reflective journal writing as a tool to teach aspects of social studies

Reflective Journal Writing as a Tool to Teach Aspectsof Social Studies1

Samih M. Al-karasneh

IntroductionIt is assumed that teaching practice is a fundamental component in teacher educa-tion programmes (Koerner, 1992). According to Moore (2003), the primary toolwhich helps student teachers to become reflective practitioners who can develop astrong rationale for instructional decisions is the integration of theory and practiceduring teacher practice. Scholars have suggested that reflective thinking is theapproach par excellence for the growth and development of pre-service teachers(Teekman, 2000). Dewey (1933) suggested that how we prepared student teachersto think about how their work may be more important than the techniques of teach-ing and classroom management. Furthermore, Dewey (1933) and Schon (1983)confirm that reflection should be at different levels, such as beliefs and values,planning and implementation, and consequences. Moon defined reflection as:

A form of mental processing a form of thinking that we use to fulfill a purposeor to achieve some anticipated outcome. It is applied to relatively complicatedor unstructured ideas for which there is no obvious solution. (Moon, 1999,p. 23)

The term reflective learning emphasises the intention to learn from current orprior experience. Bolton (2005) suggested that reflective practice be defined aspractice based on understanding and interpretation of principles, justifications andmeanings and on an examination of values, attitudes and beliefs.This assumptionrests on a constructivist model of learning. Russell (inTobin, 1993) concluded thatboth constructivism and reflection offered insights into long-standing issues ofteaching and learning to teach and may contribute to developments in how weteach in classrooms and in teacher education programmes. Also, reflections occurthroughout the building blocks of constructivism and include teacher-led, student-driven and teacher reflections.

Journal writing is an exploratory kind of writing that can help student teachersto reflect on their experience, identify their commitments, examine alternatives,and construct a highly personalised kind of new knowledge (cited in Zuckerman,1995). Harmelink (1998, p. 36) considered that:

Writing naturally leads to better learning because it is a constructive, reflec-tive process. As students write, they may discover which concepts are espe-cially confusing to them.They can then develop their understanding of theseconcepts by linking them to concrete examples in everyday life.

For Kerka (2002), reflection is at the heart of learning through journal writing.Consistent with Bolton’s view, reflective journaling is considered to be a way ofexpressing and exploring our own stories which were described as data banks ofskills knowledge and experiences: much of our knowing is in our doing (Bolton,2005).

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European Journal of Education, Vol. 49, No. 3, 2014DOI: 10.1111/ejed.12084

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

Journals are useful learning tools in a variety of adult education settings (Kerka,1996). They can be used for the purposes of evaluation, assessment, reflection,teaching, and to provide evidence of a student teacher’s learning to teach (Black &Ammon, 1992; Pultorak, 1993; Alm, 1996; Collier, 1999; Sileo & Prater, 1998;Uline et al., 2004; Stevens & Cooper, 2009; Hume, 2009; Meeteer, 2011). Journalshave been classified into categories including diaries, notebooks, logs, and evaluativeentries (Sileo & Prater, 1998;Wagner, 1999).They are seen as a way of documentingexperiences, thoughts, questions, ideas and conclusions that indicate to studentteachers’ learning journey (Ballantyne & Packer, 1995; Stevens, & Cooper, 2009).

Concerning journal writing in the preparation and education of teachers, it isof interest and concern in many countries such as the US, UK, Australia, andCanada. Most programmes that use journal writing are pre-service teacher edu-cation programmes (Woodward, 1998; Zeyrek, 2001; Stiler & Philleo, 2003; Ulineet al., 2004; Lee, 2004; Chitpin, 2006; Arikan, 2006; Greiman & Covington, 2007;Grande, 2008; Bailes, Hulsebosch & Martin, 2010). Jordan and many other Arabcountries have yet to adopt these methods.

Current circumstances prevent one from observing planned and purposefulconstructivist learning and reflection in most Jordanian schools because theeducational system is centralised and teachers are expected to pursue nationaleducation objectives and teach using previously selected content, methods ofteaching and evaluation procedures. All public schools and most private schoolsuse the same textbooks. Under Law 16 of 1964, the School Curricula andTextbooks Division of the Ministry of Education (MOE) is responsible for pro-ducing these. The system seems to ignore the personal discovery of meaning thatexperts have found to be so important in effective learning. At present, all socialstudies on education teaching and learning in Jordan (and in many Arab coun-tries) are geared to transmission of information through the use of a singletextbook. In social education (years 1–4), pupils are not gaining the expectedskills and values using the current teaching and learning approaches, as it is verypassive.

