Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, ISSN 1318-2269 5 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MOTOR ABILITIES AND SCHOOL READINESS IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN ODNOS MED MOTORIČNIMI SPOSOBNOSTMI PREDŠOLSKIH OTROK IN NJIHOVO PRIPRAVLJENOSTJO ZA ŠOLO Abstract On the sample of 660 preschool children (333 boys and 327 girls) upon joining the first grade, the battery of 16 motor tests was applied to analyse the relations between motor abilities and school readiness of children. The analyses were done separately for boys and girls, using the statistical program for the canonical correlation analysis in Mahalanobis space. The established relation showed that the general motor ability of both boys and girls positively correlates with their general school readiness. Due to statistical significance and positive correlation between the set of motor variables and the set of school-readiness variables, it must be pointed out that motor exercising in preschool age is of utmost importance. Key words: preschool children, motor abilities, school readiness 1 Faculty of Physical Education, University of Novi Sad, Serbia & Montenegro 2 Preschool Teachers' Training College, University of Novi Sad, Serbia & Montenegro Corresponding author: Faculty of Physical Education, University of Novi Sad Lovčenska 16, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro Tel.: +38121 450188 Fax: +38121 450199 E-mail: gustavbala@yahoo.com Izvleček Na vzorcu 660 predšolskih otrok (333 dečkov in 327 deklic) pred vpisom v prvi razred smo uporabili baterijo 16 motoričnih testov, s katerimi smo analizi- rali povezavo med motoričnimi sposobnostmi otrok in njihovo pripravljenostjo za šolo. Analize smo opravili ločeno za dečke in deklice, pri čemer smo uporabili statistični program za kanonično korelacijsko analizo v Mahalanobisovi razdalji. Ugotovljena povezava je pokazala, da so tako pri dečkih kot deklicah splošne motorične sposobnosti v pozitivni korelaciji z njihovo splošno pripravljenostjo za šolo. Zaradi statistične značilnosti in pozitivne korelacije med naborom motoričnih spremenljivk in naborom spremenljivk pri- pravljenosti za šolo, je treba poudariti, da je motorična vadba v predšolskem obdobju izredno pomembna. Ključne besede: predšolski otroci, motorične sposobnosti, pripravljenost za šolo Gustav Bala 1* Erne Sabo 2 Boris Popović 1 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 5–12 (2005) 6 Motor abilities and school readiness Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 5–12 (2005) Introduction Development of children is the result of a complex interaction between heredity, growth, maturation and environmental impacts, and has a biological and behavioural context. Biologi- cal development is characterised by differentiation of cells which enables the cells to perform specialized functions or to refine functions that already exist. Behavioural development relates to the evolution of intellectual, psychological, and sociological attributes. Motor development of children could be defined in terms of progressive changes in motor performance, resulting from growth, maturation as well as biological and behavioural development. It is known that mental, social, educational, and emotional maturity are positively related, and personality traits are related to academic and physical achievement (Dolenec, 2001; Dolenec, Karacsony, Burnik, 2004; Dolenec, Pistotnik & Pinter, 2002; Etnier, Salazar, Landers, Petruzzello, Han & Nowell, 1997; Eunicke-Morell, 1989; Ismail & Gruber, 1971; Pistotnik, Dolenec & Pinter, 2002; Vernon & Mori, 1992). Performance of a preschool child is associated with certain factors closely related to the total motor, emotional, social, and intellectual development (organismic age theory by Olson, according to Ismail and Gruber, 1971). The associations of motor and cognitive abilities in both boys and girls are positive and significant (Planinšec, 2002). In both sexes, motor dimensions that are most strongly associated with the cognitive abilities are those of coordination and speed of movement. Despite some differences between boys and girls, they still have a lot in common since the most important latent motor dimensions prevailing in the connection between motor and cognitive dimensions are similar. Cognitive abilities are responsible for