BACHELOR OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION

DEPARTMENT
 TSU VMGO

VISION Tarlac State University is envisioned to be a premier university in Asia and

the Pacific.

MISSION Tarlac State University commits to promote and sustain the offering of
quality and programs in higher and advanced education ensuring
equitable access to education for people empowerment, professional
development, and global competitiveness.
Towards this end, TSU shall:
1. Provide high quality instruction trough qualified, competent
and adequately trained faculty members and support staff.
2. Be a premier research institution by enhancing research
undertakings in the fields of technology and sciences and
strengthening collaboration with local and international
institutions.
Be a champion in community development by strengthening partnership with
public and private organizations and individuals.

CORE VALUES The six(6) core values institutionalize as a way of life of the
university community are:

E – xcellence and Enhanced Competence

Q – uality
U – nity
I – ntegrity and Involvement
T – rust in God, Transparency and True Commitment
Y – earning for Global Competitiveness

1|Page
Course Title : Movement Education
Course Code : BPEd 108
Contact Hours: 3 hours/week
Credit Unit : 3 units
Instructor : Prof. Isabel O. Gapay
[email protected] – Microsoft Teams
09957857650

Nestor Bautista
[email protected] – Microsoft Teams

Course Description:

The course covers learning Movement Education which will develop the sense of Human
performance among the students. It is also design Movement and its value for Exercise it
can also be useful for lifetime wellness and Diseases Prevention.
Course Outline:

Lesson 1 - Introduction to Movement Education

Lesson 2 - Developing Fundamental Movement Skills
Lesson 3 - Framework of Movement Education
Lesson 4 - Motor Skills

Study Guides and Policies:

1. Schedule and manage your time to read and understand every part of the module. Read
it over and over until you understand the point.
2. Study how you can manage to do the activities of this module in consideration of your
other modules from other courses. Be conscious with the study schedule. Do not ask
questions that are already answered in the guide.
3. If you did not understand the readings and other tasks, contact your instructor through any
available means for assistance.
4. Assignments and activities are to be collected on time. Failure to submit is equivalent to a
grade of 5.0.
5. Midterm and Final Exams will be distributed after the last lesson of each term.

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 Table of Content

Lesson 1
Introduction to Movement Education --------------------------------------------------------- 4
 Creators of a New Idea----------------------------------------------------------------- 4
 Development of a Curricular Approach -------------------------------------------- 5

Lesson 2

Developing Fundamental Movement Skills ------------------------------------------------- 7

 Locomotor Skills ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8
 Stability or Non-Locomotor Skills ---------------------------------------------------- 8
 Manipulative Skills ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 9

Lesson 3

Framework of Movement Education --------------------------------------------------------- 12

Lesson 4

Motor Skills ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 17

 Types of Motor Skills ------------------------------------------------------------------- 18
 Stages of Motor Learning ------------------------------------------------------------- 20

3
LESSON 1: Introduction to Movement Education

I. Rationale

Incorporating movement into education leads to better morale for students and their ability
to function at a higher level in school. By functioning at a higher level, students are able to
retain more information and remain focused in the classroom.

Pre-test

Direction: Answer the following questions. Write your answer on the space provided.

1. What are your expectations to learn in this course?

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2. Why is movement important in physical education?

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3. What do you think is the purpose of movement education?

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II. Objective/s

By the end of this module, students should be able to:

1. Understand the definition of Movement Education.

2. Identify the origin and historical background of Movement Education

III. Content

What is Movement Education?

A strand of teaching or education which aims to educate individuals to develop their motor
skills through physical movement.

It aims to help individuals improve their motor skills.

Creators of a New Idea: Movement Education in the 1800s to Early 1900s

The early pioneers of movement education were influenced by the idea of the body being an
expression of body being an expression of movement.

Three of the most historically influential individuals: Francois Delsarte, Liselott Diem, Rudolf
Von Laban.