If the teaching and learning of social education were offered in a constructivistframework, pupils would be far more involved in the learning process. Hourani(2011, p. 231) suggested that, in most Arab countries, learning and knowledgeacquisition are based on socialisation and assimilation of one’s national culture,and thus attitudes, opinions, and values are societal rather than internally pro-cessed and constructed. By shifting the teaching of social education to a construc-tivist approach, it would be far more effective in preparing young people to becomeactive, responsible citizens.This approach (if implemented correctly) would incor-porate multiple sources of information, increase emphasis on group processes, andencourage student-generated questions to guide inquiry. By engaging learners withthe core concepts of social education, they would learn intuitively to view problemsfrom different angles and develop their own viewpoints.

Even though the current delivery model in Jordan is very weak, social educationhas been recognised as very important, chiefly because of the variety of knowledge,concepts, generalisations, skills, beliefs, values, and attitudes related to differentcontexts which it embodies. Since this article deals with prospective teachers ofsocial studies, it is important to mention the status of social education in theJordanian context. Social education objectives represent a number of intellectual,national, human and social principles that originate from a profound belief in the

396 European Journal of Education, Part II


important role of social education as an efficient means of establishing the basicstructure of society (Ministry of Education, 1997). A large and comprehensivegroup of sub-objectives was defined to achieve these aims. They include commu-nication, cognitive development, growth (including emotional, physical, mental,and social growth), religion and national, economic and vocational domains (Min-istry of Education, 1997).

The content of social education is chosen (to include history, geography,national education, politics, law, economics, demography, ecology and psychology)with the aim of achieving a balance between subjects and guarantee the achieve-ment of aims. Content is also chosen according to the regulations and law of theMinistry of Education, with reference to philosophy, the general aims of educationand the aims of elementary teaching (Ministry of Education, 1997). It may be said,therefore, that the general framework of the content and aims of social educationin Jordan is similar to that of other countries such as Australia, the UK and the US.The differences are both contextual and cultural. Teachers in Jordan have lessresponsibility for the selection and application of social education. Furthermore,most of what has been written is still theoretical.

This study aims to find out how student teachers view the impact of usingjournal writing as a new experience and practice on Jordanian student teachers’learning to teach social education and to obtain insight into how this reflectiveactivity could support the process of transforming social education student teach-ers into reflective practitioners.

In the Arab countries in general, and in Jordan in particular, many studies havebeen carried out on teacher preparation programmes (Jurdak, 2002; Sadiq, 2005,2007; Al-Sharaf, 2006; Hourani, 2011). Despite attempts to improve the quality ofteaching in social education, whether in the schools or in the universities, theliterature shows that many weaknesses and problems remain (Alazzi, 2005; Naba’het al., 2009; Hourani, 2011). The main problem is that teaching methods in theuniversities are based on memorising information. The last two decades havewitnessed a large increase in the number of investigations into approaches forsocial education teaching in the classroom. The findings have focused on featuresof teachers’ practice and activities in the classroom (Al-shammali, 1994, 1995;Zagan, 1999; Al-Shboul, 2004, Alkhawaldeh, 2008, Naba’h et al., 2009; Hourani,2011). However, there seems to be little empirical research concerning the use ofconstructive journal writing to enhance student teachers’ learning to teach socialstudies in general and social education per se.

Why this Study?Since 1987, Jordanian policy makers’ concern about quality in teacher preparationand teaching practice per se has grown.There is a perception of passive learning bypupils in classrooms and passive approaches to learning to teach by studentteachers. The status quo of social education teacher education requires developingtraining strategies that prepare students to be reflective practitioners. The innova-tion of journal writing was intended to help to meet these objectives.The challengewas that there was no culture of constructivist learning theory, let alone practice,and no culture of learner-centred, learner-independent approaches to learning inthe system from pre-school through to university. However, no studies have inves-tigated reflective journal writing with respect to teacher preparation of socialeducation.