the processes of foresight, planning, decision making as wel l a s compa r i son a nd proces si ng of i n for mat ion w it h t he u se of long-ter m memor y i n solv i ng problem situations. Motor tests of coordination also consist of problem situations that need to be solved efficiently (Dolenec, 2001). Paper-and-pencil tests assess neuromuscular develop- ment, fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and attention span. Owing to this, children write their names, copy geometric figures, write numbers, complete a drawing, recognize shapes, and discriminate among prepositions. Some researches showed that longer attendance of nursery school (kindergarten) had significantly better impact on the pre-school children’s results in school-readiness tests upon enrolment in element a r y s c ho ol (S ab o, 2 0 0 4) . The s a me c onc lu sion appl ie s to motor abi l it ie s , e sp e c i a l ly i n t he fields of coordination, flexibility and balance (Sabo, 2003). The aim of this paper is to analyse and determine relation between motor abilities and school readiness in preschool children, after leaving kindergartens. Method Participants The sample of subjects was drawn from the population of children in the city of Novi Sad (Vojvodina, Serbia & Montenegro) upon joining the first grade. This research was performed on a sample of 660 preschool children (333 boys and 327 girls) at average age of 6.5 years (SD=0.17 years). All children attended kindergarten for at least one year. Motor abilities and school readiness 7 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 5–12 (2005) Instruments The battery of 16 motor tests used in this research was selected on the basis of previous experience with adults, and some of the tests were modified to suit children (Bala, 1999a, 1999b, 2002). The tests (for adults) assess the effectiveness of the following functional mechanisms: movement structuring, tonus and synergetic regulation, regulation of excitation intensity and regulation of excitation duration (Gredelj, Metikoš, Hošek, & Momirović, 1975; Kurelić, Momirović, Stojanović, Šturm, Radojević, Viskić-Štalec, 1975). Motor abilities of preschool children were assessed by the following motor test batteries: – functional coordination: • coordination by baton (CCOORB), • obstacle course backwards (COBSTA), • slalom (running) with 3 medicine balls (CSLA3M), • 15-metre dash (DASH15) – frequency of simple movements: • arm plate tapping (SARTAP), • foot tapping (SFOOTT); – flexibility: • forward bend and touch on a bench (FFOBEN), • straddle split (FSTRASP); – balance: • standing on two legs on a narrow balance beam, across, eyes open (BAC2LE), • standing on one leg on a narrow balance beam, along, eyes open (BAL1LE); – power (explosive strength): • standing broad jump (EJUMP), • hand grip (EHANGR); – muscular endurance (isometric strength): • bent-arm hang (IMHANG), • holding legs on a vaulting box (IMHOLE); – muscular endurance (isotonic strength): • leg-lifting, lying on the back (ITLELI) and • sit-ups (ITSITU). School-readiness of preschool children was evaluated by means of School readiness test battery (Preizkus pripravljenosti otrok za šolo, POŠ, Toličič, 1986), consisting of four subtests: – understanding messages, demands, orders, as well as identification and understanding sentences, words and syntax: speech comprehension (SPEECH); – ability to conclude and use experience: reasoning (REASON); – fine hand coordination, as well as ability to copy different figures as a whole and their arts: graphomotor ability (GRAPFO); – perceptiveness: understanding the amounts (AMOUNT). 8 Motor abilities and school readiness Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 5–12 (2005) Procedure Relations between motor abilities and school-readiness of children were computed by the statistical program for the canonical correlation analysis in Mahalanobis space with additional identification structures and reliability estimates of factors significant at 0.05 under Bartlett’s significance tests CANCANBT (Momirović, 1999). The analyses were made separately for boys and girls. Results On the basis of intercorrelations of motor and school-readiness variables (see Table 1) it is not possible to notice any tendency of relation neither in boys nor in girls. It is really difficult to do this based solely on all of the