Portrayal of Positive Psychological Capital in Quran

The present study aims at exploring positive psychological capital in the verses of Qur’an. Positive psychology is the latest advancement in the field of psychology which focuses on improving the well-being of society. Positive psychological capital refers to the combination of overall qualities of positive psychology that contributes to the well-being and mental health. The present study is based on the content analysis of the verses of Qur’an. Content analysis comprises of three steps including identifying the categories or themes, dividing the information into units or parts and finally rating all the themes in all units. In the first step the researchers identified 41 themes from Qur’an by using committee approach and reading the verses between the lines. All these categories were identified by keeping in view the underlying themes of positive psychology. In the second step 30 units were devised from Qur’an by considering each Part as a single unit. The categories included behavior modification, belief in divine help, brotherhood, bravery, contentment, civility, credibility, encouragement of virtue, emotional regulation, excellence, forgiveness, generosity, gratitude, honesty, hopefulness, humility, justice, knowledge, lawful spending, learning, meaningfulness, mindfulness, moderation, obedience, patience, peace, determination, positivity, prosperity, repentance, resilience, reward, self-actualization, self-awareness, self-control, sincerity, social leadership, truthfulness, trust, and wisdom. Results suggest that the most prominent category in Qur’an is the reward. Validity of the study was maintained through the selection of the themes with the help of committee approach. Reliability of the scoring system was maintained through partial inter-rater reliability. Overall the present research has many implications in the positive psychology of religion.    

Exploring the Efficacy of Socio-Scientific Issues-Based Science Teaching for Improving Argumentation Skills of Grade Ix Students: A Study from an Urban Public School in Karachi

Advancements in science, technology and education highlight the importance of engaging science students in Socio-Scientific Issues (SSI)-based argumentation and enabling them to make informed decisions. The purpose of this research was to explore the efficacy of SSI- based argumentation in the context of biology (genetics) for improving grade-IX students’ argumentation skills focusing on complexity and quality of argumentation. The study was conducted as a pre-experiment in one school. To meet the needs of the study, all of the grade-IX students (n = 44) of biology group were recruited as sample. However, 38 students provided their responses on writing frames for both the pre- and post-test. After being taught a unit of 12 (45-minutes each ) lessons on genetics, students were explicitely instructed argumentation skills in one 45-minutes each session and engaged in oral and written argumentation in further three 45-minutes lessons. Data were gathered through pre- and post-instruction with detailed written students’argumentation on writing frame which were consisted of SSI-based scenario with guiding questions . In order to answer the two research questions, the data were analyzed twice using separate frameworks for complexity and quality of argumentation. The findings indicated an increase in the argumentation skills of grade-IX students. The difference between pre-test to post-test complexity of argumentation was considered significant (Wilcoxon signed ranked W = 553; Z = -4.940; p < 0.01). Also, the effect size (r = 0.80) was considered as large. Similarly, the difference in the level of quality of grade-IX students’argumentation was also found significant (Wilcox on signed ranked W = 528; Z = -5.005; p < 0.01) with large (r = 0.83) effect size. The results are important as strategy of teaching of science through argumentation about SSI has been found efficacious for improving complexity and quality of students’ argumentation skills in the context where most of the students are unaware of SSI-based argumentation. The finding are also important because they add to the literature for the area where there has been found dearth of research in the field of SSI based argumentation.