M, Namdari Pezhman; A. Kiamanesh; A. Karimi
Volume 18, Issue 2 , February 2012, , Pages 131-154
Abstract
This article reports the results of a study on the role of students' ...
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This article reports the results of a study on the role of students' reading self-concept, preparatory literacy activities, student and parent attitude to ward reading on reading literacy performance based on PIRLS 2006 data. Data from 5179 fourth grade Iranian students (2767 boys and 2412 girls) who participated in PIRLS 2006 were analyzed using the path analysis. The scales used in this study are taken from reading background questionnaire for parents' attitude to ward reading and primary literacy activities variables, student questionnaire for reading self concept and student attitude to reading variables, and reading literacy total scores based on Rasch model. Findings show that the model under examination has goodness of fit with data. All effects of parents' attitude to reading on other endogenous variables were confirmed. In addition, all effects of primary literacy activities on other endogenous variables were found to be significant. None of the effects of student's attitude to ward reading on reading literacy performance was significant. In order to distinguish equality of boys’ and girls’ models, testing of the equality of models was used. Results demonstrated that out of 8 paths in models, differences of 4 paths were significant. These paths were: student's reading self-concept to reading literacy performance, parents' attitude to reading to primary literacy activities, primary literacy activities to student's reading self-concept, and student's attitude to reading to ward reading literacy performance.
A.R. Kiamanesh; N. Pourasghar
Abstract
In this study, relying on self-concept and cognitive/social perspectives, the effects of math self-comcept, learning motivation, prior math achievement, and gender on math achievement were investigated, using path analysis method. To conduct the study, 304 freshman high school students, 152 boys and ...
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In this study, relying on self-concept and cognitive/social perspectives, the effects of math self-comcept, learning motivation, prior math achievement, and gender on math achievement were investigated, using path analysis method. To conduct the study, 304 freshman high school students, 152 boys and 152 girls, from School District #6 of Tehran completed a mathematics self-concept and a math motivation scale. Further, to gather data to determine the level of participants’ math achievement, their math scores of the first semester of the academic year 1382-83/ 2003-2004 were obtained. Participants’ math scores of their previous year were collected to serve as a measure of their prior math performance. The findings derived from the overall path analysis method showed that math self-concept is a stronger predictor of math achievement compared to prior math performance, math learning motivation, and gender. Scrutiny of the direct effects of the variables showed that prior math performance has a very strong effect on math self-concept. This effect is almost equal to that of math self-concept upon math achievement. This draws attention to the reciprocal role of self-concept in teaching mathematics.
A. R. Kiamanesh
Abstract
The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the largest and the most important comparative survey carried out internationally by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (TEA).
The study was carried out among samples of 9-,13-, and 17-year-old ...
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The Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) is the largest and the most important comparative survey carried out internationally by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (TEA).
The study was carried out among samples of 9-,13-, and 17-year-old students using paper and pencil tests and performance tasks in math and science. The results obtained from the science tests taken by 13-yesr-old Iranian subjects in 192 guidance schools are presentcd here in terms of content and expected performance. It should be noted that in each school one class of second graders and one class of third graders took the tests.
In general, the performance of girls was lower than that of boys. That is, the mean correct responses for the third grade girls and boys on the total science test and its subtests were 45% and 49.3%, respectively. Moreover, for the 2nd graders, these percentages were 40% and 43.3%, respectively. It should be noted that increasing the difficulty level of expected performance resulted in the average correct responses. The average scores for third graders on the total science test and its tour subcategories were lower than those of the counterpart samples in other participant countries. Further, the students who were studying in one grade lower in other countries outperformed the Iranian third graders. Regarding the performance of the second graders, it should be stated their performance on the whole science test and also its four subtests was similar to that of the third graders. Only in chemistry subtest, the Iranian 3rd and 2nd graders scored higher than other participants. The improvement in science was 5.5% for the Iranian students after two years of schooling, compared with 6% for other countries. In general, third graders attained 47.4% of the intended curriculum in the science exam and 50% of the intended curriculim in the Iranian textbooks. The same statistics for the 2nd graders are 41.9% and 45%, respectively. In fact, the average performance of second and third graders was lower than the international and national standards, i. e., 50% correct resopnse from the intended curriculum.