analysed manifest variables, with only a few of them bearing statistical significance (these are highlighted). Table 1 is given because it was the initial matrix for the canonical correlation analysis (see Tables 2, 3 and 4). Table 1: Cross correlations of Mahalanobis motor and school-readiness variables VA R I A B L E SPEECH REASON GRAPFO AMOUNT B o y sG i r l sB o y sG i r l sB o y sG i r l sB o y sG i r l s CCOORB -.058 -.060 -.043 -.035 -.106 .002 .027 -.178 COBSTA -.189 -.109 .022 -.116 -.092 -.071 -.153 -.089 CSLA3M -.040 -.070 -.091 -.235 -.074 -.187 .031 .042 CDASH15 -.108 -.038 -.099 -.141 -.168 -.084 -.074 -.155 SARTAP .062 .120 .113 -.017 .224 .117 .045 .096 SFOOTT .114 .009 .033 .024 .113 .026 .021 -.020 FFOBEN .063 -.011 -.031 -.031 .081 .153 .056 .137 FSTRASP .084 .207 .040 .026 .056 .117 .057 .195 BAC2LE -.052 -.067 .041 .019 .098 .030 .007 .053 BAL1LE .116 -.065 .082 .011 .055 .047 -.010 -.124 EJUMP .141 .061 .033 -.028 .048 .062 .034 .141 EHANGR -.010 .078 .067 .061 .129 -.029 .025 -.001 IMHANG .009 -.013 -.032 .107 .019 .084 -.016 -.062 IMHOLE .060 -.002 .089 -.008 -.033 .068 .019 .000 ITLELI .035 -.004 .154 .036 -.029 -.042 .066 .005 ITSITU -.012 .061 -.067 -.024 -.002 .100 -.018 -.098 Legend (for Tables 1, 3 and 4: CCOORB coordination by baton COBSTA obstacle course backwards CSLA3M slalom (running) with 3 medicine balls DASH15 15-metre dash SARTAP arm plate tapping SFOOTT foot tapping FFOBEN forward bend and touch on a bench FSTRASP straddle split BAC2LE standing on two legs on a narrow balance beam, across, eyes open BAL1LE standing on one leg on a narrow balance beam, along, eyes open EJUMP standing broad jump EHANGR hand grip IMHANG bent-arm hang IMHOLE holding legs on a vaulting box ITLELI leg-lifting, lying on the back ITSITU sit-ups SPEECH speech comprehension REASON reasoning GRAPFO graphomotor ability AMOUNT understanding the amounts Motor abilities and school readiness 9 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 5–12 (2005) Bartlett’s significance tests for evaluation of canonical correlations between corresponding pairs of canonical factors show that, in boys, only the first pair is statistically significant in explaining the relation between the sets of analysed variables (rho=.535 in Table 2). This relation accounts for 29% of common variances of these two sets of variables. In girls, the first two pairs of canonical factors are statistically significant, the first pair explaining about 30% and the second only about 13% of common variances of the corresponding canonical relations. Table 2: Canonical correlations and Bartlett’s significance tests rho lambda hi2 df p boys f1 .535 .625 151.125 64 .000 f2 .251 .875 42.757 45 .567 f3 .220 .934 21.830 28 .789 f4 .134 .982 5.859 13 .951 girls f1 .547 .553 186.430 64 .000 f2 .364 .788 74.762 45 .003 f3 .229 .909 30.010 28 .363 f4 .202 .959 13.126 13 .438 Legend: f pair of canonical factors rho canonical correlation coefficient hi2 hi square test df degree of freedom p significant level of rho Table 3 shows the structure of the first motor canonical factor of boys, as well as the structures of both factors of girls. Table 4 shows the structures of school-readiness canonical factors of boys and girls. Table 3: Structure of the first canonical factors VA R I A B L E Boys Girls f1 f1 f2 CCOORB -.211 -.278 .264 COBSTA -.379 -.336 -.114 CSLA3M -.185 -.329 -.692 CDASH15 -.435 -.376 -.063 SARTAP .453 .315 -.071 SFOOTT .297 .023 .107 FFOBEN .176 .271 -.112 FSTRASP .219 .533 -.183 BAC2LE .103 .041 -.020 BAL1LE .246 -.149 .302 EJUMP .250 .257 -.232 EHANGR .215 .078 .062 IMHANG .001 .060 .396 IMHOLE .096 .056 .068 ITLELI .148 -.014 .004 ITSITU -.074 .019 .248 10 Motor abilities and school readiness Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 5–12 (2005) Table 4: Structure of the second canonical factors VA R I A B L E Boys Girls f1 f1 f2 SPEECH .557 .485 -.038 REASON .389 .333 .623 GRAPFO .676 .505 .436 AMOUNT .286 .632 -.648 The first motor canonical factor is the general motor factor without significant involvement of the energetic component (manifestation of strength) in boys and girls. In the structure of the second motor canonical factor of girls there is certain specificity, showing in good coordination, balance, and isometric contraction of arm muscles. Th e fi r s t s c ho ol-re a d i ne s s c a non ic a