Literary Interdisciplinary Research

Investigating the Effectiveness of Iranian Stories for Age Group "C" on the Caring Thinking of Male Primary School Students

Articles in Press

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Jaber Eftekhari 1
RezaAli Nowrozi 2
Mehrnoosh Hedayati 3

1 Ph.D. Student in Philosophy of Education, Department of Education, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Iran

2 Associate Professor, Educational Sciences Department, Faculty of Education and Psychology, University of Isfahan, Iran.

3 Associate Professor, Department of Psychology and Counseling, Faculty of Ethics and Education, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran

10.30465/lir.2026.52781.2067
Abstract
The caring thinking of the Philosophy for Children (P4C) program, with its emphasis on values and emotions, promotes moral and social development. This study examined the effectiveness of Iranian stories for the age group "C" (ages 9-12) within philosophical inquiry circles on sixth-grade primary school students' caring thinking. The research employed a quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test design in Isfahan during 2024–2025. The population consisted of sixth-grade students in Isfahan, from which 60 male students were selected via multi-stage cluster sampling and divided into experimental and control groups (n=30 each). The intervention consisted of 10 sessions using bestselling Iranian stories published between 2016 and 2024. Data were collected using Hedayati's (2018) questionnaire and analyzed with univariate and multivariate analysis of covariance (ANCOVA/MANCOVA) in SPSS 26. The results showed that the mean caring thinking score of the experimental group increased from 94.80 to 105.47. Although ANCOVA showed no significant difference, this was confirmed by the Bonferroni test, and MANCOVA did not detect a significant overall difference across components; however, the test of between-subject effects revealed a significant improvement in the empathic thinking component (p<0.05). In conclusion, Iranian stories support caring thinking, particularly the empathic dimension. It is recommended that P4C facilitators incorporate these stories in their research and that future research examines the long-term impacts of these stories on students' caring thinking.

Keywords

Caring thinking
Iranian stories
Philosophical inquiry circle
student
Primary school

Subjects

Literary Interdisciplinary Research

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 10 February 2026

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