The Effectiveness of Educational Group Games on the Social Skills of Male Students in a Private Elementary School

The present study aimed to determine the effectiveness of educational group games on the development and improvement of social skills among primary school students in a boys’ private elementary school. Social skills, defined as a set of learned behaviors that enable individuals to interact with others in ways that elicit positive responses and avoid negative ones, are a cornerstone of mental health and academic success in childhood. This study employed a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test/post-test and a control group. The statistical population consisted of all students at Creativity Private Elementary School for Boys during the ۲۰۲۴-۲۰۲۵ academic year. From this population, ۴۰ students who scored lower in initial social skill screenings were selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to either the experimental group (n = ۲۰) or the control group (n = ۲۰). The research instrument was the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY), which measures dimensions such as cooperation, asocial behavior, narcissism, and impulsivity. The experimental group underwent an intervention consisting of ۱۲ sessions (۴۵ minutes each, twice a week) of educational group games, including role-playing, rule-based games, and cooperation-oriented games, while the control group followed their routine classroom activities. Data were analyzed using univariate Analysis of Covariance (ANCOVA) in SPSS-۲۶. The findings revealed that the mean scores for social skills in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group at the post-test stage (p < ۰.۰۱). The results indicated that educational group games led to a significant increase in the cooperation component and a decrease in asocial and impulsive behaviors among male students. Based on these results, it can be inferred that group games, due to their interactive and enjoyable nature, provide a suitable platform for practicing social norms and improving interpersonal relationships. Therefore, it is recommended that teachers and educators utilize these games as a supplementary educational tool in formal and extracurricular primary school programs.

کلیدواژه ها:

Educational Group Games ، Social Skills ، Elementary Students ، Boys’ Private School ، Game-Based Learning.