THE ROLE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN FORMING THE ATTITUDE OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS TO MORAL VALUES THROUGH FOLK GAMES

Аннотация

This article investigates the potential of traditional Uzbek folk games in shaping primary school pupils’ moral values within the context of physical education lessons. In modern pedagogy, fostering students’ ethical and cultural awareness is no less important than the academic curriculum. Through the integration of national games into physical education, it is possible to build children's sense of friendship, cooperation, mutual respect, justice, and patriotism. The study evaluates the use of games such as “Cho’pon”, “Ko‘r-ko‘rga aylandi”, “Qiz-qovoq”, and others in enhancing children's moral thinking. The research employs a mixed-methods approach involving classroom experiments, teacher observations, and student interviews. The findings show that moral development indicators were significantly higher in groups exposed to folk games compared to those in standard physical education classes. The paper suggests that properly designed game-based educational strategies can become an effective moral education tool in early learning. Keywords. Physical education, folk games, moral education, primary school, national values, Uzbekistan, pedagogy, character formation.