Journal of Research in Educational Systems

Abstract Objective: This study aimed to determine the overall effect size of project-based learning (PBL) on the development of critical thinking and to examine its effectiveness across different educational levels through a systematic meta-analytic approach. Method: The present research employed a quantitative meta-analysis conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. A total of 17 experimental and quasi-experimental studies published between 2019 and 2025 were selected based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The pooled effect size was calculated using Hedges’s g under a random-effects model (REML). Study heterogeneity was assessed using the Q statistic and the I² index, and subgroup analyses were performed based on educational level Publication bias was examined using Egger’s and Begg’s tests as well as the trim-and-fill method. Results: The results indicated that project-based learning had a positive and statistically significant effect on critical thinking (g = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.83 to 1.01), representing a moderate-to-large effect size. Overall heterogeneity was low and non-significant (I² = 0%), although substantial heterogeneity was observed in certain subgroups, particularly at the university level. Subgroup analyses revealed variations in effect sizes across educational levels; however, these differences were not statistically significant. Tests for publication bias provided no conclusive evidence of serious bias, and the trim-and-fill analysis did not alter the overall effect size. Conclusions: The findings support project-based learning as an effective, evidence-based instructional approach for enhancing critical thinking within educational systems. Nevertheless, given the limited number of eligible studies and variations in conceptualization and contextual factors, the generalizability of the results should be interpreted with caution. Further high-quality experimental research across diverse educational and cultural contexts is recommended.

Abstract Objective:The present study aimed to model the academic vitality of critical thinking mediated by academic self-efficacy of gifted students of gifted schools.
Methods:The study employed a correlational-descriptive method using structural equation modeling (SEM). The research statistical population consisted of the gifted students of the lower secondary school (7th and 8th grade) in Isfahan gifted schools in the second semester of the academic year 2022 - 2023. The sample was selected via a convenient sampling method. Finally, 340 students were selected as participants to answer Hossein-Chari and Dehghanizadeh’s Academic Vitality Questionnaire (2013), Rickett's Critical Thinking Disposition Scale (2003), and The Morgan-Jinks Student Efficacy Scale (1999). Data were analyzed using SEM.
Results: As the results showed, the proposed model had a good fit to the data. The results demonstrated that critical thinking has a significant and positive effect on academic vitality both directly and indirectly through academic self-efficacy.
Conclusion: As a result, to increase the gifted students’ academic vitality, while paying attention to increasing critical thinking skills, focus on increasing their academic self-efficacy.

Abstract Moving from the status quo to the desired state of education is difficult and impossible, despite the emotional and social turmoil. Little is known about the role of critical thinking in emotional and social turmoil. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the group training of critical thinking (CT) on adjustment and social anxiety of female high school students in Bojnourd. The method of the present study was a quasi-experimental with pre-test-post-test-follow-up and control groups. The statistical population of the study included 430 girls in the second year of high school in Bojnourd in the academic year of 1998-99. And witnesses were randomly replaced. The instruments used in this study were Bell Social Adjustment (1961) and the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A, 1999). The Critical thinking training program was performed on the experimental group during 8 sessions of 90 minutes according to the training program. The results of repeated measures analysis of variance show that there was a significant difference between the mean of adjustment and social anxiety in the experimental and control groups. This means that group training in critical thinking has been significantly effective in increasing social adjustment and reducing social anxiety in the experimental group.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of the P4C content approach on the meta-cognitive beliefs and critical thinking of students and experimental method with pre-test, post-test design. The statistical population consisted of all sixth grade elementary school students in Torbat-e Heidariye city who studied in the academic year of 2016-2017, of whom through cluster sampling and after screening, 50 students   randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. Measurement tools included the Children's meta-cognition questionnaire (MCQ_C) (Bekaw et al., 2009, Modified by Qaderi et al., 2012) and the Sasu critical thinking Scale (2013). At first, both groups were tested. Then, for the experimental group, 10 sessions of 1 hour content approach of P4C was provided, and the control group did not receive any special training during this period. At the end, again from both groups received a post-test, Data were analyzed by SPSS software using multivariate covariance test and variance analysis, and the results showed that using content approach of P4C  with 95% probability with metacognitive and critical thinking  of students has a significant relationship, So that the average scores of meta cognitive beliefs in the experimental group after the practice of teaching philosophy have been significantly decreased, so average scores of critical thinking increased, if there is no significant change in the control group. Finally, the research hypothesis that the content approach of P4C has a significant effect on the meta-cognitive and critical thinking of male students in the sixth grade of elementary school students has been confirmed.

Abstract Abstract
The purpose of this article is to investigate the predictive point of view in the upstream documents of Iranian education. For this purpose, in this research, which is a kind of evaluation study, content analysis is used and the descriptive method is used because of the fact that the researcher personally studies and searches criteria and indexes. In the first research, Literature and subject background, the components of critical thinking were identified from the viewpoint of various theorists and researchers. In this section, Bloom's revised classification was used as the dominant theory, and its last three categories, analysis, evaluation and composition (Creation) was selected as a joint component for review. Validity of selected components was confirmed by three field specialists. The reliability coefficient, which was performed with a re-test method, is 96% in this research. Among the research community, the national curriculum document was selected as a sample by purposeful sampling. The results of the research show that, in general, the text and content The national curriculum document does not pay the same attention to the critical thinking components and the emphasis on the composition component (creation) is higher by 43% than the other components, and the component of evaluation is second to 38% and the analysis component with 19% Third grade is the focus and emphasis.

Abstract The benchmark for any media literacy training program is the critical exposure of students to their own use of the media, in order to decipher information received from various media and enhance their ability to independently judge media content. Regarding the knowledge structures of media literacy, the five main components of literacy, the emphasis on media content derived from communication theories, was the curriculum design. In the 15-syllabus curriculum, the teaching of media literacy teaching from different media (newspaper, article, book, animation, cartoon, promotional video) was used in the classroom. The present study was applied in terms of the method of data collection in semi-experimental (semi-experimental). In this method, two experimental and control groups have been selected and evaluated. And in a method based on the dialogue and the formation of a study circle for 60 people at the base of the sixth elementary school boys' guards witnessed a single argument, was carried out in 1395. The sample size is divided into groups of 30 in two classes, which are divided into two groups of control and testing. The results of this study indicate that the students of the experimental group compared to the control group students according to the training provided to them; with 99% confidence in media skills, media message analysis, ability to produce and the transmission of media messages, critical thinking in using the media, were at a higher level of media literacy skills.