JOURNAL OF APPLIED ISSUES IN ISLAMIC EDUCATION
Year:2018 | Volume:3 | Issue:2 (7)|Papers Count:6

The present study was carried out to examine the effects of philosophical mindset training on religious attitudes and life skills of elementary school teachers. This quasi-experimental research had a pretest-posttest control group design. The statistical population of the study comprised all elementary school teachers in Sari from among them thirty individuals were selected through cluster sampling method. The drawn sample was randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The instruments consisted of Life Skills Questionnaire (Sa’ atchi, Kamkari & Asgarian, 2010) and Religious Attitudes Questionnaire (Glock & Stark, 1965). The content validity of the measures was approved by experts and their internal consistency was confirmed by Cronbach’ s alpha test. The experimental group received philosophical mindset training in six sessions. The training was provided based on Smith’ s theory (1990, translated by Behrangi, 2013) and in three dimensions of comprehensiveness, introspection, and flexibility. The obtained data were analyzed via ANCOVA. The results showed that philosophical mindset training had significant, positive effects on religious attitudes and life skills of elementary school teachers.

The aim of the present study was to analyze the concept of anger management as a moral strategy in Sa’ di’ s Bustan in order to identify its implications for moral education of students in the formal, general education system. The research method was philosophical, analytical. The statistical population of the study comprised Sa’ di’ s Bustan and its related research. The sample included related topics which were selected using purposive sampling method. Index cards were used to hold the data. The data analysis methods included categorization, coding and interpretation which were continuously and simultaneously carried out with data collection. The findings showed that the concept of anger management has been presented in Bustan through teaching ethical concepts and letting the human emotions be sublimed by the spirit of God. In addition, the concept of anger management was described and examined in Bustan from three different perspectives: 1. Refraining from anger. 2. Anger as an essential emotion, 3. Prudent anger. The aforementioned extracted categories indicate that Sa’ di has recommended being realistic and moderate in the case of anger arousal and focused on the concepts of affection, kindness, and altruism far more than hostility, harassment, and inhuman relationships. It is essential that anger management strategy be considered by educational policy-makers for moral education of students in the formal and general education system.

This study sought to investigate the effects of positive thinking skills training based on Islamic teachings and beliefs on resilience and psychological well-being of mothers with autistic children. This quasi-experimental research had a pretest-posttest control group design. The statistical population of the study comprised all mothers with autistic children who were referred to Social Welfare Centers in Tabriz in 2016 from among them thirty individuals were selected through convenience sampling method and assigned to experimental and control groups. The instruments consisted of Ryff’ s Psychological Well-Being Scale (1989) and Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (2003). The obtained data were analyzed by using ANCOVA and MANCOVA. The results demonstrated that positive thinking skills training based on Islamic teachings and beliefs had significant, positive effects on mothers’ psychological well-being and resilience. As to the components of psychological well-being, positive thinking skills training had significant, positive effects on personal growth, positive relations with others, environmental mastery, and self-acceptance, whereas the intervention did not have any significant impact on autonomy and purpose in life. Hence, positive thinking skills training based on Islamic teachings and beliefs can enhance psychological well-being and resilience of mothers with autistic children and due to the relationship between psychological well-being and resilience with many health-promoting variables, this training can help improve autistic children’ s lives.

This study was undertaken to investigate the mediating role of personal values in the prediction of sexual abstinence based on mother-daughter relationship, Islamic ethics, and spiritual intelligence among high school girls in Isfahan. To this end, 200 female students were selected via cluster sampling method. The instruments included Schwartz Value Scale (2006), Sexual Abstinence Questionnaire (Ahmadi, 2018), Moral Foundations Questionnaire (Haidt & Graham, 2007) (adapted according to Islamic teachings), Parent-Child Relationship Scale (Fine, Moreland, & Schwebel, 1983), and Spiritual Intelligence Self-Report Inventory (King, 2008). The obtained data were analyzed using Structural Equation Modeling. The results demonstrated that sexual abstinence was directly associated with mother-daughter relationship, Islamic ethics, and personal values; however, no direct relationship was observed between spiritual intelligence and sexual abstinence. Moreover, Islamic ethics was indirectly related to sexual abstinence and this relationship was mediated by personal values. Indirect relations of spiritual intelligence and mother-daughter relationship with sexual abstinence mediated by personal values were not statistically significant. Apparently, Islamic ethics can affect sexual abstinence through having an influence on personal values; nonetheless, personal values do not mediate the impact of mother-daughter relationship and spiritual intelligence on sexual abstinence.

This study aimed to identify the dimensions and components of moral education through a social approach, and to develop a conceptual model for elementary education. This mixed methods research has combined elements of quantitative and qualitative approaches. In the qualitative part, the population of the study consisted of websites and databases related to moral education which were purposefully selected and thoroughly examined. The data analysis method included categorization which was continuously and simultaneously carried out with data collection. In the quantitative part, the population of the study comprised elementary school teachers in Kerman (District 2, grades 4-6) who were selected by total population sampling. After an overview of the relevant previous research, a number of moral education components were extracted and presented to a group of experts and specialists. This stage led to the deletion of a number of the extracted components and on the basis of the remaining ones a 71-item questionnaire was designed and administered to the statistical population including 408 elementary school teachers. The validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by the specialists and its reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha test. The research was followed by exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and the results showed that the core concept of the study includes 11 components in 2 dimensions of "belief" and "behavior". The components of "belief" are: "respect for social values and social norms", "forbearance", "developing an altruistic spirit", and "dialogue". The components of "behavior" are: "dependence on collective identity and its maintenance", "nurturing the spirit of freedom", "peaceful coexistence", "fulfillment of promises", "adherence to moral codes", "respect for the environment", and "fulfillment of social responsibility". The final model was designed based on the aforementioned dimensions and components. Among manifest variables related to the latent variable of "belief", the highest explained variance was obtained for "respecting values" and "social norms", while the lowest explained variable was gained for "dialogue". Among manifest variables related to the latent variable of "behavior", the highest explained variance was obtained for "dependence on collective identity and its maintenance", whereas the lowest explained variable was gained for "fulfillment of social responsibility".

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effectiveness of spiritual skills training in boosting happiness and psychological capital of female high school students. This quasi-experimental research had a pretest-posttest control group design. The statistical population of the study comprised all senior high school girls in Kerman (District two) from among them thirty students were selected through random sampling method and assigned to experimental and control groups by random. The instruments consisted of Oxford Happiness Questionnaire (Argyle & Lu, 1990) and Psychological Capital Questionnaire (Luthans et al., 2005) which were administered to both control and experimental groups in pretest and posttest assessments. The experimental group received spiritual skills training based on an Islamic approach in ten 90-minute sessions. The obtained data were analyzed using ANCOVA. The findings were indicative of the effectiveness of spiritual skills training in boosting students’ happiness. Furthermore, spiritual skills training increased students’ psychological capital in all its dimensions (hope, resiliency, and optimism) except self-efficacy. Hence, spiritual skills training can be utilized to promote happiness and psychological capital of students.