Purpose: This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of an educational program based on the components of power and freedom in Arabic language and literature, delivered through a brainstorming teaching strategy, in strengthening national identity and critical thinking among ninth-grade students in Baghdad.

Methods and Materials: This quasi-experimental study employed a pretest-posttest design with an experimental group and a control group. The statistical population consisted of ninth-grade students attending schools in Baghdad, Iraq. Sixty students were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to the experimental and control groups, with 30 students in each group. The experimental group received an eight-session educational program, with one 60-minute session per week, focusing on power and freedom concepts in Arabic language and literature through brainstorming, group discussion, case studies, role-playing, and simulation. The control group continued to receive conventional instruction. Data were collected using a 25-item National Identity Questionnaire and the 34-item California Critical Thinking Skills Test. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26 and analysis of covariance at a significance level of 0.05.

Findings: After controlling for pretest scores, analysis of covariance showed a significant effect of group membership on national identity (F(1,57) = 86.02, p < 0.001, η² = 0.601). A significant group effect was also found for critical thinking (F(1,57) = 59.11, p < 0.001, η² = 0.509). Accordingly, the intervention produced significant improvements in both national identity and critical thinking compared with the control condition.

Conclusion: The educational program based on power and freedom components and delivered through brainstorming can be used as an effective participatory approach in Arabic language and literature instruction to strengthen students’ national identity and critical thinking simultaneously.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine parents’ awareness of protecting children’s privacy in virtual social networks and to determine the roles of parental education, media literacy, awareness level, and gender in the protection of children’s digital privacy.

Methodology: This applied, cross-sectional survey study was conducted among parents residing in Maragheh who had at least one child under 18 years of age using the Internet and virtual social networks. The study sample comprised 325 mothers and fathers selected through simple random sampling. Data were collected using the standardized Social Network Privacy Concerns Questionnaire and a researcher-developed questionnaire designed to assess parental awareness of protecting children’s privacy in virtual social networks. The reliability of the instruments was examined using Cronbach’s alpha, and construct validity was used to evaluate their validity. Data were analyzed in SPSS using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the independent-samples t-test.

Findings: One-way ANOVA indicated a significant difference in the protection of children’s privacy according to fathers’ educational level (F=4.571, p=.01), with higher education associated with greater protection. A significant difference was also found across mothers’ educational levels (F=13.320, p<.001). Parental media literacy was significantly associated with children’s privacy protection (F=3.809, p=.02), indicating greater protection among parents with higher levels of media literacy. Furthermore, significant differences were observed according to parents’ overall awareness levels (F=4.593, p=.01), with greater awareness corresponding to stronger privacy protection. The independent-samples t-test also showed a significant gender difference (t=-3.688, p<.001), with men demonstrating a higher level of awareness and reported protection of children’s privacy than women.

Conclusion: Higher parental education, greater media literacy, and increased awareness are associated with more effective protection of children’s privacy in virtual social networks. Accordingly, strengthening parental media literacy and providing systematic education on digital risks, privacy settings, and children’s digital rights may constitute effective strategies for preventing emerging social harms and promoting safer online environments for children.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a sociodramatic play-based conflict resolution education protocol grounded in Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory on empathy, emotion regulation, and theory of mind in preschool children.

Methodology: This applied study employed a quasi-experimental pretest–posttest design with a control group. The statistical population comprised 4- to 5-year-old children attending kindergartens in Shiraz during the 2025–2026 academic year. Thirty children were selected through convenience sampling and, after obtaining parental informed consent, were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups. The experimental group received 10 sessions of sociodramatic play-based conflict resolution education, each lasting 30–35 minutes, over five weeks, whereas the control group continued routine kindergarten activities. Data were collected using the Empathy Questionnaire (EmQue), Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC), and Theory of Mind Inventory (ToMI). After examining the statistical assumptions, data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS while controlling for pretest scores.

Findings: ANCOVA indicated significant intervention effects on total empathy (F=23.69, partial η²=0.47), emotional contagion (F=22.20, partial η²=0.45), attention to others’ feelings (F=7.73, partial η²=0.21), and prosocial actions (F=4.82, partial η²=0.15). A significant effect was also found for emotion regulation (F=4.38, p=0.050, partial η²=0.14), accompanied by a significant reduction in emotional lability/negativity (F=12.86, partial η²=0.45). Regarding theory of mind, significant effects were observed for the total score (F=18.46, partial η²=0.41), early theory of mind (F=10.28, partial η²=0.28), and basic theory of mind (F=14.91, partial η²=0.36); however, the intervention effect on advanced theory of mind was not statistically significant (F=3.42, partial η²=0.11).

