Developing the intellectual sphere in primary school students through active games

Aim. This study aims to select and develop an algorithm for implementing sets of cognitively oriented active games during physical education classes for elementary school students. These games are intended to develop children’s perception, memory, attention, and imagination. Materials and methods. The study involved 417 third-grade students from five elementary schools in Irkutsk. The study methods included a structured analysis of active games, surveys, testing, a pedagogical experiment, and statistical data analysis. Results. A structured integration of cognitively oriented active games was proposed for elementary school physical education classes. As methodological support, a teaching manual was developed and presented. It contains sets of active games with descriptions of their organization and delivery, as well as diagnostic tools for assessing specific components of the students’ intellectual development. A pedagogical experiment involving third-grade students was conducted to determine the efficacy of these specialized active games in developing the intellectual sphere of elementary school students. The results proved that the level of intellectual development achieved a value of 177.639, with a critical χ2 value of 16.812 (р < 0.01). Conclusion. The analysis of the final results assessing the development of the intellectual domain in elementary school students confirmed the hypothesis that the use of specialized active games leads to a substantial improvement in memory, perception, attention, and imagination.