Samih M. Al-karasneh 397


Aim of the StudyThe aim of the study was to explore the impact of a radically new approach (in theJordanian context) to learning from experience on teaching practice. The studycame to identify student teachers’ perspectives and thinking about the usefulnessof journaling as a tool of reflective and constructive learning from experience. Itwas anticipated that investigating students’ experiences concerning their journalwriting might offer a deep understanding of how their reflective writing wouldaffect their learning to teach social education. How would they react to thechallenge of this innovation? What would they get out of it? What problems wouldthey meet?What benefits would they find?Taken collectively, these questions allowus to broach the larger question of: how far results from a successful innovation inone culture transfer to another very different context. Classrooms are set ineducational systems and these, in turn, are deeply embedded in the historicalculture and the immediate preoccupations of the larger society. There are manymulti-faceted differences between Arab and Western societies. At the same time,there are many fundamental commonalities, including the belief in education as asignificant force in shaping social futures. In the context of Jordan, this study canbe seen as exploratory. Specifically, it explores an attempt to take a learning process(reflection) with a high status and proven track record in Western educationalsystems and put it to use in a setting where the predominant approach to learningis passive-receptive or even behaviourist. The design and analysis in this studyfocus on this learning-level difference.

MethodsPopulation and Sample of the Study

The study included 140 social education student teachers. All were enrolled in theteaching practice course which is the last part of the full-time 4-year course of theSchool of Education at Yarmouk University in the academic year 2007–2008.Students were teaching the first three primary classes during their teaching prac-tice. Participation in the study was voluntary. The sample included 30 femalestudent teachers.

The Instrument of the Study

The questions guiding the collection of data were:1. What did students learn from their journal writing?2. What are the most beneficial aspects of journal writing?3. What is the importance of using journal writing?4. What are the problems of using this process?5. Do you plan to use journal writing in the future? Why?6. Do you think this process helped you to learn to be a teacher? How?

The questions were prepared based on my reviewing of the related literature.Also, they were distributed to some colleagues to comment for feedback. I vali-dated the questions against the opinion of experts. I took into account the sug-gestions from tutors in the social education team and collected the data byconducting all the interviews. After conducting the interviews, the data weregiven back to some of the interviewees and they were asked if the scripts truth-fully represented their opinions and whether they would like to add or deleteanything.



Preliminary Procedures (before Collecting the Data)

The teaching practice programme involved class observation, assessed andun-assessed teaching, and weekly four-hour workshops at the university. To theseI added a compulsory component of journal keeping (writing). Students wereencouraged to analyse the learning experiences that they observed or practised inthe field. These practices consisted of all aspects and stages of their teaching(pre-teaching practices, classroom observations, classroom teaching, post teach-ing practices), as well as all other relations within the school: student teachers-pupil(s) interaction; student teachers-cooperating/teachers interaction; studentteachers-administrator interaction; and student teachers-parent interaction.The following suggestions were given to them to follow during their teachingpractice:• They were asked to make a daily entry in their journals over the period of the

term.• They were free to write what they felt or thought. The journal did not need to

contain any private information, and the students were advised not to discloseconfidential information gained through the teaching practice.

• They were told that their journals would be considered in the course ofpracticum assessment (it was a main theoretical requirement of the course).

• Each journal should describe and reflect students’ positive or negative teachingpractices.

• Students were told to do this assignment individually.• Student teachers were given suggested or guided reflective questions to help

them to reflect and motivate them to write reflectively.• The questions included: What main events happened today?• What did you do to change your negative practices?• What did you do to sustain the positive and avoid the negative?• What were your decisions in terms of good teaching practices?• What went well? What makes you think so?• What did you think the pupils understood from the lesson, and what makes you

think so?• What have you learned (about yourself as a teacher, about teaching, about the

students, about the lesson content, about planning, about assessment, aboutquestioning and listening, about classroom management)?

• How did you use pupils’ prior knowledge and/or previous experiences toencourage their learning?

• What techniques motivated pupils?• How do you overcome the obstacles of teaching social education?• How have you attempted to make the social education meaningful for

pupils?• How does it feel to be at the school where you will do your teaching?• Describe an instructional technique you have successfully utilized.• This week I learned• What I have found difficult about what I have taught this week is . . .• What were your skills regarding your teaching practices?

Students were asked if they would allow their work to be used as research data.All accepted. For this research, 30 journals were analysed. Since the originaljournals were in Arabic, I translated what I needed as quotations of journals.