l f a c t or i s of a ge ne r a l t y p e i n b ot h b oy s a nd g i r l s . Th e s p e c i fi- city of the second factor is rather illogical, because of the tendency that girls with good reasoning have lower ability to understand the amounts. Due to really great specificity of both second motor and school-readiness canonical factors in girls, the authors consider that the appearance of significance of the second pair of canonical factor was coincidental. That was the reason that the authors did not take this pair of canonical factors into consideration when discussing the research results. Contribution to such conclusion was also found in the reliability coefficients beta1 and beta2 in Table 5. The same table also shows the values of redundancies (red1 and red2) for both sets of variables in boys and girls. Table 5: Redundancies (red) and reliabilities (beta) of motor and school-readiness factors Boys Girls red1 beta1 red1 beta1 motor factors f1 .063 .655 f1 .045 .484 f2 .019 .166 school-readiness factors f1 .244 .668 f1 .275 .644 f2 .062 -.055 Discussion The results of canonical correlation analyses pointed to a tendency of general motor and cognitive development in preschool children just about to enrol in the first grade, i.e. the development of abilities which define readiness for school. That tendency is present in boys as well in girls. It is also evident that there are some differences, though not that significant, in the structure of these general abilities. Representativeness of the boys’ structure of general motor factor was mostly accounted for by performance of fast simple motions, maintaining of balance and motions Motor abilities and school readiness 11 Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 5–12 (2005) requiring energetic components. In girls, the generality of the motor factor was obtained mostly in performance motor tasks in the domain of coordination and flexibility. In the structure of the general school-readiness factor in boys the most important role is that of graphomotor abilities and speech, and to a lesser extent reasoning and understanding the amounts. In girls, this general factor was manifested mostly with understanding the amounts and graphomotor abilities, then with speech and reasoning. It is obvious that graphomotor abilities in preschool children are very important, as indicated by some other complex researches in that field (e.g. Del Giudice, Grossi, Angelini, Crisanti, Latte, Fragassi, & Trojano, 2000). The established relation showed that in both boys and girls the general motor ability is in positive correlation with the general school readiness. This conclusion is concordant with the researches mentioned before (Dolenec, Pistotnik, & Pinter, 2002; Pistotnik, Dolenec, & Pinter, 2002; Planinšec, 2002) which pointed to positive and significant associations of motor and cognitive abilities for boys and girls alike. According to the same results, motor dimensions that are most strongly associated with the cognitive abilities are those of coordination and speed of move- ment. Of course, all this points to importance and need for development of motor ability in the comprehensive development of preschool children. Children with better motor abilities can better adapt to different problem situations, activities, and tasks at the beginning and during their schooling. On the basis of redundancy values it could be concluded that general school readiness has more important role than general motor ability in explaining of common variance of two variable sets. This means that the beginning of schooling can be predicted with general motor ability, but better prediction is achieved by means of the POŠ test battery. Due to the statistical significance and positive correlation between the set of motor variables and the set of school-readiness variables, the authors suggest giving more attention to motor exercising in preschool age as well as putting the children in the situation where they have to solve different motor problems. In such a way small children will develop their motor and cognitive components of motor behaviour, which will contribute to their readiness for school and later for the entire schooling. References Bala, G. (1999a). Motor behaviour evaluation of pre-school children on the basis of different result registration procedures of motor test