Fundamental movement skills are more than run, throw and catch: The role of stability skills.

Introduction In motor development literature fundamental movement skills are divided into three constructs: locomotive, object control and stability skills. Most fundamental movement skills research has focused on children's competency in locomotor and object control skills. The first aim of this study was to validate a test battery to assess the construct of stability skills, in children aged 6 to 10 (M age = 8.2, SD = 1.2). Secondly we assessed how the stability skills construct fitted into a model of fundamental movement skill. Method The Delphi method was used to select the stability skill battery. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to assess if the skills loaded onto the same construct and a new model of FMS was developed using structural equation modelling. Results Three postural control tasks were selected (the log roll, rock and back support) because they had good face and content validity. These skills also demonstrated good predictive validity with gymnasts scoring significantly better than children without gymnastic training and children from a high SES school performing better than those from a mid and low SES schools and the mid SES children scored better than the low SES children (all p < .05). Inter rater reliability tests were excellent for all three skills (ICC = 0.81, 0.87, 0.87) as was test retest reliability (ICC 0.87-0.95). CFA provided good construct validity, and structural equation modelling revealed stability skills to be an independent factor in an overall FMS model which included locomotor (r = .88), object control (r = .76) and stability skills (r = .81). Discussion This study provides a rationale for the inclusion of stability skills in FMS assessment. The stability skills could be used alongside other FMS assessment tools to provide a holistic assessment of children's fundamental movement skills. Copyright

(Reinforcing) factors influencing a physical education teachers use of the direct instruction model teaching games

he purpose of this study was to explore how a physical education (PE) teacher employed the direct instruction model (DIM) teaching games in a United Kingdom secondary school. The research sought to identify how the teacher utilised the DIM and those factors that influenced his use of the model. Occupational socialization was used to identify the factors that encouraged his use of the DIM. Data were collected from interviews and lesson observations. Inductive data analysis showed that while the teacher presented a ‘full version’ of the DIM, his limited content knowledge impacted on the use of the model in teaching cricket. Factors influencing his use of the model were a sporting perspective, a Post Graduate Certificate in Education mentor and the ability and behaviour of the students. These factors reinforced his undergraduate learning and subsequent use of the DIM. It is suggested that the comparable backgrounds of many PE student teachers may make the DIM an apt model to learn in undergraduate and postgraduate PE courses. However, effective use of the model requires students to be taught and to possess in-depth content knowledge of the game(s)/activities being taught and learned

Age-related changes to motor synergies in multi-joint and multi-finger manipulative skills: a meta-analysis

Purpose The aim of the current meta-analysis was to examine the extent to which there are differences in upper extremity motor synergies across different age groups in manipulative tasks. Methods The studies that used the uncontrolled manifold method to examine the effect of age on motor synergies in multijoint and multi-finger tasks were selected. Sixteen relevant studies from 1154 articles were selected for the meta-analysis—4 and 12 studies considered multi-joint kinematics and multi-finger kinetic tasks respectively. Results The results of the meta-analysis suggested reduced strength of synergies in multi-finger task in older adults, but this was not the case for synergies in multi-joint task. Part of this age-related difference in finger function is related to the increased variability in total force in grasping tasks. However, reductions in the strength of multi-finger synergies in hand functions following ageing appear to depend on the characteristics of the task. Conclusions These findings indicate that the cooperation among fingers to stabilise the total required force to apply for grasping and other fine motor skills is less efficient in older adults that might affect the quality of manipulative tasks

Education and transfer of water competencies: An ecological dynamics approach

© The Author(s) 2020. To cope in various aquatic environments (i.e. swimming pools, lakes, rivers, oceans), learners require a wide repertoire of self-regulatory behaviours such as awareness of obstacles and water properties, floating and moving from point to point with different strokes, decision making, emotional control and breathing efficiently. By experiencing different learning situations in stable indoor pool environments, it is assumed that children strengthen aquatic competencies that should be transferable to functioning in open water environments, where prevalence of drowning is high. However, this fundamental assumption may be misleading. Here, we propose the application of a clear, related methodology and theoretical framework that could be useful to help physical education curriculum specialists (re)shape and (re)design appropriate aquatic learning situations to facilitate better transfer of learning. We discuss the need for more representativeness in a learning environment, proposing how the many different task and environmental constraints on aquatic actions may bound the emergence of functional, self-regulatory behaviours in learners. Ideas in ecological dynamics suggest that physical educators should design learning environments that offer a rich landscape of opportunities for action for learners. As illustration, three practice interventions are described for developing functional and transferrable skills in indoor aquatic environments. It is important that aquatic educators focus not just upon ‘learning to swim’, but particularly on relevant transferable skills and self-regulatory behaviours deemed necessary for functioning in dynamic, outdoor aquatic environments

Education and transfer of water competencies: An ecological dynamics approach

© The Author(s) 2020. To cope in various aquatic environments (i.e. swimming pools, lakes, rivers, oceans), learners require a wide repertoire of self-regulatory behaviours such as awareness of obstacles and water properties, floating and moving from point to point with different strokes, decision making, emotional control and breathing efficiently. By experiencing different learning situations in stable indoor pool environments, it is assumed that children strengthen aquatic competencies that should be transferable to functioning in open water environments, where prevalence of drowning is high. However, this fundamental assumption may be misleading. Here, we propose the application of a clear, related methodology and theoretical framework that could be useful to help physical education curriculum specialists (re)shape and (re)design appropriate aquatic learning situations to facilitate better transfer of learning. We discuss the need for more representativeness in a learning environment, proposing how the many different task and environmental constraints on aquatic actions may bound the emergence of functional, self-regulatory behaviours in learners. Ideas in ecological dynamics suggest that physical educators should design learning environments that offer a rich landscape of opportunities for action for learners. As illustration, three practice interventions are described for developing functional and transferrable skills in indoor aquatic environments. It is important that aquatic educators focus not just upon ‘learning to swim’, but particularly on relevant transferable skills and self-regulatory behaviours deemed necessary for functioning in dynamic, outdoor aquatic environments

