Impact of Teaching Philosophy on Self-Regulation and Social Skills among Female Junior High School Students

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Ph.D. student of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Humanities Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Qom Branch, Qom, Iran

2 Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Humanities Sciences, Qom University, Qom, Iran.

Abstract

Abstract
This study aimed to investigate the impact of teaching philosophy on self-regulation and social skills among female junior high school students of Qom city in the academic year of 2019-2020. This quasi-experimental study used a pretest - posttest design with a control group. The study population comprised all female junior high school students of Qom city in the academic year of 2019-2020. The sample comprised 30 (15 for each group) female students selected by convenience sampling, who were randomly assigned to to each group. Then, the participants in the experimental group participated in 12 sessions of 60 min on philosophy. Data collection tool included the Teenage Inventory of Social Skills (TISS and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies (1990). Then, the data were analyzed in SPSS.v21 software using statistical tests such as multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). The results indicate that the philosophy teaching program had significant impact on self-regulation and social skills. Based on the findings of this study, teaching philosophy improves self-regulation and social skills among female junior high school students.
Introduction
Adolescence is the most active period for learning and education (Wilson & Hockenberry, 2014). For this reason, proper education and acquisition of competencies in schools have always been of interest to those involved in education and researchers in the field of educational sciences (Asl-Mohamadalizadeh et al., 2018). Self-regulation is a part of one's effort to regulate thoughts, feelings, and actions to achieve goals, and is seen as an active process in which learners try to monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and behavior (Palacios-Barrios & Hanson, 2019). Using this process plays an effective role in improving social functioning. Learning social skills, on the one hand, leads to high academic performance and on the other hand leads to positive behaviors that initiate, maintain, and expand positive interactions with peers (Adamou, et al., 2014).
In recent years, the philosophy teaching approach has been used to improve adolescents' self-regulatory and social skills. Teaching philosophy not only provides children with the opportunity to explore and practice cognitive and perceptual abilities, but also creates the ground for discovering and creating values and ideals that they consider important and respected (Cheraghzadeh, et al., 2019). A review of the literature shows that teaching philosophy has a significant effect on self-regulation and social skills (Fathiazar, et al., 2019; Banisi, et al., 2019). Therefore, the main question of the present study is whether the teaching philosophy has an effect on self-regulation and social skills of female junior high school students in Qom in the academic year 2019-2020.
Method
The present study is a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest design and a control group. The statistical population included all female junior high school students in Qom in the academic year 2019-2020 (n= 28349). Samples were selected by convenience sampling method from Hazrat-Masoumeh High School. According to the research design and the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a sample of 40 girl students was selected. Samples were randomly divided into experimental and control groups, each with 20 individuals. Lucky bag was used to randomize allocating students to experimental and control groups. The main researcher taught philosophy to the experimental group in 12 sessions (two sessions of 60 minutes per week), but the control group received no intervention. Data collection tool included the Teenage Inventory of Social Skills (TISS and Self-Regulated Learning Strategies (1990). Data were analyzed in SPSS.v21 software using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA).
Findings
The mean (standard deviation) age of the experimental and control groups was 14.20 (0.83) and 14.35 (0.67) years, respectively. The results of the student's t-test showed that the two groups were age peers (P = 0.534; t = 0.627). MANCOVA was used to determine the effect of teaching philosophy on self-regulation and social skills of female junior high school students.
According to the results in Table 1, the value of F is the effect of teaching philosophy on the variables of self-regulation, and social skills (P <0.01). As seen in Table 2, teaching philosophy significantly affected components of self-regulation: self-efficacy, internal evaluation, motivational beliefs, self-regulation, and cognitive strategies.
As seen in Table 3, teaching philosophy significantly affected the component of desirable social behavior.
Discussion
The findings of the present study showed that teaching philosophy had a significant effect on self-regulation and social skills of girl students. Limitations of the present study include failure to assess findings in a follow-up phase which prevents making conclusions about the permanence of intervention effects. As the result of the present study showed that the philosophy teaching program is a successful method for improving self-regulation and social skills, and somehow does principled thinking and structural interaction, it is suggested that the philosophy teaching program be included in the curriculum from the very beginning. Also, considering that the hypothesis test showed that the philosophy teaching program has a significant effect on students' self-regulation and social skills, it is suggested that this program be used in the form of extracurricular school sessions to improve the mentioned skills.

Keywords

References

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