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Francois Delsarte

 Frenchman
 Developed what he termed applied aesthetics & focused his work in the arts.
 Contributed critical ideas of connections among the mind, body, and spirit.
 Also saw movement as a union of time, space, and motion.
 Believed that expressive movement should relate to the emotion that inspired that
movement.
 Introduced the idea of parallelism in movement – the simultaneous motion of two
body parts in the same direction and in succession.
 Francois Delsarte 9 Laws of Motion: Altitude, Force, Motion, Sequence, Direction,
Form, Velocity, Reaction, Extension.

Liselott Diem

 She and her husband founded an internationally known college in Germany,

Deutsche Sporthochschule Köln, to train teachers in sport and physical education.
 The college taught a natural approach to teaching children to move effectively in all
kinds of situations”.
 The teacher’s role was to provide an environment that would encourage children to
explore movement freely in their own way.
 Liselott Diem Teacher’s equipment: Balls, Ropes, Benches, Wands, Boxes
 Allow children to develop a wide variety of movement responses individually, with
partners, or within small groups.
 Liselott Diem Teachers were encouraged to challenge children by asking questions
such as “Who can do this?” and “How can this be done differently?”

Rudolf von Laban

 Considered by most as the true pioneer of movement education.

 Rudolf von Laban Critical contribution: Theory of Movement - Focusing specifically
on the concept of effort.
 He believed that the body was an instrument of expression.
 He made a distinction between: Expressive movement and Functional Movement

Expressive Movement: Communicates ideas in dance or other forms of artistic

expression.

Functional Movement: Movements that serve as a purpose in everyday life. Such as

sports and games.

 He identified 4 factors of movement: Weight, Space, Time, and Flow. It became the
bedrock of movement education.

Development of a Curricular Approach: 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s

The intent of those working at this time was to provide a framework that teachers could use
to apply these movement concepts broadly in the 3 learning domains.

Growth of movement education; brought to the forefront of elementary physical education.

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Fitness Overshadows Movement Education

The fitness boom of the 1970s resulted in a base of research that contributed a solid
scientific basis to the study of movement.

As other curriculum models were introduced that were easier to understand and appealed
to the fitness and activity focus of the time, movement education faded from popularity.

The Revival of Movement Education

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the development of national content standards for
physical education brought back the essence of movement education.

Emphasizing that children should know basic movement concepts and be able to perform
basic movement patterns.

IV. Synthesis/ Generalization

Movement is the cornerstone of physical education.

V. Evaluation

Activity 1.1
Direction: Answer the following questions. Write your answer on the space provided.

1. What are the contributions of the three influential individuals in movement education?

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2. Explain the statement. “Movement is the cornerstone of physical education.”

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VI. Assignment

Give at least 10 examples of the following categories of fundamental movement skills.

1. Locomotor skills
2. Non-locomotor skills
3. Manipulative skills

References:
https://www.slideshare.net/norzie/movement-education-67378098

6
LESSON 2: Developing Fundamental Movement Skills

I. Rationale

Fundamental Movement Skills provide the building blocks for many physical activities, such as
playing games, dance, and sport. Having these skills is an essential part of enjoyable
participation and a lifelong interest in an active lifestyle.

Pre-test

Direction: Encircle the letter of the correct answer.

1. Stretching before a basketball game would be an example of what type of body action?

a. non-locomotor skills b. locomotor skills c. manipulative skills d. movement

2. Which group of activities are locomotor skills?

a. Walking, Running, Leaping

b. Standing, Jumping, Bending
c. Kicking a ball, catching, juggling
d. Running, bending, catching

3. _____ is an activity that incorporates all three motor skill domains and gives teachers an
opportunity to observe specific motor skills.

a. Playing parachute games

b. Pitching practice
c. Yoga
d. Running

4. Throwing a ball is an example of which type of motor skill?

a. non-locomotor skills b. locomotor skills c. manipulative skills d. movement

5. What does it mean to sequence movements in PE?

a. To monitor fitness
b. To develop cardiac well-being in students
c. To build up students’ upper body strength
d. To put different kinds of movement together

II. Objective/s

By the end of this module, students should be able to:

1. Develop locomotor skills, stability skills and manipulative skills through FM activities and
physical play
2. Acquire basic knowledge about FM and know the health benefits of physical activities.

