小学校１年生を対象にした投運動学習に関する研究 ：用具としての楕円ボールがこどもの投運動に与える影響

　Despite an increase in physical characteristics,children's hrowing performance has been declining　over the past 20 years. This is problematic as it is vital for children at the elementary age to master individual gross-motor skills, including ball play. Although many elementary school educational programs incorporate ball play activities such as dodge ball, basketball or baseball, many children lack age-specific throwing and catching skills. Consequently, children become sedentary with little or no physical activities in their later lives. The aims of this study were to examine the effect of throwing ability on children's ball skills, and motivation to engage in throwing performance during ball related activities using the unique ball. 　For this study, 89 participants (1st grade elementary school) were placed into three groups: Play with an ellipse ball; Play with a regular ball; and, Control. 86 participants completed the tests. The study measured throwing distance with a softball that required proper throwing mechanics for quantifying throwing ability. Throwing mechanics, participant's expression to the ball play, and learning strategy were measured by applying kinematic analyses on the ball's trajectory, body movement, and their behavior. 　The results showed the participants in the ellipse ball group showed significantly greater development of precision grip skill, release angle and cooperative movement skills with enjoyment