Effectiveness of Teaching Philosophy to Children on the Academic Self-Efficacy of Fourth Grade Female Students

The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the effectiveness of teaching philosophy to children on the academic self-efficacy of fourth grade female students. The research method was semi-experimental with a pre-test-post-test design with a control group. The follow-up period was also implemented in two months. The statistical population included fourth grade female students who were studying in the city of Shahrekord in the academic year of 2020-2021. The sample in this research consisted of 60 female students of the fourth grade of elementary school who were selected by random cluster sampling and randomly assigned to experimental and control groups (30 students in the experimental group and 30 students in the control group). Then, the teacher of the students in the experimental group taught philosophy to children during an 8-hour workshop and performed it as a group for the students in 12 75-minute sessions during 12 weeks. The applied questionnaire in this study included Academic Self-Efficacy Questionnaire (Morgan- Jinks, 1999). The data from the study were analyzed through mixed ANOVA via SPSS23 software. The results showed that the teaching philosophy to children through teachers had an impact on the academic self-efficacy (P<0001; Eta=0.56; F=74.23) of fourth grade female students. Based on the findings of the research, it can be concluded that teaching philosophy by introducing students to cooperation and thinking skills, improving communication and social responsibility, developing critical thinking and discovering cognitive and perceptive abilities can be used as an efficient method to improve students' academic self-efficacy.