7
III. Content

Fundamental movement skills are important to the motor development of children’s physical,
cognitive, and social growth. There are three categories in which the fundamental skills fit
for under-fives: Stability and Balance, Manipulative and Locomotor,

Locomotor Skills

These are the basic ways to move, the building blocks of coordination. Help your child
practice these important skills: walking, galloping, jumping, hopping, side-sliding, leaping
and skipping. Start gradually with walking (the easiest) and steadily advance to skipping (the
most difficult).

 Walking: Moving with one foot on the ground at all times

 Running: Sometimes both feet are in the air while traveling
 Hopping: Moving up and down on one foot
 Jumping: Going up and down, with both feet in the air at once; can also mean jumping
off a height or jumping forward
 Galloping: Traveling with one foot always in the lead
 Sliding: Galloping sideways
 Leaping: Jumping forward or back with one leg outstretched; taking off on one foot and
landing on the other
 Skipping: Alternating steps and hops

Stability or Non-locomotor Skills

Are fundamental body movements that do not incorporate traveling. They are stability skills
that include movements of limbs or body parts, and sometimes even the whole body. They
are occasionally referred to as axial movements, as in 'revolving around an axis'. Here, the
axis is the center portion of the student's body, or generally the student's torso. The
student's 'axis' experiences little to no movement.

Types of Stability and Balance Skills

There are three different kinds of stability skills, all of which are important and useful for
various physical activities. Even though some of them don't involve much motion, it still takes
muscle strength, practice, and coordination to master them.

1. Static Balance

This is the ability to balance in a stationary position. Simply standing in place, on one or two
feet, is a stability skill. In static balance, the center of gravity stays stable over the body's base
of support.
A larger base—like having two feet on the ground—provides more stability. A smaller base—
say, only one foot on the ground—or one farther away from the center of gravity, offers less
stability and therefore makes balancing more difficult.

8
2. Dynamic Balance

This is the ability to balance while moving. Tumbling, coming to a stop after running, dodging,
landing after a jump, and climbing are all dynamic balance skills. Every locomotor
activity requires some dynamic balance skill.

Dynamic balance is more challenging to perform and master than static balance.
Unlike static balance, in dynamic balance, the base of support is smaller or narrower, and it
is also moving. It often involves weight transfer—shifting the body's weight from one foot to
the other, or from the feet to the hands and back.

3. Axial Stability

This is the ability to balance while turning the body at the same time. The turn could be on the
horizontal axis, such as bending over to touch the toes or doing a somersault. Or it could be
on the vertical axis, twisting the midsection of the body to the right or left.

Many stretches and movements necessary for sports, dance, and other everyday physical
activities require axial stability.

In contrast to static balance, where a wide base of support is helpful, rotating is easier when
the base of support is narrow: Think of a dancer doing a spin on one foot instead of both.

Manipulative Skills

Involve moving or using an object with the hands or feet to achieve a goal or complete a task.
For fine motor skills, that object might be a pencil or button. For gross motor skills, the object
might be sporting equipment or toys such as bats, balls, racquets, or jump ropes. These skills
are also sometimes called object-control skills.

Types of Manipulative Skills

In the gross-motor area, these skills include:
 Pushing and pulling (the object might be a wheeled toy)
 Lifting
 Striking (such as swinging a baseball bat or golf club to hit a ball)
 Throwing
 Kicking or rolling (a ball)
 Volleying (a ball back and forth to another person, either with the hands or a racquet)
 Bouncing
 Catching
 Dribbling (moving a ball with the feet, as in soccer)

Activities like pencil tracing, stacking coins, and playing checkers, by contrast, require fine
motor skills.

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Fundamental movement skills are the platform from which the skills in sports come from. A
good FMS base is imperative for individual physical development and being able to
competently participate in sports. People that are proficient movers are more willing to
participate in sport leading to higher self-esteem and self-confidence. This allows to get
greater enjoyment out of sport and make it a lifelong hobby. Studies have shown that low
Fundamental Movement Skills are a major barrier for participating in sport and one of the main
reason is to quit organized sport.

