چكيده لاتين :
Background & Objectives: Education has always been among the most essential aspects of society. Besides, students are a critical element of this system. A psychological characteristic that provides the conditions for students to achieve their educational goals is to pay attention to
academic self-concept. Academic self-concept is individuals' general attitude toward their abilities respecting school learning. Thus, academic
self-concept and achievement motivation are important in individuals’ future careers. Problem-solving methods could modify students' attitudes
on all associated issues and even daily problems, and to some extent, increase motivation in them. The current study aimed to investigate the
effects of problem-solving skills training on academic self-concept and its components (general self-concept, academic, & non-self-concept), as
well as achievement motivation and its components (social interest, effort, admiration, exemplary, competitiveness, & social power) in the tenthgrade
male students with low academic self-concept and achievement motivation.
Methods: This was a quasi-experimental study with a pretest-posttest and a control group design. The study statistical population was all male
students in the first high school of Rigan City, Iran, (N=320). In total, 40 students with low self-concept and motivation (divided into the
experimental & control group) were selected through the convenience sampling method. The study inclusion criteria were the willingness of
parents and their children to participate in the research and complete the Academic Self-Concept Questionnaire (Rogers, 1951) and the
Achievement Motivation Questionnaire (Harter, 1981); obtaining the desired scores based on the aforementioned scales to detect low
achievement motivation and low academic self-concept; having healthy eyesight and hearing, and not having mental and behavioral disorders.
The study exclusion criteria included the lack of initial willingness to participate in the research and failing to complete the Motivation and Self-
Concept Questionnaire; the lack of obtaining the desired score from the questionnaires used to identify low motivation and low self-concept,
absence from >2 sessions in special education sessions, the presence of any disease, medication use, or conditions affecting the intervention
process. The stages of problem-solving skills training were per D'Zurilla and Goldfried model (1971). The problem-solving skills training
program was then implemented for two months, in 6 two-hour sessions for the experimental group; however, the controls received no training.
The intervention program was based on the steps of teaching with problem-solving concepts; sensitizing students to the problems around them
and identifying them; identifying the main emotions and orientation; defining and formulating the problem; providing innovative and appropriate
solutions through the spectral determination of probable answers and the possibility of choosing the most effective answer; deciding and
implementing solutions, and evaluating the method of implementing the training in the tests. One week after the end of the problem-solving
skills training session, the scales were re-completed by the experimental and control groups. The obtained data were analyzed using Analysis of
Covariance (ANCOVA) at a significance level of 0.05 in SPSS.
Results: The principal results of the present research indicated that problem-solving skills training has increased the academic self-concept in
the experimental group; i.e., due to the adjusted mean academic self-concept scores of the experimental group, compared to those of the controls.
These results were significant for the components of academic self-concept (p<0.001), i.e., general self-concept (p<0.001), school self-concept
(p<0.001), and non-school self-concept (p<0.001). Furthermore, problem-solving skills training has increased the achievement motivation in the
experimental group, due to the adjusted mean scores of the experimental group, compared to those of the controls. These results were based on
the components of achievement motivation (p<0.001), which included social interest (p<0.001), effort (p<0.001), admiration (p<0.001),
competitiveness (p<0.001), and social power (p<0.001).
Conclusion: Problem-solving skills training improved the investigated students' academic self-concept and achievement motivation. Therefore,
educational planners are recommended to incorporate such training into students' curricula, to help them solve their daily, and especially academic, problems; consequently improving their life satisfaction.
