kindergarten

Participation in Sport, Body Mass Index, and Motor Proficiency in 5 to 6 Year Old Children.

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The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between sports participation (SP) body mass index (BMI) and motor proficiency (MP) in five to six year old children. The sample consisted of 144 children (71 boys and 73 girls) attending public kindergarten in Attici prefecture (Greece) aged 60 to 72 months (Mean=67.47months, SD=3.21). Anthropometric measures of height and weight were obtained for calculation of BMI values. For the assessment of MP, the Bruininks-Oseretsky test of motor proficiency-second edition (BOT-2) was used and parents were questioned about sport participation of the children. For the statistic analysis of the data, a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and nonparametric correlation (Spearman rho) were used. Statistically significant main effect for gender (F1.132=5.64, p<.05) was found for BOT-2 Total Point Score (TPS), with girls scoring higher than boys (MD=6.44, p<.05). Sport participation was significantly correlated with BOT-2 descriptive category (r =.191, p<.05) but not with BMI types. Consequently, even though the results revealed a tendency for sports participation to affect motor performance positively, in order for SP to affect BMI determined obesity it might need to be in conjunction with increasing regular physical activity in and out of school.

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Ways preschool children aged 4-5 years old express their desire to excel

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The aim of this study was to examine the ways in which preschool children express competitive behaviors and their desire to excel. In this study 195 preschool children (aged 4-5 years old) took part. The methodology was based on a phenomenological approach and data were collected through observational procedures. The observation included 165 hours during a 10 weeks period in 11 classes. The qualitative analysis of data showed that preschool children may express their desire to excel i) verbally (words and phrases) and ii) physically (movements and gestures). More specifically, they express competitive behaviors mainly: i) by making comparisons, ii) disagreeing with each other iii) intervening during the talk of another child iv) taking the place of another child, v) grabbing objects that another child possesses and vi) pulling, pushing and kicking other children to take their places or their objects. In conclusion, the results of this study show that children in the preschool age demonstrate a variety of antagonistic behavior both verbally and physically.

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Motor and mental representation of preschool aged children

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Aim of the present research was the detection of motor disturbances, the detection of the vividness degree of the mental representation as well as the study of the relationship between the different levels of motor coordination and the vividness degree of the mental representation among 412 children of preschool age from 4 to 6 years old, who were selected by accidental sampling from Epirus and Corfu regions. The motor test “Motor Assessment Battery for children (M-ABC, Henderson &Sugden,1992).The evaluation of vividness degree of the formation of mental pictures has been made according to “The measurement of imagery ability) (Hall, Pongrac and Buckolz,1985). There were used tables of frequency distribution and their relative percentages regarding the rates of the two variables as well as the factors of correlation Pearson and Spearman.Comparing the results we conclude that a 4.9 percentage of the sample has serious difficulties in motor . It has been observed a statistically negative connection (Spearman r = -,461 & Pearson r = -,710 df = 410,p<0.001)between vividness degree of the mental representation and the different levels of motor coordination. The children who have demonstrated good rates of motor coordination without difficulties have also shown a high vividness degree of mental representation while the difficulties on children’s motor coordination are related to the low rates of the vividness degree of mental representation. The importance of the present survey is double-based. Through the appointment of this relationship between the two variables of the motor coordination (body-motor level) and the vividness grade of mental representation (perceptivecognitive) level, useful conclusions are being extracted not only on pedagogic science but on sports, too. The motor behavior and the motor learning are promoted through such processes of motor coordination growth and the processes of perceptive-cognitive development shaping in that way an all-out child’s personality which is the aim of General Education. Additionally, ways of early detection of children with motor and perceptive-cognitive particularities are being demonstrated.

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The effects of a psychomotor training program on motor proficiency of Greek preschoolers

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Psychomotor Training (PT) in preschoolers focuses mainly on handling problematic cases and their perceptualmotor development. The aim of the current research is the study of Psychomotor Training (PT) effectiveness on motor proficiency of preschool aged children in Greece. A PT approach, based on basic principles of Psychomotor Education, was applied on a group of preschoolers (n=233) aged 59.75±6.45 months, while a control group (n=212) of similar aged children followed the typical education programme of the public Kindergarten but not the PT programme. Motor proficiency in both groups was evaluated by the MOT (Motoriktest für vier-bis sechsjährige Kinder) 4-6 test battery (6 criterion measurements) at the beginning and in the end of the PT programme. The results indicated that there was a significant interaction between the PT programme and the group factor (F1,419=573.8, p<.001, η2=.991), while post-hoc comparisons revealed that both the experimental (p<.001) and the control group (p<.05) were significantly improved at the end of the training intervention. A significant interaction was noticed between the group and the age factor (F3,419=124.3, p<.001, η2=.586) while post-hoc comparisons revealed that motor proficiency improvement in the experimental group was significantly greater (p<.001) than that noticed in the control group independent of age. It was also found that four-yrs-old children demonstrated the most significant motor proficiency improvement after the implementation of PT compared to other three age groups in the experimental group. Conversely, there was no age effect in the control group concerning motor proficiency improvement. Finally, a significant interaction was found between measurements and age. Post-hoc comparisons revealed a significant improvement in all measurements of motor proficiency with the exception the the comparison between second and third and between forth and fifth. The results of the present study indicate the significance of PT programs in improving Motor Proficiency in preschoolers.

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