Fundamental Movement Skills are so much more than just the building blocks of sport, they
are the key to an active and healthy life. They are the basis for every movement we do every
day. They allow to build a positive relationship with sports and exercise. This leads to a
healthier lifestyle with a higher involvement in activity, a lower risk of heart disease and some
cancers, reduced stress and anxiety levels and an improves self-worth.

You can learn FMS at any age, however the optimal time for learning these skills is when you
are a young child. This is due to young children having a lower level of self-consciousness,
embarrassment and fear of injury. It is also easier for young children to unlearn any bad habits.
Finally, it’s important for these skills to be learnt at a young age so that a child can more freely
participate in sport and physical activity throughout their childhood.

VI. Synthesis/ Generalization

Developing Fundamental Movement Skills are the key to being able to enjoy any sport or
physical activity. Having a strong FMS base gives children a first step to a happier, healthier,
more active and enjoyable life.

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V. Evaluation

Activity 2.1

Direction: Do the following activities and take a video of it using your available gadgets.
Output will be send to your instructor at the end of midterms.

Locomotor
60 seconds stationary jog
16 counts jumping jacks
60 seconds slide step

Non-locomotor
16 counts sit-ups
16 counts hip swaying
16 counts stretching

Manipulative
20 counts ball hand dribble
60 seconds ball toss
20 counts ball catching

References:
https://www.verywellfamily.com/manipulative-skills-
1256926#:~:text=Manipulative%20skills%20involve%20moving%20or,%2C%20racquets%2
C%20or%20jump%20ropes.
https://kindysport.com.au/how-important-are-fundamental-movement-skills/
https://www.verywellfamily.com/stability-skills-
1256936#:~:text=Stability%20skills%20are%20a%20type,as%20adjust%20them%2C%20wi
thout%20falling.
https://www.verywellfamily.com/locomotor-skills-1256925

11
LESSON 3: Framework of Movement Education

I. Rationale

This lesson recommends raising the bar in physical education by using Laban's movement
framework to develop curriculum content in the areas of games, gymnastics, and dance (with
physical fitness concepts blended in) in order to help students achieve the physical education
content standards. The movement framework can permeate and unify an physical education
curriculum and instruction plan through aspects such as the program's purposes, learning
experiences and their organization, content areas, instruction, and assessment.

II. Objective/s

By the end of this module, students should be able to:

1. Understand the framework of Movement Education and can explain each.

III. Content

Laban movement analysis (LMA), sometimes Laban/Bartenieff movement analysis, is a

method and language for describing, visualizing, interpreting and documenting human
movement. It is based on the original work of Rudolf Laban, which was developed and
extended by Lisa Ullmann, Irmgard Bartenieff, Warren Lamb and others. LMA draws from
multiple fields including anatomy, kinesiology and psychology. It is used by dancers,
actors, musicians and athletes; by health professionals such as physical and occupational
therapists and psychotherapists; and in anthropology, business consulting and leadership
development.

Laban movement analysis is contemporarily categorized in various way. Originally, these

categories were very basic and Laban himself referred mostly to Eukinetics - which is his effort
studies - and Choreutics - which is Spatial Harmony theory. His student Irmgard
Bartenieff later further elaborated these categories in four - Body, Effort, Shape and Space -
and this system, known as BESS is commonly taught today. However, BESS is not the only
organization of Laban's theory in use. In the U.K. for example, more influenced by Lisa
Ullmann, another student of Laban, the categories are Body, Effort, Space and Relationship
with Shape being interwoven into Body, Space and Relationship
The categories of BESS are as follows

 Body - what the body is doing and the interrelationships within the body
 Effort - the qualities of movement
 Shape - how the body is changing shape and what motivates it to do so
 Space - where the body is moving and the harmonic relationships in space

Other categories, that are occasionally mentioned in some literature, are relationship and
phrasing. These are less well defined. Relationship is the interaction between people, body
parts or a person and an object. Phrasing is defined as being the personal expression of a
movement.

