Payame Noor University Social Cognition 2322-3782 3 2 2015 01 21 Educational Democracy and Its Effects on Students’ Critical Thinking and Social Skills in Middle School Educational Democracy and Its Effects on Students’ Critical Thinking and Social Skills in Middle School 95 108 1364 FA Abbas Gholtaj Assistant Professor in Curriculum Studies, Marvdasht Branch, Islamic Azad University Abdol Mohammad Taheri Assistant Professor in Curriculum Studies, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University Fatemeh Marahel M.A. student in Education Manegment, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University Journal Article 2014 05 09 Introduction: The aim of this research was to study and compare the components of educational democracy in non-profit and public schools and its relationship with critical thinking and social skills of students in middle schools of Gachsaran city. Method: The research method was descriptive and comparative. The statistical population included all students and teachers of female guidance schools in 2011-12. There were 75 and 160 teachers in non-profit and public schools, respectively. The second population included female students of guidance schools in 2011-12 who were 320 and 820 in non-profit and public schools, respectively. The method of sampling was randomized clustering. From each type of school 2 were selected randomly. An author-made questionnaire for components of educational democracy whose reliability was confirmed by 5 professors was used. The second questionnaire was Critical Thinking Tendency of Rikth whose reliability was obtained as 0.79 using Cronbach's Alpha. The third questionnaire was Social Skills Questionnaire of Inderbitsen whose reliability was obtained as 0.86 using Cronbach's Alpha. The obtained data from questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics (computation of frequency, frequency percentage, cumulative percentage, mean, and standard deviation) and comprehensive statistics (T- test for independent groups). Results: The obtained results suggested that there is a significant difference between public and non-profit schools for components of educational democracy meaning, so that non-profit schools have better status. Also, there was a significant difference between critical thinking and social skills of female students of public and non-profit schools. Conclusions: The scores of non-profit students were better in both cases. Introduction: The aim of this research was to study and compare the components of educational democracy in non-profit and public schools and its relationship with critical thinking and social skills of students in middle schools of Gachsaran city. Method: The research method was descriptive and comparative. The statistical population included all students and teachers of female guidance schools in 2011-12. There were 75 and 160 teachers in non-profit and public schools, respectively. The second population included female students of guidance schools in 2011-12 who were 320 and 820 in non-profit and public schools, respectively. The method of sampling was randomized clustering. From each type of school 2 were selected randomly. An author-made questionnaire for components of educational democracy whose reliability was confirmed by 5 professors was used. The second questionnaire was Critical Thinking Tendency of Rikth whose reliability was obtained as 0.79 using Cronbach's Alpha. The third questionnaire was Social Skills Questionnaire of Inderbitsen whose reliability was obtained as 0.86 using Cronbach's Alpha. The obtained data from questionnaires were analyzed using descriptive statistics (computation of frequency, frequency percentage, cumulative percentage, mean, and standard deviation) and comprehensive statistics (T- test for independent groups). Results: The obtained results suggested that there is a significant difference between public and non-profit schools for components of educational democracy meaning, so that non-profit schools have better status. Also, there was a significant difference between critical thinking and social skills of female students of public and non-profit schools. Conclusions: The scores of non-profit students were better in both cases. https://sc.journals.pnu.ac.ir/article_1364_7f44e74110601203c4f9a718580b553d.pdf