Does Physical Education Activity Affect Character Development in Primary School Students?

Physical education activities play a role in developing students’ physical abilities and have significant potential in shaping their character. This study aims to determine the effect of physical education activities on the character development of primary school students. The research method used was pre-experimentation with pretest-posttest (one group pretest-posttest design). The sample used was the 5th-grade students of Muhamadiyah Jogokaryan Primary School, with as many as 50 students male: 38, female: 12, aged 8-12 years. Observation sheet instrument Aiken V Validation: 0.94, Cronbach’s Alpha Reliability Value: 0.813 was used to collect the data and to measure the students’ character. The analysis technique used a dependent paired t-test. The results of the difference test showed that the value of Sig. (2-tailed) was 0.000 < 0.005, indicating a significant difference in students’ character development after participating in physical education activities. Therefore, physical education activities significantly positively affect students’ character development. In conclusion, Physical Education plays a vital role in the character development of primary school students.