Data AnalysisThe analysis identified the most important categories perceived in the data bycoding and grouping concepts (Burton, 2000). Keyword analysis was used to findout sequences of words about the use of journal writing as a reflective learning tool.

Findings

The results comprise student teachers’ perspectives regarding their experiences ofusing reflective journals. They were asked to indicate:• their perspectives and thinking concerning the usefulness of their journal as

writing,• what they had learned from this tool• what changes were made to thinking and practice and why• did this assignment make a difference for them as prospective teachers?

Development of the ability for reflection

The results showed that 22 out of 30 of the student teachers (73%) perceivedjournal writing as a crucial tool in developing their ability for reflection:

. . . . . for me this writing is very important because I was accomplishing it. Ilearned more than I would out of other courses in the university. It is a realopportunity to reflect, react and rethink what I do and see in the school; it is awindow to look at my experiences. I cannot learn it until I have done it, so everyonehas to have this significant experience. . . I have found that this sort of writing has forced me to review and rethink of myclasses, my students, my methods of teaching, my approach and most importantly,myself. It has enabled me to look back at what I have done. . . I think it is a mirror of my performance which gives me a clear picture of whathappened on my teaching day.Therefore, I could reflect on my experiences. It helpsme modify my practice.. . . writing this journal allowed me to reflect on what I observed, practiced andlearn in the field, it let me find my personal meaning of learning . . .. . . I accept it as a learning tool, since it allows me to organize and isolate good andbad teaching practices, to look at what made them good and bad, and to do themagain in a different way. . . This activity helped me to extend my understanding of learning to teachintellectually . . .. . . it seems an indisputable axiom that thinking and rethinking a process arefundamental and at the core of journal writing.

Development of critical thinking abilities

The results also showed the importance of journal writing with respect to learningto teach social education. It can help teachers to build up their critical thinkingabilities. 27 students agreed:

. . . This sort of writing helps me think critically and rationally,before and after writ-ing journal I was forced to analyze what I am going to write or what I have written. . . What is right.What is wrong?What is bad?What is good?Why is this? How isthis? How can this be better?These entire questions were taken into my account whenand while I was starting writing my journals



. . .These journals were a new way of deep critical thinking and reflection for me.I found it to be very effective . . .. . . Journal writing enables me to ask critical questions and think reflectively, inwhich I can learn well. . .. . . It enhances my ability to think critically and systematically. It requires me tothink this way.. . . It is a hard job where you cannot pass the pathway unless you read between thelines reading these lines requires a critical skills and analytical views.

Development of teaching philosophy

The results showed that most student teachers (23) believed that journal writingwas a way of constructing their philosophy of teaching.

. . . I never thought of teaching in this way until I did my journal task. I realizedhow it means to be with pupils, teach them, and see them enjoy the social educationlessons, when I changed the classroom routine. All of these things could be seenthrough writing and thinking of this writing.. . . It is easy to talk about good teaching, good learning, good teachers and goodlearners, but when you start thinking to write about your daily teaching in the field(as a new experience) it is definitely a different story I feel that this writing forcesme to think about every single issue concerning teaching and how this would helpme learning to perform well and better in the field.. . . I think it is an exceptional learning opportunity in itself. It led me to think ofgood approaches to teaching, what made that quality of good approaches to teachingsocial education . . . looking back at how and what I teach helped me understandhow and what pupils do How they learn or could learn, and what I have to do tohelp them learn better It seems to be a methodical way to understand whatestablishes good teaching.. . .When I go back through my teaching lessons, reflectively in papers- or classroomsettings and interactions, I can think how I will teach better tomorrow Knowing whatis good and what is right in the social education classroom is not an easy issue, it takesme time to think about I think it changed my conception of teaching social education. . .This accumulation of writing down about teaching settings, actions, practices,experiences is — as I think — a good approach to constructing my own philosophyof what good teaching of social education would be and how it could be improved ,therefore, I think journal writing is an endless learning process to teach socialeducation.. . . It helped me know more about my role as a teacher.How to prepare a convenientenvironment where pupils can learn better. It is my responsibility to provide genuinelearning experiences and sometimes challenges to motivate and lead pupils to learnmeaningfully and successfully

Monitoring and assessment tool

As a fourth category, the analysis revealed that journal writing was viewed as asuccessful monitoring and assessment method. 21 student teachers thoughtthat it prepared them to be effective self-assessors:

. . . It is an opportunity to assess my growth as a teacher. It offers insights into whatI am learning and reveals the development of my thoughts and feelings.



