The Role of Class Scale in Promotion of Students’ Participation in Active Learning Process (Case Study: Male Students of a Secondary School in Shiraz)

Abstract

Perception and experience gained in the contemporary school could not help human beings' active learning. Totally, participation is the main element in active learning and thus, the active participation of students in the learning process is emphasized by education and learning in secondary schools. Given the importance of active learning, in this paper, the effective components in this type of learning has been identified. Among the three components involved in active learning, the component of participation in the learning process is selected and after a study of the model, two factors affecting the participation of children in the learning process are specified including social pattern and activation pattern of participation in the learning process. In this paper, the research uses a mixed method including a quantitative part and a qualitative part. The quantitative part uses a univariate T-test and the qualitative part uses a case-study method and content analysis to analyze the semi-structured interview. The study population in the quantitative part includes 279 male students of a secondary school in the city of Shiraz and the qualitative part includes 43 male students of the seventh grade of a secondary school in Shiraz. The results show that the majority of the respondents prefer a small class size. The findings emphasize the concept of participation in the learning process and introduce the factors of social interaction, individual and group activities, involvement and experience in the learning process for the indoor educational environment design and ultimately emphasize the factor of interaction as the most important criterion.