Gymnastik- och idrottshögskolan, GIH

Movement Skills Assessment Tools: Aims, Content and Context

Introduction and Topic

To master a broad repertoire of gross movement skills in the early school years seems to contribute to better physical self-esteem and represents a basis for engagement in physical activity and an active lifestyle later in life (Haywood & Getchell, 2005; Stodden, Langendorfer & Robertsson, 2009; Oakley, Booth & Patterson, 2001; Barnett, Van Beurden, Morgan, Brooks & Beard, 2009). Motor development in children has been of interest both in research and in practice. Over the last three to four decades, many motor development assessment tools have been developed to address various questions and for different contexts (Cools, De Martealer, Samaey & Andries, 2008). The overall aim of this study is to explore the purposes of different movement assessment tools used in research and practice. Questions of interest are; what is the purpose of the tool? In which context is the assessment tool employed? Which movement skills are in focus? Are the movements assessed in a quantitative or a qualitative way?

Method

Methods To examine 10-15 movement skills tools which often are referred to in research. Investigate the settings and contexts in which they are used. Examine the assessment tools in terms of aims, number and character of the selected items, reference system and measure structure. The tools and tests will be selected by review articles, research articles in the areas of physical education, physical activity, health, motor and movement skills and sport.

Expected Outcomes

There appears to be a change in the purposes of motor skills testing in the last ten to fifteen years. The tests have changed from mainly identifying deficiencies or motor impairments to screening children with the purpose to get “all on the right track”, to be physically active. The study is ongoing and there will be additional findings to discuss further on. Preliminary findings indicate that there have been many different reasons to study children’s movement skills. One question of interest has been to examine if the child is behind their peers in their motor development or if the child suffers from any disease or impairment. (Davis, 2003; Cools et. al., 2008) Other questions addressed are whether a child or student has reached the objectives in the Physical Education curriculum in terms of mastering movement skills (Tidén & Nyberg, 2004). Most of the tests are quantitative but some use a combination of both quantitative and qualitative assessment (Cools et. al., 2008; Tidén & Nyberg, 2004). Purely qualitative assessments are rare. Still most of the assessment tools are developed to be used for detection of irregular motor behavior (e.g. BOT-2 and KTK; Bruininks & Bruininks, 2005; Kiphard & Shilling, 2007).

References

Barnett, L.M., Van Beurden, E., Morgan, P.J., Brooks, L.O. and Beard, J.R. (2009) Childhood Motor Skill Proficiency as a Predictor of Adolescent Physical Activity Journal of Adolescent Health, 44, 252–259 Bruininks, R.H. and Bruininks, B.D. (2005) Test of Motor Proficiency. 2nd edition. Manual.: AGS Publishing. Circle Pines. Cools, W., De Martealer, K., Samaey, C. and Andries, C. (2008) Movement skill assessment of typically developing preschool children: A Review of seven movement skill assessment tools Journal of Sports Science and Medicine, (2008) 8, 154-168. Davis, M. (2003). Movement and dance in early childhood, second edition. Paul Chapman Publishing, London Haywood, K. M. and Getchell, N. (2005) Life span motor development, 4th edition. Human Kinetics, Champaign. Kiphard, E.J. and Shilling, F. (2007) Körperkoordinationtest für Kinder 2, überarbeitete und ergänzte Auflage. Beltz test, Weinheim Oakley, A.D., Booth, M.L. and Patterson J.W. (2001) Relationship of physical activity to fundamental movement skills among adolescents. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 33(11), 1899-1904. Stodden, D.F, Goodway, J.D., Langendorfer, S.J., Roberton, M.A., Rudisill, M.E., Garcia, C. and Garcia, L.E., (2008) A Developmental Perspective on the Role of Motor Skill Competence in Physical Activity: An Emergent Relationship Quest, 60, 290-306. Stodden,D.F, Langendorfer, S. J. & Roberton, M.A. (2009) The association between motor skill competence and physical fitness in young adults. Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, 80(2), 223-229. Tidén, A. and Nyberg. M. (2004) A study of gross motor skills of 2000 pupils in Swedish Schools. Book of Abstracts , 9th Annual Congress of European College of Sport Science, 3-6 July, 2004, Clermont-Ferrand, France

This proposal is part of a master or doctoral thesis.