. . . For me, my regular writing in this journal can be used significantly to monitormy teaching and my classroom progress. It offers me an assessment-feedback.. . . Subsequently, I can read back over my experiences and observe my progresscritically.This rereading could help me deepen my understanding of learning to teachpurposefully as well as avoid the mistakes.. . . I used this journal as a method of assessing my development. It serves asvaluable feedback on all of my teaching experiences. . . It enabled me to assess my personal idea of my teaching practice experiences aswell as to monitor my performance in the field . . .. . . Writing this journal helped me correct my mistakes. It helped me select thingsthat I think will fit in with me and I am avoiding others.. . . I would say that it is a self-assessment tool. It is a mirror where I could seemyself.This sort of assessment is so important it helped me evaluate my teaching andlearning to teach, regularly. So I used to view and review my learning and teaching

Source of personal development

Student teachers emphasised that journal writing helped them to develop. 20respondents stated:

. . . I realized how writing a journal could be more effective and helpful in terms ofmy self development, because I could see myself as learner and teacher. It iscompletely different . . . it helps me promote a self-exploration of my personal viewsabout learning and social education teaching.These views will exceptionally affectmy personality It made me strong and proud of myself.. . . It is a documentation of myself .It helped me in making a personal meaning oflearning and teaching this enabled me to develop myself as an effective learner andfurther more a good teacher . . .. . . It is my job . . . I have to do it without help in this way it led me to be aself-dependent.. it reflects my personality.. . . This sort of writing provided me with an opportunity for self-exploration; itenhanced my aspiration for self-improvement on the ways to perform good teachingand learning.. . . I learned a lot about myself. Journal writing has definitely developed my levelof self-confidence. It enabled me to document my own professional developmentWriting about my professional practice helped in promoting my personal values.Tobe serious, honest, industrious, cooperative, faithful, determined.

Source of motivation

18 student teachers thought that journal writing encouraged them to bemotivated-learners:

. . . Considering my journal writing experience, I think it is one of the most enjoyableand supportive experiences in my teaching practice. It always encourages me to workwell it is mine and it is there for me. . . The moment that I gained the best understanding and meaning from teachingpractice was when I wrote. This writing encourages me to learn to reflect, toparticipate to be the best. It is on the whole highly motivating. This motivationenabled me to learn and understand learning in an enhanced way.



. . . This exceptional writing encourages and supports me in the development of myfeelings and thoughts. It encourages me to be independent, and it also helps developmy sense of learning and reflection.. . . I would like to prepare it in a different way it is highly encouraging.

Development of writing styles and self-expression

15 student teachers emphasised that journal writing contributed to the develop-ment of their writing styles and expression:

. . . In this journal, I wrote about many different issues, this required sometimesdifferent styles of writing and expression day by day writing journal by journal.Thiswriting became a habit of good writing or habit of self-expression through writing.. . . Journal writing lets me think of myself I could express myself in different ways.I am proud of myself that this journal is about myself . . . it is my style of writingabout teaching, my words about feelings. It really enhanced my styles andself-expression.. . . My writing in this journal encouraged me to express my own thoughts andfeelings about topics. It is a skill of good writing.. . . It helped me to develop my ability to express my personal thoughts freely. . . .it was a crucial part for my writing exercise.

Source of stress and anxiety

8 student teachers were not convinced of the value of the journal writing assign-ment. It was a source of stress, anxiety, and for some a waste of time:

. . . I felt that carrying out this mass of writing on a daily basis is just timeconsuming and stressful to produce.. . . It makes me worried. It is really a frustrating job. . . You can imagine how much time it took me to get done . . . I just would say thatit is a boring process . . .. . . When I felt it is tomorrow . . . I got anxious . . . I do not know what is thebenefit of this task. . . It is exhausting and boring. . . I do not like my teaching practice because of this assignment. It is a big sourceof frustration It is stressful.

