Unveiling the Impact of Teaching Mathematics through Motor Games on Self-Esteem and Motivation among Iranian Preadolescent Students

Recent studies in the field of education have indicated that childhood is an important era of one’s life and it is imperative that meticulous scrutiny is applied to children’s development. The consensus of studies is that performing motion activities can be one technique to boost children’s intellect and cognition. Therefore, the current study was an attempt to explore if the integration of motor games into the learning process of children can contribute to their self-esteem and motivation with respect to the mathematics course. To this end, a total of 60 nine-year-old third-year elementary school students educating at Matin Elementary School were chosen as the sample size using the convenience sampling method. The participants were divided by experimental and control groups, and treatments were provided pertaining to each group. With the goal of procuring data from the study participants, Self-esteem Inventory developed by Coopersmith (1990) and HEMS questionnaire developed by Harter (1981) were utilized as instruments for pretest and posttest procedures. Based on the statistical findings derived from independent samples t-test and ANOVA, it was established that motor games have a significant positive effect on the self-esteem of Iranian Elementary School students concerning their mathematics course learning. Likewise, it was found that motor games have a significant positive impact on the motivation of Iranian Elementary School students concerning their mathematics course learning. Keywords: Motor Games, Self-esteem, Motivation DOI: 10.7176/JEP/15-11-10 Publication date: October 30th 2024