Environment for Preschool Children to Learn Fundamental Motor Skills: The Role of Teaching Venue and Class Size

Peggy Cheung,Li Zhang

doi:10.3390/su12229774

Abstract

The development of children’s fundamental motor skills (FMS) is shaped by the environment surrounding them. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the changes of children’s FMS after an intervention program differed between classes conducted in different schooling conditions. Participants were 295 preschool children (62 boys, 133 girls; M = 5.4 years; SD = 0.28) from eight preschools in Hong Kong. Children participated in an 8-week FMS program and their FMS were assessed using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2). A linear mixed model was used to analyze the association on the changes of FMS score between children in different schooling conditions: (1) teaching venue size (large or small); and (2) class size (large, medium, or small), while accounting for the clustering of participants within preschools. The changes of object control skills were significantly different between groups with different teaching venue size (p = 0.000) (small: 5.54 (SD = 5.84) vs. large: 2.46 (SD = 6.42)) and different class size (p = 0.000) (small: 8.12 (SD = 6.34) vs. medium: 2.92 (SD = 6.26) vs. large: 4.00 (SD = 5.79)). The findings have practical implications for the teaching of FMS in that the social and physical environment in preschools should be considered for the design of FMS intervention programs.

Highlights

Fundamental motor skills (FMS) are defined as the building blocks of more advanced, complex movement required to participate in sports, games, and other context-specific physical activity (PA), which include object control skills, locomotor skills, and balance skills [1]
This study compared the changes in FMS score (i.e., The Test of Gross Motor Development-2 (TGMD-2) score in the subtest object control skills and locomotor skills) among children in preschools with different schooling conditions
Children who learned object control skills in a small teaching venue exhibited a greater improvement in FMS than those who learned in a large teaching venue

Summary

Introduction

Fundamental motor skills (FMS) are defined as the building blocks of more advanced, complex movement required to participate in sports, games, and other context-specific physical activity (PA), which include object control skills (e.g., throwing), locomotor skills (e.g., running), and balance skills (e.g., body rolling) [1]. The acquisition of FMS requires interaction with supportive social and physical environments including space and professional instruction [5]. Environmental constraints refer to both physical and sociocultural factors that constitute the children’s surroundings [7]. An appropriate physical environment provides opportunities for skill-specific practice and a social environment encourages interaction with learners [8]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion