Pupils' opinions on different kinds of elementary games in the main part of physical education lesson

In the master's thesis we research the pupils’ opinions on different kinds of elementary games in the main part of the physical education lesson. In the theoretical part the natural forms of movement are described, which are the basis for all further movements and are represented in elementary games as an upgrade. A number of elementary games for the main part of the physical education lesson are presented and instructions for their implementation are given. Then the meaning of games for a child’s development is identified. In particular, we focused on the positive and negative aspects of competition in the games. With the help of the literature we researched the causes for the boys’ enhanced competitiveness in comparison to girls’. In the last part we focus on fair play with the aim of promoting this aspect of games by teachers and thus emphasize the essence of cooperation and not winning. In the empirical study we used the quantitative research approach. 362 pupils from the 2nd to 5th grades of some elementary schools in Novo mesto were included in the sample. Data were processed by using Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. The frequencies of occurrence of individual responses were calculated and expressed in percentages. We were interested in the pupils’ fondness of elementary games in the main part of the physical education lesson and which their favourite is, but also whether the popularity of different games depends on their gender and age. Our aim was to find out if pupils like competing and how much they value respecting the rules when playing these games. The results have shown that elementary games in the main part of the physical education lesson are popular among both, the boys and the girls. They prefer team games, especially a game of dodge ball. Among the girls only fighting games are not popular. Pupils are more motivated when they compete. Then they also try harder. It is interesting that wining the games is not very important to them. Losses mostly do not affect them, but they sometimes are a little angry or feel guilty for the defeat of their group. It is very important for pupils that everybody respect the rules of the sport. Boys and girls generally have a positive opinion of the elementary games in the main part of the physical education lesson, because of the competitive nature of the games and because they like to participate in the group and thus have fun