مطالب

One of the burgeoning areas of interest within the realm of education pertains to student engagement, a central component of positive psychology (PP). Another fundamental concept in the PP literature is school connectedness, which underscores the belief students hold regarding the care shown by adults and peers in the educational environment towards their academic progress and personal welfare. Additionally, mindfulness, a pivotal term in the field of PP, offers noteworthy advantages such as enhancing working memory and reducing stress levels, consequently fostering academic involvement. Given the significance of school connectedness and mindfulness in academic engagement, the present study endeavors to examine the association between school connectedness and academic engagement in high school students, with mindfulness serving as a mediator. A total of 300 high school students from Bandar Abbas participated in the study, responding to scales measuring mindfulness, school connectedness, and academic engagement. Subsequently, structural equation modeling was employed to illuminate potential relationships. The results indicated a significant correlation between school connectedness and academic engagement. Furthermore, the findings demonstrated that both school connectedness and mindfulness serve as positive and significant predictors of academic engagement. Moreover, the results substantiated the mediating role of mindfulness. These findings offer valuable insights for educators in enhancing classroom practices.

The present study sought to examine the effects of hope therapy and compassion therapy on rumination, depression, and erroneous beliefs within employees of organizations in Shiraz city. The statistical population included workers from Shiraz city during 2023 and 2025. The research methodology was experimental, including a design that contained both pre-test and post-test components, as well as experimental and control groups. In this pilot study, among the employees who scored one standard deviation below the mean on rumination, depression, and false beliefs questionnaires, 45 individuals were randomly selected and divided into two experimental groups and one control group. The overall count of people in each of the three groups was 15 people. The members of the initial experimental group participated in hope therapy training together over the course of 8 sessions. The second experimental group participated in compassion therapy for a total of eight sessions. In contrast, the control group did not receive any training. Ultimately, a post-test was given to all three groups. A follow-up examination was carried out after two months too. Covariance analysis was employed for data evaluation. The results showed that both hope therapy and compassion therapy helped with rumination, depression, and inaccurate beliefs among employees, with no significant difference in their effectiveness on rumination. However, compassion therapy was found to be more effective than hope therapy in addressing beliefs. Additionally, hope therapy had a greater effect on employees' depression compared to compassion therapy. It can be inferred that training in hope therapy and compassion therapy has led to decreased rumination, depression, and misguided beliefs among staff, with this enhancement remaining consistent throughout the three-month follow-up duration.

SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: Near-death experiences (NDEs) have garnered significant attention, particularly in recent years. Existing explanations in this field have often failed to provide a comprehensive analysis of these experiences due to their neglect of ontological and anthropological dimensions. This study aims to offer a religious ontological explanation of NDEs by drawing on Quranic verses and narrations related to the nature of the world and human existence.METHOD & FINDING: The study adopts a descriptive-analytical approach, utilizing Islamic religious texts to explore the immaterial dimension of the human soul and its connection to ʿĀlam al-Barzakh (the intermediate realm). According to religious teachings, when the soul's attention to the body diminishes and sensory faculties cease their activity, the soul, aided by the faculty of imagination, perceives phenomena. The faculty of imagination has several characteristics that may influence these perceptions, including the creation of unreal images, the retention of past observations, the potential influence of Satan, and its connection to the intermediate realm. Islamic scriptures describe existence as encompassing multiple realms, from Khazāʾin ʿind Allāh (the divine treasuries) to ʿĀlam al-Dunyā (the material world), with the intermediate realm bearing significant similarities to NDEs. CONCLUSION: From the perspective of religious literature, it appears that when the soul's attention to the material dimension decreases, it may enter the intermediate realm and experience real observations. These observations, however, occur for specific individuals and may, in some cases, be influenced by their imagination, leading to perceptions that are limited to imaginary constructs. This study highlights the importance of integrating ontological and anthropological dimensions into the analysis of near-death experiences, offering a framework rooted in Islamic teachings.

It is argued that in our current digital era, MALL (mobile-assisted language learning) is an indispensable mode either for independent self-learning or for integrating with the school curriculum. The present study explores the possibility of using gamification as a home assignment in English as a foreign language course for students of non-English majors at a university in Vietnam. Data was collected and analyzed using 69 questionnaire responses and 41 essays written by students in a class of General English. The questionnaire and essay topic prompt required students to provide an evaluation of their personal experience learning English with Duolingo outside the classroom, as part of the compulsory home assignments during a 15-week semester. The questionnaire items were in Vietnamese and the essays were either in Vietnamese or English for students’ convenience. The results showed detailed benefits and problems of learning English with Duolingo as perceived by the students. The key benefits include the fact that Duolingo is a valuable resource: rich and free; the limitation is mainly learners’ lack of experience with the application. It is suggested that with teachers’ guidance, Duolingo could be used as an effective and motivating tool for independent learning.