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These categories are in turn occasionally divided into kinematic and non-kinematic categories
to distinguish which categories relate to changes to body relations over time and space

Body
The body category describes structural and physical characteristics of the human body while
moving. This category is responsible for describing which body parts are moving, which parts
are connected, which parts are influenced by others, and general statements about body
organization.
Several subcategories of body are:

 Initiation of movement starting from specific bodies;

 Connection of different bodies to each other;
 Sequencing of movement between parts of the body; and
 Patterns of body organization and connectivity, called "patterns of total body square
connectivity", "developmental hyper movement patterns", or "neuromuscular shape-
shifting patterns".

Effort
Effort, or what Laban sometimes described as dynamics, is a system for understanding the
subtler characteristics about movement with respect to inner intention. The difference
between punching someone in anger and reaching for a glass is slight in terms of body
organization – both rely on extension of the arm. The attention to the strength of the
movement, the control of the movement and the timing of the movement are very different.

Effort has four subcategories (effort factors), each of which has two opposite polarities
(Effort elements)

Effort Factor Effort element (Fighting polarity) Effort element (Indulging polarity)

Space Direct Indirect (flexible)

Weight Strong Light

Time Sudden (quick) Sustained

Flow Bound Free

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Laban named the combination of the first three categories (Space, Weight, and Time) the
Effort Actions, or Action Drive. The eight combinations are descriptively named Float, Punch
(Thrust), Glide, Slash, Dab, Wring, Flick, and Press. The Action Efforts have been used
extensively in some acting schools, including ALRA, Manchester School of Theatre, LIPA
and London College of Music to train in the ability to change quickly between physical
manifestations of emotion.
Flow, on the other hand, is responsible for the continuousness or ongoing motions. Without
any Flow Effort, movement must be contained in a single initiation and action, which is why
there are specific names for the Flow-less Action configurations of Effort. In general, it is very
difficult to remove Flow from much movement, and so a full analysis of Effort will typically
need to go beyond the Effort Actions.

Combination of Efforts
While the individual motion factors of Space, Time, Weight and Flow may be observed,
usually they will appear in combinations. Combinations of 3 Motion Factors are known as
drives. The drives are:

 The Action Drive - where Weight, Space and Time are present but Flow is missing
 The Passion Drive - where Weight, Time and Flow are present but Space is missing
 The Spell Drive - where Weight, Space and Flow are present but Time is missing
 The Vision Drive - where Space, Time and Flow are present but Weight is missing

Alongside the drives, combinations of two efforts are known as states. The states are known
as:

 Awake - combining Space and Time

 Dreamlike - combining Weight and Flow
 Distant - combining Space and Flow
 Near/Rhythm - combining Time and Weight
 Stabile - combining Space and Weight
 Labile/Mobile - combining Time and Flow

Shape
While the Body category primarily develops connections within the body and the body/space
intent, the way the body changes shape during movement is further experienced and analyzed
through the Shape category. It is important to remember that all categories are related, and
Shape is often an integrating factor for combining the categories into meaningful movement.
There are several subcategories in Shape:

 "Shape Forms" describe static shapes that the body takes, such as Wall-like, Ball-like,
and Pin-like.
 "Modes of Shape Change" describe the way the body is interacting with and the
relationship the body has to the environment. There are three Modes of Shape Change:

14
 Shape Flow: Representing a relationship of the body to itself. Essentially a stream of
consciousness expressed through movement, this could be amoebic movement or could
be mundane habitual actions, like shrugging, shivering, rubbing an injured shoulder, etc.
 Directional: Representing a relationship where the body is directed toward some part of
the environment. It is divided further into Spoke-like (punching, pointing, etc.) and Arc-like
(swinging a tennis racket, painting a fence)
 Carving: Representing a relationship where the body is actively and three dimensionally
interacting with the volume of the environment. Examples include kneading bread dough,
wringing out a towel, avoiding laser-beams or miming the shape of an imaginary object.
In some cases, and historically, this is referred to as Shaping, though many practitioners
feel that all three Modes of Shape Change are "shaping" in some way, and that the term
is thus ambiguous and overloaded.
 "Shape Qualities" describe the way the body is changing (in an active way) toward some
point in space. In the simplest form, this describes whether the body is currently Opening
(growing larger with more extension) or Closing (growing smaller with more flexion). There
are more specific terms – Rising, Sinking, Spreading, Enclosing, Advancing, and
Retreating, which refer to specific dimensions of spatial orientations.
 "Shape Flow Support" describes the way the torso (primarily) can change in shape to
support movements in the rest of the body. It is often referred to as something which is
present or absent, though there are more refined descriptors.

