only significant for the “collaborative” component. Also, a significant difference was found between the observers and students’ attitude toward the application of this method in classes. In fact, the observers found the classes more constructivist.

The purpose of this study was to compare the correlation between the planned and performed descriptive evaluation designs. The descriptive survey method was used in the study. The statistical population included all the primary school teachers of the first to third grades of district 1 in Shiraz, of whom a sample of 244 members was selected through random cluster sampling. The data collection instruments included a checklist prepared by the researcher to observe the teachers’ performance, and a researcher-made questionnaire to assess the teachers’ attitude, facilities and knowledge. Descriptive and inferential statistical methods were used to analyze the data. The results of the research revealed that there was a significant difference between the planned descriptive evaluation design and what is currently performed in schools. Also, there was a significant difference between the teachers’ current attitude, facilities and knowledge and what is required for the performance of the plan. Furthermore, the results indicated that there existed a significant correlation between the teachers’ attitude, facilities and knowledge and their performance. Finally, it was revealed that among the above three components, teachers’ attitude and awareness were able to predict their performance and that the teachers’ attitude had the highest impact on their performance.