ROLE OF EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES IN DEVELOPING THE MOTOR AND MENTAL SKILLS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

The study aims to highlight the development of motor and mental skills in primary school children who perform extracurricular sports activities and those who are not engaged in such activities. The research included 270 students (boys and girls) aged 6-11 and was conducted between 30 September 2019 and 8 March 2020 at the “Alexandru Costescu” Middle School in Bucharest. The results were recorded and statistically processed with the help of IBM SPSS Statistics Version 20. In the statistical analysis, the parametric Paired Samples t Test (for repeated measurements of the same group) and Independent Samples t Test (for two independent groups) were used. Statistical processing and data analysis based on the Paired Samples t Test emphasised significant differences in the assessed test indicators (speed run, endurance run, long jump, Raven’s Test and Attention Test), while the Independent Samples t Test results showed significant progress only in motor skill tests (with p < 0.001 and < 0.05) except the insignificant difference in the endurance run test for first graders, and insignificant progress in mental skill tests (except Raven’s Test for the preparatory and first grades and Attention Test for the preparatory grade). In conclusion, it has been found that the motor skill levels of primary school children engaged in extracurricular sports activities are better than those of students who do not play sports, but in terms of attention and intelligence levels, this finding is not generalised for all grades.