Investigating Factors Affecting Environmental Behavior of Urban Residents: A Case Study in Tehran City- Iran

Perceptions of Paddy Farmers towards Sustainable Agricultural Technologies: Case of Haraz Catchments Area in Mazandaran province of Iran

The main goal of this research has been to analyze the main challenges of experiential learning of practical courses offered in the University of Tehran, The colleges of Agriculture and Natural resources in the year 2009. Qualitative and quantitative methods of research have been used. The less dominant method of the research has been qualitative which 30 technician have been interviewed as co-instructors of practical courses. More dominant method of the research has been quantitative including Descriptive and Co- relational methods of research. 335 third and fourth year Agricultural colleges’ students studying in Agricultural majors have formed the sample population. Random and Stratified sampling method has been used. The instrument of the research has been a questionnaire having 34 questions. Cronbach's alpha has been 0.0916 and reliability of the questionnaire has been approved by expert opinion of the professors of the department of Agricultural Extension & Education. Data analysis has been done by using SPSS computer software. Results have indicated four components are the main challenges of the experiential learning of the practical courses including (1)Insufficient educational spaces & equipments (2)less experienced instructors and technicians (3)Not paying attention to parallel and additional experiences and (4)Insufficient class management by the Instructors and technicians

This study was conducted to investigate use of renewable energy and materials in smallholder farming system of the Tafresh township of Iran. The population of the study consisted of 2,400 small farmers working in the smallholder farming systems of the area, in which 133 people were selected as sample using Cochran formula and simple random sampling technique. In order to gather the information, a questionnaire was developed for the study and validated by the judgment of the experts in agricultural development and extension. The reliability of the main scales of the questionnaire was examined by Cronbach Alpha coefficients, which ranged from 0.7 to 0.93, indicating the tool of study is reliable. The findings revealed that the majority of the respondents use renewable energy and materials directly in its traditional forms without enabling technologies, and they lack the access to renewable technologies to improve the efficiency of energy use. They preferred fossil energy for many activities due to its lower cost and ease of access. The overall conclusion is that there are potentials and capacities for using renewable energies and materials in the farming systems of the Tafresh township. The government has to support and encourage the adoption of renewable technologies and abandon fossil fuels wherever possible.