Assessment of motor functioning in the preschool period

The assessment of motor functioning in young children has become increasingly important in recent years with the acknowledgement that motor impairment is linked with cognitive, language, social and emotional difficulties. However, there is no one gold standard assessment tool to investigate motor ability in children. The aim of the current paper was to discuss the issues related to the assessment of motor ability in young pre-school children and to provide guidelines on the best approach for motor assessment. The paper discusses the maturational changes in brain development at the preschool level in relation to motor ability. Other issues include sex differences in motor ability at this young age, and evidence for this in relation to sociological versus biological influences. From the previous literature it is unclear what needs to be assessed in relation to motor functioning. Should the focus be underlying motor processes or movement skill assessment? Several key assessment tools are discussed that produce a general measure of motor performance followed by a description of tools that assess specific skills, such as fine and gross motor, ball and graphomotor skills. The paper concludes with recommendations on the best approach in assessing motor function in pre-school children

Expert recommendations for the design of a children’s movement competence assessment tool for use by primary school teachers

A child’s early school years provide a crucial platform for them to develop fundamental movement skills (FMS), yet it has been acknowledged that there is a shortage of suitable FMS assessment tools for teachers to use within schools. To begin to address this shortfall, the purpose of this study was to elicit expert recommendations for the design of a FMS assessment tool for use by primary school teachers. A multi-phase research design was used, involving two scenario-guided focus groups with movement experts (n = 8; five academics and three practitioners). Data captured in both focus groups were transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. Three dichotomous dilemmas emerged from the data in relation to assessing children’s movement competence: (a) Why? For research purposes or to enhance teaching and learning?; (b) How? Should the assessment setting be engineered or natural?; and (c) What? Should the detail of the assessment be complex or simple and should the nature of the tasks be static or dynamic? These findings suggest that any future development of movement competence assessment protocols for use by primary school teachers needs to consider the specific purpose and context of the assessment

Comparação do equilíbrio postural unipodal entre crianças e adultos

O objetivo do estudo foi comparar o equilíbrio na posição unipodal entre crianças com desenvolvimento típico de oito a 11 anos de idade e adultos saudáveis. Os participantes foram divididos em três grupos: 8-9 anos, 10-11 anos e 18-25 anos. Para medir o equilíbrio foi utilizada uma plataforma de força AccuSway Plus (AMTI Inc.). Cada sujeito realizou três tentativas com duração de 30 segundos em posição unipodal dominante. Os parâmetros avaliados foram: amplitude do centro de pressão nas direções ântero-posterior e médio-lateral, o comprimento total do trajeto, velocidade média e 95% da área da elipse. Para a análise estatística utilizou-se o SPSS versão 13.0 Foram realizados os teste de Shapiro-Wilk, Anova One-Way, Post Hoc de Bonferroni e correlação de Pearson. O nível de significância adotado foi p < 0,05. Os resultados mostraram que houve diferenças significativas (p < 0,01) entre os grupos de crianças e o grupo de adultos em todas as variáveis. Entre os grupos de crianças (8-9 anos e 10-11 anos) não houve diferença significativa em nenhuma das variáveis analisadas. Os resultados sugerem que crianças de oito a 11 anos de idade ainda não alcançaram a completa maturação do equilíbrio postural. Essas informações podem ser importantes para auxiliar em diagnósticos de transtornos ou déficits do equilíbrio, tanto em crianças como em adultos

Development of gait motor control: what happens after a sudden increase in height during adolescence?

BACKGROUND: Basic understanding of motor control and its processes is a topic of well-known high relevance. During adolescence walking is theoretically a well-achieved fundamental skill, having reached a mature manifestation; on the other hand, adolescence is marked by a period of accelerated increases in both height and weight, referred as growth spurt. Thus, this period was chosen as a controlled and natural environment for partially isolating one of the factors influencing motor development (segment growth). The aim of the study was to compare gait performance of growing and not growing male adolescents during walking in single task (ST) and dual task (DT), in order to study which are the modifications that motor control handles when encountering a sudden change in segment length. METHODS: 19 adolescents were selected as growing adolescents (they showed a height increase greater than 3 cm in 3 months). A group of BMI-matched peers were selected as not growing adolescents (they showed a height increase lower than 1 cm in 3 months). Measures of acceleration of the trunk (L5 level) were collected using one tri-axial wireless inertial sensor. The participants were asked to walk at self-selected speed back and forth four times in a 10 m long corridor in ST and DT conditions. The following characteristics of gait performance were evaluated using different indices: variability, smoothness, regularity, complexity and local dynamic stability. An unpaired t-test was performed on the two groups for each method. RESULTS: Different indices followed the hypothesized trend in the two groups, even if differences were not always statistically significant: not growing adolescents showed a lower variability and complexity of gait and a higher smoothness/rhythm. Stability results showed a similarly stable gait pattern (or even higher in DT) in the growing adolescents when compared to their not growing peers. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of the present work suggest that growth spurt affects gait variability, smoothness and regularity but not gait stability. It could be argued that sudden peripheral changes of the body affect the manifestation and the performance of gait, but, on the other hand, gait control is able to handle these modifications, maintaining the stability of the system