The Impact of an Eight-Month Physical Literacy Structured Recreation Program on the Motor Proficiency of Kindergarten Students
Abstract
Development of gross motor skills and fundamental movement skills, are essential in the growth and development of the child. If a child does not have the proper development, nor the mastery of gross motor skills, it could hinder their growth and development, and lead to a higher rate of disengagement from activity and sport, and increase sedentary behaviour. With a larger emphasis being placed on to the recreation and education sectors to ensure children meet the minimum requirements of physical activity and create a healthier population, programs need to be effective in aiding the growth, development and mastery of these skills. The objective of the study is to determine if a specialised recreation program, designed with the intention to introduce children between the ages of 4 and 5, to multiple activities in multiple environments, aid in the development of fundamental movement skills when compared to their standard recreation counterparts.
A sample of 59-59 children, completed an eight-month, recreation centre-based study. Twenty-four participants acted as the control group, and were enrolled into parent-selected activities, which would run eight-weeks in length per program. Thirty-five participants acted as the intervention group, and were enrolled into the specialised program, which swapped between four-environments. All participants were assessed at two time-points, pre- and post-program, using the Test of Gross Motor Development, 3rd Edition, and the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency, 2nd Edition, which measures locomotor, object-control and balance skills.
The three-way multivariate analysis of variance with one repeated measure and two confounding variables, demonstrated that all participants, regardless of program type, increased significantly from the pre-assessment measures to the post-assessment measures in all skills. The 3-way MANCOVA also demonstrated that a gender difference was apparent at both the pre-assessment measures, as well as the post-assessment measures, specifically in object-control, wherein males outperformed females. However,However, there was no significant difference when comparing group.
These findings suggest that regardless of program type, child enrolment does elicit significant improvements of gross motor skill and fundamental movement skill development, over the course of an eight-month intervention.
Description
Keywords
Education--Early Childhood, Education--Physical, Recreation, Human Development, Recreation
Citation
McCallum, K. (2017). The Impact of an Eight-Month Physical Literacy Structured Recreation Program on the Motor Proficiency of Kindergarten Students (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/28176