Conclusion: Vygotskian sociodramatic play-based conflict resolution education appears to be a developmentally appropriate intervention for strengthening empathy, emotion regulation, and foundational theory-of-mind abilities in preschool children; however, longer and more cognitively and linguistically demanding interventions may be required to improve advanced theory of mind.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the hidden curriculum of school sports activities and philosophically explain the role and representation of moral values in students’ motor behavior and moral-cognitive development.

Methodology: This qualitative study was conducted using a multiple-case study design. Participants comprised 30 physical education teachers, school principals and deputies, experts in curriculum studies, philosophy of education and moral education, and lower-secondary students in Tehran, Iran. They were selected through purposive maximum-variation sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, non-participant observations of 18 sports sessions in six schools, and analysis of documents related to physical education programs and school competitions. Data collection and analysis were conducted concurrently using reflective thematic analysis, constant comparison, and philosophical interpretation of moral concepts. Credibility was enhanced through data-source triangulation, member checking, peer review, and maintenance of a detailed audit trail.

Findings: The analysis generated four main themes, 13 subthemes, and 52 initial concepts. The main themes were the moral value system of sports activities, the bodily and motor representation of morality, hidden mechanisms of power, justice, and participation, and the moral-cognitive consequences of sports experiences. Emphasis on winning, physical competence, and repeated selection of high-performing students increased the likelihood of excluding less-skilled students and reinforcing status hierarchies. Conversely, equitable distribution of opportunities, cooperation, respect, fair play, and inclusive participation were associated with greater self-restraint, responsibility, recognition of others’ rights, and more complex moral judgment. Behaviors such as controlling physical contact, helping teammates, accepting defeat, and voluntarily acknowledging mistakes represented observable manifestations of internalized moral values.

Conclusion: The hidden curriculum of school sports may either foster students’ moral development or reproduce exclusion, discrimination, and excessive result orientation, depending on activity organization, teacher conduct, peer culture, and the distribution of power and opportunities. Realizing the educational potential of sports therefore requires alignment between formal goals and actual practices, equitable participation, and the integration of motor experiences with moral dialogue and reflection.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine social security and its related components among adolescents with a history of child labor and to identify the direct and indirect relationships underlying social insecurity in this population.

Methodology: This basic, multi-method study employed a correlational survey design based on structural equation modeling together with a causal-comparative approach. The study population comprised adolescents aged 14–20 years with a history of child labor in Tehran, assessed from spring to winter 2022–2023. Multistage cluster sampling was used, and after incomplete questionnaires were excluded, data from 267 participants were analyzed. Social security, social well-being, job security, general health, economic security, and psychological security were assessed using validated standardized and researcher-developed instruments. Pearson correlation, bootstrap mediation analysis, structural equation modeling, and independent-samples t tests were used for inferential analysis.

Findings: Social security was positively and significantly correlated with social well-being (r=0.289), job security (r=0.391), general health (r=0.297), economic security (r=0.398), and psychological security (r=0.389; p<0.01). Bootstrap analysis indicated that psychological security partially mediated the associations of social well-being and physical/personal security with social security. For economic security, the indirect effect through psychological security was significant while the direct effect was nonsignificant, indicating an approximately full mediation effect. In contrast, the association between job security and social security was predominantly direct. The modified structural model yielded CFI=0.927 and TLI=0.922, although RMSEA=0.119 indicated residual model-fit limitations. Independent-samples t tests showed significant gender differences across all study variables (p<0.001), with girls consistently demonstrating poorer security-related outcomes than boys.

Conclusion: Childhood labor experience is associated with persistent vulnerability across adolescents’ social, psychological, economic, and occupational domains, while psychological security appears to be an important mechanism through which some dimensions—particularly economic security—affect social security; therefore, interventions for former child laborers should be multidimensional and should specifically address the greater vulnerability observed among girls.

Purpose: This study aimed to design and validate a conceptual model of “Schools of Life” within the Iranian education system and to identify its underlying dimensions and components.

