The Effect of Divergent Thinking Strategy on Cognitive Intuition and Learning to Perform Some Volleyball Skills for Fifth-Grade Middle School Students

The importance of this research stems from employing divergent thinking strategies to develop cognitive intuition and improve the learning of basic volleyball skills among middle school students, thus contributing to the improvement of learning quality. The research problem lies in the weak level of cognitive intuition and skill performance among fifth-grade middle school students, necessitating the search for a modern educational strategy to address this issue. The research aimed to build a scale for cognitive intuition, and to identify the effect of divergent thinking strategy on developing cognitive intuition and learning some volleyball skills. The researcher used the experimental method with a two-group equivalent design (experimental and control). The research sample consisted of (40) female students, with (20) students in each group, while a sample of (70) female students was used to develop the scale, and (12) educational units were implemented, one educational unit per week. The results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in cognitive intuition, with a mean score of (53.35± 2.39) compared to (49.20± 1.24) (t=6.893, p<0.001). They also outperformed the control group in underhand serve (8.10± 0.55 vs. 5.20± 0.70; t=14.596, p<0.001), receiving underhand serves with both hands (6.95± 0.83 vs. 6.05± 1.50; t=5.177, p<0.001), and setting up the ball from above with the fingers (7.50± 0.61 vs. 5.90± 1.25; t=7.025, p<0.001). The research concluded that divergent thinking is an effective teaching method for developing cognitive intuition and improving volleyball skills among fifth-grade middle school students. Research contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (quality education) by supporting quality education and implementing modern teaching strategies that promote effective learning.