Space
One of Laban's primary contributions to Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) are his theories of
Space. This category involves motion in connection with the environment, and with spatial
patterns, pathways, and lines of spatial tension. Laban described a complex system of
geometry based on crystalline forms, Platonic solids, and the structure of the human body.
He felt that there were ways of organizing and moving in space that were specifically
harmonious, in the same sense as music can be harmonious. Some combinations and
organizations were more theoretically and aesthetically pleasing. As with music, Space
Harmony sometimes takes the form of set 'scales' of movement within geometric forms. These
scales can be practiced in order to refine the range of movement and reveal individual
movement preferences. The abstract and theoretical depth of this part of the system is often
considered to be much greater than the rest of the system. In practical terms, there is much
of the Space category that does not specifically contribute to the ideas of Space Harmony.
This category also describes and notates choices which refer specifically to space, paying
attention to:

 Kinesphere: the area that the body is moving within and how the mover is paying attention
to it.
 Spatial Intention: the directions or points in space that the mover is identifying or using.
 Geometrical observations of where the movement is being done, in terms of emphasis of
directions, places in space, planar movement, etc.
The Space category is currently under continuing development, more so since exploration of
non-Euclidean geometry and physics has evolved.

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IV. Synthesis/Generalization

The movement framework’s four aspects help learners see the totality of human
movement. They can be used consistently and effectively in the content areas: games,
gymnastics and dance. These four aspects of movement serve as organizing threads that
are woven through the program areas allowing the physical educator to revisit key movement
skills over the elementary years. This revisiting of all four movement skills/concepts helps
learners build and organize their movement skills and understanding. This also helps
teachers avoid instructional gaps.

V. Evaluation

Direction: Elaborate the following categories:

Body

Effort

Shape

Space

VI. References

https://sites.google.com/site/cedarschoolpe/Home/movement-framework

16
LESSON 4: Motor Skills

I. Rationale

Motor skills play a crucial role in all phases of the life span. That is, people of all ages perform
fundamental motor skills, such as walking and grasping, or specific skills, such as
hammering a nail, pitching a baseball, or driving a car. The measurement of motor skills is
one of the fundamental aspects of measuring human performance.

Pre-test

Direction: Identify the following if it’s FINE MOTOR SKILLS or GROSS MOTOR SKILLS.

1. Stacking blocks –
2. Walking –
3. Drawing pictures and writing –
4. Brushing teeth –
5. Sitting up –
6. Climbing a ladder –
7. Using scissors –
8. Running –
9. Riding a bike –
10. Ball skills –

II. Objectives

By the end of this module, students should be able to:

1. Understand the importance of motor skills.

2. Identify the difference between gross motor skills and fine motor skills

III. Content

A motor skill is a learned ability to cause a predetermined movement outcome with maximum
certainty. Motor learning is the relatively permanent change in the ability to perform a skill as
a result of practice or experience. Performance is an act of executing a motor skill. The goal
of motor skill is to optimize the ability to perform the skill at the rate of success, precision, and
to reduce the energy consumption required for performance. Continuous practice of a specific
motor skill will result in a greatly improved performance, but not all movements are motor
skills.

Why Are Motor Skills Important?

Motor skills are used everyday throughout our lives. They help us move and do everything
from lifting heavy items to typing on a keyboard. Motor skills and motor control begin
developing after birth, and will progress as children grow.

Having good motor control also helps children explore the world around them, which can help
with many other areas of development.