Methodology: This applied study employed a sequential exploratory mixed-methods qualitative–quantitative design. In the qualitative phase, 20 experts in educational sciences, curriculum planning, educational management, and educational psychology, together with experienced principals, vice principals, and teachers from schools in Kermanshah, were selected through purposive maximum-variation sampling. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analyzed using thematic analysis in MAXQDA. Based on the qualitative findings, a researcher-developed questionnaire was constructed, and its content validity was assessed using the Content Validity Ratio and Content Validity Index. In the quantitative phase, 384 participants were selected through multistage cluster sampling, of whom 371 provided analyzable data. Construct validity was examined using confirmatory factor analysis, while Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability were used to assess reliability.

Findings: Thematic analysis generated eight major dimensions and 24 components. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the proposed eight-factor, 52-item structure, with factor loadings ranging from 0.57 to 0.86. Model-fit indices demonstrated an acceptable fit to the data (χ²/df=2.41, CFI=0.93, TLI=0.92, RMSEA=0.062, and SRMR=0.057). Cronbach’s alpha coefficients ranged from 0.82 to 0.91, composite reliability values ranged from 0.87 to 0.93, and average variance extracted ranged from 0.53 to 0.65, confirming adequate reliability and convergent validity for all constructs. The final dimensions were life-oriented learning, life-oriented curriculum, holistic development, student agency, school culture and environment, leadership and management, family and community, and technology and innovation.

Conclusion: The validated Schools of Life model provides a comprehensive and multidimensional framework for transforming schools from predominantly instruction-oriented institutions into environments supporting meaningful learning, holistic development, student agency, and effective school–family–community interaction. The model can provide an empirical basis for educational policymaking, school evaluation, and school-improvement planning.

The present study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of purposeful group games during physical education classes on the dimensions of personality development among secondary school students in Tehran. This study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pretest–posttest control group structure. The statistical population consisted of secondary school students in Tehran during the 2021 academic year. A total of 60 students were selected through multistage cluster sampling and randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. The experimental group participated in an 8-week purposeful group games program during physical education classes, while the control group continued the regular school curriculum. Data were collected using the Johnson and McCrae Adolescent Personality Development Questionnaire (2011), which measures social responsibility, emotional stability, self-confidence, interpersonal cooperation, and self-regulation. Data analysis was conducted using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) in SPSS-27. The results of multivariate analysis of covariance revealed that purposeful group games had a significant effect on the dimensions of personality development among students (P<0.001). The experimental group demonstrated significantly higher posttest scores than the control group in social responsibility, emotional stability, self-confidence, interpersonal cooperation, and self-regulation. Effect size indices also indicated that the intervention accounted for a considerable proportion of the variance in personality development outcomes. The greatest effects were observed in self-confidence and interpersonal cooperation. The findings suggest that purposeful group games implemented during physical education classes can serve as an effective strategy for enhancing various dimensions of personality development in secondary school students. Through increasing social interaction, strengthening responsibility, improving emotional skills, and creating positive participatory experiences, such activities contribute to adolescents’ psychological and social growth. Therefore, integrating purposeful group games into school physical education programs is strongly recommended.

Objective: The present study aimed to sociologically analyze the role of standard language in textbooks and children’s literature and examine its impact on the formation of linguistic capital and the academic success of students.

Method: This research was conducted with a qualitative approach using the thematic analysis and qualitative content analysis methods. The study population included elementary school teachers, educational experts, children’s literature authors, and elementary school students in Tehran. A purposeful sampling method was used to select 32 participants. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews, content analysis of 18 textbooks, and 25 children’s literature works. Thematic analysis by Braun and Clarke and the MAXQDA software (version 2024) were used for data analysis. To enhance data validity, the participant review and scientific peer review methods were employed.

Findings: The research findings indicated that standard language functions as a form of cultural and social capital within the educational system. Students who are more exposed to the formal language in their family environment tend to perform better in understanding textbooks, classroom participation, and academic writing. Content analysis of textbooks revealed that these texts are primarily based on formal vocabulary, complex syntactic structures, and representations of middle-class culture, with limited linguistic diversity. Furthermore, although children’s literature exhibited greater linguistic flexibility compared to textbooks, it still reproduced standard language as the legitimate and superior form of language. The findings also showed that the gap between home language and school language can foster feelings of linguistic exclusion, reduce academic self-confidence, and exacerbate educational inequality among some students.

Conclusion: The research results demonstrated that standard language in educational texts and children’s literature has become more than just a communication tool; it has evolved into a mechanism for reproducing cultural capital and educational inequality. Moreover, paying attention to linguistic diversity and adopting multicultural approaches in education can help bridge educational gaps and enhance students’ participation and cultural identity.