Discussion and ConclusionThe aim of this study was to reveal how student teachers saw the impact ofreflective journal writing on their learning to teach social education.What were thenew changes, benefits and differences? Student teachers acknowledged thatjournal writing was a useful, significant, and generally valid tool regarding theirlearning to teach social education. This result is not new in that it seems to besimilar to those reported in many previous studies (Ediger, 1999; Moon 1999;Zeyrek, 2001; Sileo & Prater, 1998 Stiler & Philleo, 2003; Lee, 2004; Ballantyne& Packer; 1995, Alm, 1996). What makes the study important is the context. InJordan, this response to a reflective learning tool was achieved despite the fact thatlearning was dominated by passive/receptive approaches to teaching and learning.

However, this study highlighted that reflective writing journals could be used asa multi-purpose learning tool in social education pre-service teacher education



programmes. It reflected how social education student teachers looked at theirteaching and learning systematically and comprehensively. In addition, it helpedthem to change their ways of thinking, writing, and practice. It is evident thatkeeping a journal helps and encourages students to collect beneficial feedback ontheir theoretical professional practice. It seems that journal writing is a high-qualitytool for encouraging reflection. This concurs with what was concluded byMcIntyre, 1993; November, 1996; Wagenaar, 1984; Ediger, 1999; Moon 1999;Zeyrek, 2001; Mannion, 2001; Langer, 2002; and Varner & Peck, 2003. Also, thisfinding reflects the notion of Schon’s (1983) definition of reflection. He assertedthat learning from events and incidents experienced during a course or practicalprofessional programme was the core of reflection.

Furthermore, student teachers mentioned that this reflective journal writingwas as an encouraging tool for their critical thinking about experiences andactions. This confirms what was recognised by Maiorana (1992); Gleichsner(1994); Henderson et al. (2004) and Durgahee (1998). Savage and Armstrong(2004) stated that critical thinking was to evaluate ideas, and encourage newideas. According to the analysis, the results provided evidence about how journalwriting allowed student teachers to be more aware of the quality of their teaching.For Chism (1998), these are the main components of philosophy of teaching.Here, student teachers were enthusiastically involved in learning to teach socialeducation. It seems that reflective writing helps student teachers to fully identifytheir conception or philosophy of teaching social education. Verifying this phi-losophy through teaching can lead to change of teaching behaviours and fosterprofessional and personal growth (Ballantyne & Packer, 1995; Brookfield, 1990;Zeyrek, 2001).

In the interview analysis, this sort of writing allowed students to develop theirown principles and criteria to assess what they had achieved in terms of teachingand learning. Additionally, they could monitor their own progress. However,student teacherslearning research has repeatedly demonstrated the impact ofassessment on studentsapproaches to learning (Ramsden, 1988, 1992). Accord-ingly, journal writing could be used in constructing social education studentteachers’ approaches to learning. Moreover, keeping a journal was seen as anopportunity for students to develop their writing style and skills.

Finally, the result underlined that journal writing encouraged student teachersto be motivated learners. It gives them an opportunity to express feeling, valuesand thoughts. This foregrounds the strategic question: how was a reflectiveapproach to learning so successful in what might seem an unpromising context? Itwould be unwise to over-generalise the effect of this study.The sample is relativelysmall and it applies to only one subject in the curriculum. But it would appear thatsince the effect of journaling was so rapidly and comprehensively evident,journaling had its effect through liberation. These affordances were perhaps suffi-cient to provide the students with at least a launch pad for reflective professionaldevelopment. This could be tested by offering students a range of approaches toreflective learning to establish the relative affordance of journaling.

It remains to be seen whether, in the absence of such affordances, the studentswill revert to a traditional response to learning.This question could be pursued ina longitudinal study of students into their professional lives.

Other key questions are: how far do the students understand the source of theirdevelopment and will they be able to use these methods to promote the reflective



learning of their pupils?Would these methods have their effects in more structuredsubjects such as mathematics or chemistry?

In conclusion, despite some students’ negative views, the study offers a strongreplication in a novel and antagonistic context of the power of journaling topromote reflective learning for student teachers on teaching practice. It is sug-gested that this success in a traditional pedagogic context operates through liber-ating, allowing or affording a propensity for reflection.

Samih M. Al-karasneh, Al-Ain University of Science and Technology, P.O.Box: 64141,Al Ain, United Arab Emirates, [email protected]

NOTE

1. For the purposes of this study, social education is the social studies pro-gramme that is used for the first four grades in Jordan. Pupils are educatedexclusively to develop basic social knowledge, values and skills.

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