EDPE245: K-6 Motor Development and Physical Education
Unit coordinator: Elisabetta Vesnaver
Assignment One
Due: 20th March
Weight: 50%
Word Count: 1500
Actual count: 1398
Motor development, moving with control and moving with competence are lifelong processes of learning. A child will transition through many movement phases during their childhood and adolescent years; starting at the reflexive movement phase at birth and developing right through to the specialized movement phase from seven years and up. Children between the age of seven and 12 years are expected to be able to perform specific quality of movements with efficiency, smoothness and accuracy while transitioning through the different stages of development. However, the quality of movements may be quite diverse due to numerous factors including but not limited to physical attributes and environmental factors.
Students in the age range of seven to 12 years old fall into the specialized movement phase of motor development and into the transitional and application stages within these phases (Gallahue & Ozmun, 2006, p. 49). During this phase, children’s growth rates tend to flatten out and this then becomes the optimal time to teach and refine motor skills. However, some students may begin puberty at around the age of 11-12 (boys later than girls), it then becomes harder for them to coordinate their body and acquire new skills. At this point in time, there become some noticeable differences between the girls and boys, especially in their strength (Miller, 2013; Peterson, 2004).
The specialized movement phase sees an outgrowth of the fundamental movements and these movements now become a tool used for more complex movement activities. Success during this phase relies heavily on children already having developed mature fundamental skills (Gallahue & Ozmun, 2006; Vesnaver, 2015). During the specialized movement phase, fundamental stability, locomotor and manipulative skills “are progressively refined, combined, and elaborated upon for use in increasingly demanding situations”, however environment factors, task level and individual skill levels will all contribute to what extent these advanced skills become refined (Gallahue & Ozmun, 2006, p. 53).
The transitional stage of motor development within the specialized movement phase, is generally aimed at children around seven or eight years old and it will typically be the first time they will get to apply the fundamental movements to a particular sport (Bright Futures, n.d.; Gallahue & Ozmun, 2006). During this stage children will start to combine and apply movements such as jumping and hopping to a specialized, more complex skill such as skipping rope. They also begin to perform various fundamental skills in a variety of ways such as throwing for distance and throwing for accuracy (Bright Futures, n.d., p. 49). These enhanced skills should be done with much more accuracy, enhanced form, and greater control as their balance starts to become automatic and their reaction times also become quicker (Bright Futures, n.d.; Gallahue & Ozmun, 2006). Transitional skills are simply seen as applying fundamental movement skills in a more complex, specific manner, which are need to for entry-level sports (Bright Futures, n.d., p. 49).
The application stage of motor development is aimed at children aged from 11 to 13 years old. By this stage a child’s cognitive abilities, affective abilities and their experiences have generally expanded and become more sophisticated. Therefore, rather than applying movement skills to all sports or activities in a more generalized form, the child may now wish to specialize their development of skills towards a more specified purpose (Gallahue & Ozmun, 2006, p. 53). During this stage, students become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses and begin to make their own decisions whether to participate in a particular sport or not. For example, they may realise they