performance. In V. Strojnik & A. Ušaj (Eds.), Proceedings of the 6th Sport Kinetics Conference: Theories of Human Motor Performance and their Reflections in Practice (pp. 62-65). Ljubljana: Fakulteta za šport. Bala, G. (1999b). Some problems and suggestions in measuring motor behaviour of pre-school children. Kinesiologia Slovenica, 5 (1-2), 5-10. Bala, G. (2002). Sportska školica [Sport School for Children]. Novi Sad: Kinesis. Del Giudice, E., Grossi, D., Angelini, R., Crisanti, A., Latte, F., Fragassi, N., & Trojano, L. (2000). Spatial cognition in children: Development of drawing-related (visuospatial and constructional) abilities in preschool and early school years. Brain Development, 22 (6), 362-367. Dolenec, M. (2001). Analiza povezanosti nekaterih motoričnih in psiholoških razsežnosti otrok, starih 7 do 11 let. [Correlation between selected motor and psychological dimensions of children 7 to 11 years of age]. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Ljubljana: Fakulteta za šport. 12 Motor abilities and school readiness Kinesiologia Slovenica, 11, 1, 5–12 (2005) Dolenec, M., Pistotnik, B., & Pinter, S. (2002). Correlation between coordination and cognitive abilities of girls 7-11 years of age. In D. Milanović & F. Prot (Eds.), 3 rd International scientific conference Kinesiology: New perspectives (pp. 105-108). Zagreb: Kineziološki fakultet. Dolenec, M., Karacsony, I., & Burnik, S. (2004). Correlation between speed and personality dimensions of boys 7 to 11 years of age. Kalokagathia, 42, (1-2), 13-19. Etnier, J.L., Salazar, W., Landers, D.M., Petruzzello, S.J., Han, M., & Nowell, P. (1997). The influence of physical fitness and exercise upon cognitive functioning: A meta analysis. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 19, 249-277. Eunicke-Morell, C. (1989). Untersuchung sum Zusammenhang von Motorik und Intelligenz [Investigation on connection between motor abilities and intelligence]. Motorik, 12 (2), 57-65. Gredelj, M., Metikoš, D., Hošek, A., & Momirović, K. (1975). Model hijerarhijske strukture motoričkih sposobnosti: Rezultati dobijeni primjenom jednog neoklasičnog postupka za procjenu latentnih dimenzija [A model of hierarchic structure of motor abilities: The results obtained using a neo-classical method for estimating latent dimensions]. Kineziologija, 5 (5), 7-81. Ismail, A.H., & Gruber, J.J. (1971). Integrated development - motor aptitude and intellectual performance. Columbus: Charles E. Merrill Books. Kurelić, N., Momirović, K., Stojanović, M., Šturm, J., Radojević, Đ., & Viskić-Štalec, N. (1975). Struktura i razvoj morfoloških i motoričkih dimenzija omladine [The structure and development of morphological and motor dimensions of youth]. Belgrade: Institute for scientific researches of the Faculty of Physical Education. Momirović, K. (1999). Algorithm and program for canonical correlation analysis in Mahalanobis space: Technical report. Belgrade: Institute of criminological and sociological research. Pistotnik, B., Dolenec, M., & Pinter, S. (2002). Analiza povezanosti koordinacijskih in kognitivnih sposobnosti dečkov, starih 7 do 11 let [Correlation between coordination and cognitive abilities of boys 7 to 11 years of age]. In R. Pišot, V. Štemberger, F. Krpač & T. Filipčič (Eds.), Otrok v gibanju: Zbornik prispevkov (pp. 337-341). Maribor: Pedagoška fakulteta. Planinšec, J. (2002). Relations between the motor and cognitive dimensions of preschool girls and boys. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 94 (2), 415-23. Sabo, E. (2003). Struktura motoričkog prostora i razlike u motoričkim sposobnostima dečaka predškolskog uzrasta pri upisu u osnovnu školu [Structure of motor space and differences in motor abilities of the pre-school boys at the enrolment in elementary school]. Fizička Kultura, 56 (1-4), 10-17. Sabo, E. (2004). Uticaj dužine boravka u dečjem vrtiću na spremnost dečaka za polazak u školu [Impact of time spent in nursery school on boys’ maturity for entering primary school]. Pedagoška Stvarnost, 50 (3-4), 301-310. Tol ič ič , I. (198 6). POŠ: Test za ispitivanje spremnosti dece za školu [POŠ: Test for investigation of children’s school readiness]. Ljubljana: Zavod SR Slovenije za produktivnost dela. Vernon, P.A., & Mori, M. (1992). Intelligence, reaction times, and peripheral nerve conduction velocity. Intelligence, 16, 273-288.