مطالب

This study was aimed at clarifying the position of environment and heredity in scholastic aptitude by investigating the role of family, educational, and economic factors in the scholastic aptitude of ninth-grade students. This applied study adopted a quantitative approach and a descriptive causal- comparative method in terms of data collection. The statistical population of the research included all 1,234,641 students in the ninth grade of the secondary schools in Iran in the academic year of 2020–2021. The sample size contained 11790 students selected through proportionate stratified random sampling. The data were collected using a 64-question Scholastic Aptitude Test and analyzed using descriptive statistics as well as the MANOVA using the SPSS 25 software. The research results showed that among the family factors, the mother's educational level; among the educational factors, the type of school and educational assistance classes; and among the economic factors, the family income, had a significant role in the students' scholastic aptitude (P < 0.05). Moreover, the linear combination of family factors and educational factors does not have a significant role in scholastic aptitude while the linear combination of economic factors has a significant role. In general, among family, economic, and educational factors, economic factors have a more significant role in scholastic aptitude.

Loneliness is a distressing experience and has destroying psychological consequences for children. This paper explored the effectiveness of instructing philosophy for children on children’s loneliness after controlling the role of the social-emotional learning. This study adopted a quasi-experimental method. The statistical population included sixth grade primary school male students of Urmia (N=50) chosen by cluster random sampling method and then randomly assigned to the experimental (N=25) and Control (N=25) groups. The experimental group participated in 12 sessions of philosophy for children instruction while the control group did not receive any special instruction. Children loneliness questionnaire by Asher and Wheeler (1985) and the Social-Emotional Learning scale of Coryn et al. (2009) were administrated. The results of this study showed the same patterns as Westerns studies. After controlling the role of covariates variables (the pre-test and social-emotional learning) on loneliness by ANCOVA test, instructing philosophy for children has a significant effect on loneliness. Moreover, after instructing philosophy for children, the experimental group showed lower levels of loneliness than the control group (P<0.001). Although there were two covariate variables, pre-test, and social-emotional learning, instructing philosophy for children had an effect on loneliness, accordingly these findings highlight the importance of philosophy for children in mitigating children’s loneliness. This findings may be helpful for school psychologists in schools.

This study addresses the academic challenges faced by students with learning difficulties by examining the mediating role of psychological capital and achievement goals (mastery and performance) in the relationship between family emotional climate (FEC) and academic well-being. The study utilized a cross-sectional correlational design to assess contemporaneous associations between the investigated variables. The sample consisted of 150 high school students with a history of learning difficulties, selected from those who had recorded at special education centers in four districts of Ahvaz during elementary school. Data were collected using self-report questionnaires assessing FEC, psychological capital, achievement goals, and academic well-being. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the hypothesized relationships. This study identified positive associations between psychological capital, mastery goals, and academic well-being (p<0.01), while performance goals showed a negative link to well-being (p<0.01). Interestingly, a positive FEC fostered psychological capital and mastery goals but discouraged performance goals, with no direct effect on well-being (p<0.01). results revealed that psychological capital and achievement goals significantly mediated the positive relationship between FEC and academic well-being (p<0.01). In other words, FEC fostered students' psychological capital and mastery goals, which in turn, led to greater academic well-being. Interestingly, this analysis suggests that the beneficial effect of a positive family environment on academic well-being is achieved indirectly, through its influence on these psychological resources. These results suggest that supportive family environments promote academic success by fostering specific psychological resources, rather than directly impacting well-being.

The present study was conducted to investigate the mediating role of achievement anxiety in the relationship between perfectionism and cognitive flexibility in math learning in students. The study was correlational using structural equation modeling. The statistical population included senior high school female students in the academic year of 2022-2023. According to the obvious variables, allocation of 25 coefficients, and taking into account the incomplete questionnaires, 231 students were selected by convenience sampling. The instruments included Hewitt and Flett’s perfectionism (1991) questionnaire, Dennis and Vander Wal's cognitive flexibility (2010) questionnaire, and Alpert and Haber's achievement anxiety (1960) questionnaire. Also, the students’ math scores at the end of the semester were used to measure their math learning. The data were analyzed by Pearson's correlation coefficient test and structural equation modeling using SPSS18 and AMOS24 software. The results showed that perfectionism and achievement anxiety have a negative direct effect, and cognitive flexibility has a positive direct effect on math learning. Also, perfectionism and cognitive flexibility have an indirect effect on math learning through achievement anxiety. The research model was also confirmed and the result showed that the variable measurement models have a good fit and 41% of the math learning variance is explained by the research variables. The findings of this research can be beneficial for teaching and learning of students. With educational planning and helping students, their cognitive capacities and competencies can be increased and their mathematical learning can be effectively improved.

The current study examined the effectiveness of the educational Lego “More Math” on the mathematical progress, spatial understanding, working memory, and processing speed of students in female first grade of elementary school. female first-grade students. The research employed a quasi-experimental design incorporating a pre-test and post-test framework, with the inclusion of a control group. The population of this study consisted of female first-grade students studying in the schools of Tehran District 14 in the academic year 2022-2023. Among the available schools in District 14, Mihrab Girl’s Elementary School was selected as the sample. Then, 30 students were selected by convenience sampling and randomly assigned to the experimental (15 students) and control (15 students) groups. The data were collected by the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, Fifth Edition (WISC-V), which consisted of ten sub-tests comprising five sub-scales for fluency, language comprehension, visual-spatial reasoning, processing speed, and working memory, and the teacher-made math test. The Lego More to Math educational protocol consisted of weekly training sessions over the course of 15 weeks, with each session lasting for 60 minutes. The data were analyzed using univariate and multivariate analyses of covariance by SPSS26.The analysis revealed significant differences between groups for spatial perception (F = 1.48, p = 0.00, η² = 0.36), working memory (F = 12.13, p = 0.00, η² = 0.32), processing speed (F = 18.16, p = 0.00, η² = 0.42), and math progress (F = 5.78, p = 0.00, η² = 0.29, test power = 0.9), with non-significant pre-test results (p = 0.88) and significant group differences (F = 11.36, p = 0.00). The study demonstrated that the Lego "More to Math" educational program significantly enhanced first graders' mathematical progress, spatial understanding, working memory, and processing speed. These findings suggested that incorporating structured, play-based learning tools like Lego into early education effectively boosted cognitive and mathematical skills in young students