17
Types of Motor Skill

Motor skills are movements and actions of the muscles. Typically, they are categorized into
eighteen groups:

 Gross motor skills– require the use of large muscle groups to perform tasks like walking,
balancing, and crawling. The skill required is not extensive and therefore are usually
associated with continuous tasks. Much of the development of these skills occurs during
early childhood. The performance level of gross motor skill remains unchanged after
periods of non-use. Gross motor skills can be further divided into two subgroups:
locomotor skills, such as running, jumping, sliding, and swimming; and object-control skills
such as throwing, catching and kicking.

 Fine motor skills – requires the use of smaller muscle groups to perform smaller
movements with the wrists, hands, fingers, and the feet and toes. These tasks that are
precise in nature, like playing the piano, writing carefully, and blinking. Generally, there is
a retention loss of fine motor skills over a period of non-use. Discrete tasks usually require
more fine motor skill than gross motor skills. Fine motor skills can become impaired. Some
reasons for impairment could be injury, illness, stroke, congenital deformities, cerebral
palsy, and developmental disabilities. Problems with the brain, spinal cord, peripheral
nerves, muscles, or joints can also have an effect on fine motor skills, and decrease
control.

Development

Motor skills develop in different parts of a body along three principles:

 Cephalocaudal – development from head to foot. The head develops earlier than the hand.
Similarly, hand coordination develops before the coordination of the legs and feet. For example,
an infant is able to follow something with their eyes before they can touch or grab it.

 Proximodistal – movement of limbs that are closer to the body develop before the parts that are
further away, such as a baby learns to control the upper arm before the hands or fingers. Fine
movements of the fingers are the last to develop in the body.

 Gross to specific – a pattern in which larger muscle movements develop before finer movements.
For example, a child only being able to pick up large objects, to then picking up an object that is
small between the thumb and fingers. The earlier movements involve larger groups of muscles,
but as the child grows finer movements become possible and specific things can be achieved.

In children, a critical period for the acquisition of motor skills is preschool years (ages 3–5), as
fundamental neuroanatomic structure shows significant development, elaboration,
and myelination over the course of this period. Many factors contribute to the rate that children
develop their motor skills. Unless afflicted with a severe disability, children are expected to develop
a wide range of basic movement abilities and motor skills. Motor development progresses in seven
stages throughout an individual's life: reflexive, rudimentary, fundamental, sports skill, growth and
refinement, peak performance, and regression. Development is age-related but is not age
dependent. In regard to age, it is seen that typical developments are expected to attain gross
motor skills used for postural control and vertical mobility by 5 years of age.

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 There are six aspects of development:

 Qualitative – changes in movement-process results in changes in movement-outcome.

 Sequential – certain motor patterns precede others.
 Cumulative – current movements are built on previous ones.
 Directional – cephalocaudal or proximodistal
 Multifactorial – numerous-factors impact
 Individual – dependent on each person
In the childhood stages of development, gender differences can greatly influence motor skills. In
the article "An Investigation of Age and Gender Differences in Preschool Children's Specific Motor
Skills", girls scored significantly higher than boys on visual motor and graphomotor tasks. The
results from this study suggest that girls attain manual dexterity earlier than boys. Variability of
results in the tests can be attributed towards the multiplicity of different assessment tools used.
Furthermore, gender differences in motor skills are seen to be affected by environmental factors.
In essence, "parents and teachers often encourage girls to engage in [quiet] activities requiring
fine motor skills, while they promote boys' participation in dynamic movement actions". In the
journal article "Gender Differences in Motor Skill Proficiency from Childhood to Adolescence" by
Lisa Barrett, the evidence for gender-based motor skills is apparent. In general, boys are more
skillful in object control and object manipulation skills. These tasks include throwing, kicking, and
catching skills. These skills were tested and concluded that boys perform better with these tasks.
There was no evidence for the difference in locomotor skill between the genders, but both are
improved in the intervention of physical activity. Overall, the predominance of development was
on balance skills (gross motor) in boys and manual skills (fine motor) in girls.
Components of development
 Growth – increase in the size of the body or its parts as the individual progresses toward
maturity (quantitative structural changes)
 Maturation – refers to qualitative changes that enable one to progress to higher levels of
functioning; it is primarily innate
 Experience or learning – refers to factors within the environment that may alter or modify the
appearance of various developmental characteristics through the process of learning
 Adaptation – refers to the complex interplay or interaction between forces within the individual
(nature) and the environment (nurture)
Influences on development
 Stress and arousal – stress and anxiety is the result of an imbalance between demand and
the capacity of the individual. In this context, arousal defines the amount of interest in the skill.
The optimal performance level is moderate stress or arousal. An example of an insufficient
arousal state is an overqualified worker performing repetitive jobs. An example of excessive
stress level is an anxious pianist at a recital. The "Practice-Specificity-Based Model of Arousal"
(Movahedi, 2007) holds that, for best and peak performances to occur, motor task performers
need only to create an arousal level similar to the one they have experienced throughout
training sessions. For peak performance, performers do not need to have high or low arousal
levels. It is important that they create the same level of arousal throughout training sessions
and competition. In other words, high levels of arousal can be beneficial if athletes experience
such heightened levels of arousal during some consecutive training sessions. Similarly, low
levels of arousal can be beneficial if athletes experience such low levels of arousal during
some consecutive training sessions.
 Fatigue – the deterioration of performance when a stressful task is continued for a long time,
similar to the muscular fatigue experienced when exercising rapidly or over a long

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 period. Fatigue is caused by over-arousal. Fatigue impacts an individual in many ways:
perceptual changes in which visual acuity or awareness drops, slowing of performance
(reaction times or movements speed), irregularity of timing, and disorganization of
performance.
 Vigilance – the effect of the loss of vigilance is the same as fatigue, but is instead caused by
a lack of arousal. Some tasks include actions that require little work and high attention.
 Gender – gender plays an important role in the development of the child. Girls are more likely
to be seen performing fine stationary visual motor-skills, whereas boys predominantly exercise
object-manipulation skills. While researching motor development in preschool-aged children,
girls were more likely to be seen performing skills such as skipping, hopping, or skills with the
use of hands only. Boys were seen to perform gross skills such as kicking or throwing a ball
or swinging a bat. There are gender-specific differences in qualitative throwing performance,
but not necessarily in quantitative throwing performance. Male and female athletes
demonstrated similar movement patterns in humerus and forearm actions but differed in trunk,
stepping, and backswing actions.
Stages of motor learning
Motor learning is a change, resulting from practice. It often involves improving the accuracy of
movements both simple and complex as one's environment changes. Motor learning is a relatively
permanent skill as the capability to respond appropriately is acquired and retained.
The stages of motor learning are the cognitive phase, the associative phase, and the autonomous
phase.
 Cognitive phase – When a learner is new to a specific task, the primary thought process starts
with, "What needs to be done?" Considerable cognitive activity is required so that the learner
can determine appropriate strategies to adequately reflect the desired goal. Good strategies
are retained and inefficient strategies are discarded. The performance is greatly improved in
a short amount of time.
 Associative phase – The learner has determined the most-effective way to do the task and
starts to make subtle adjustments in performance. Improvements are more gradual and
movements become more consistent. This phase can last for a long time. The skills in this
phase are fluent, efficient, and aesthetically pleasing.
 Autonomous phase – This phase may take several months to years to reach. The phase is
dubbed "autonomous" because the performer can now "automatically" complete the task
without having to pay any attention to performing it. Examples include walking and talking or
sight reading while doing simple arithmetic.

IV. Synthesis/Generalization

Motor difficulties can be addressed in variety of ways. Some motor skills difficulties can be
overcome through development and maturity. In education, a frequent response to motor
difficulties is to refer the child to special education services. This is not always necessary or
appropriate. Some students just need to be taught a simple activity or strategy, which they
practice to remedy the problem. Others, whose difficulty is more involved, may require the
intervention of a professional in special education.

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V. Evaluation

Activity 4.1

Direction: Enumerate and explain the following. Write your answers in a separate sheet of
paper.

1. Types of motor skills

2. Six aspect of development
3. Components of development
4. Stages of motor learning

VI. References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motor_skill

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