Associations between motor proficiency and academic performance in mathematics and reading in year 1 school children: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: A key priority for learning during the early years of school is for children to develop skills in numeracy and literacy. Consequently, less time may be allocated in the curriculum to foster other important developmental areas, including the ongoing motor skill development of school children, which has been positively linked to academic performance. In order to promote holistic approaches to teaching and learning in the early years of school, it is necessary to further delineate the nature of associations between motor skills and foundation academic skills. The aim of this study was to examine associations between fine and gross motor proficiency and academic performance in mathematics and reading in Year 1 children. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted with Year 1 children from two primary schools in New South Wales, Australia (N = 55; 25 boys, 30 girls; mean age 6.77 ± 0.40 years). The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (2nd Edition) and the Wechsler Individual Achievement Test II (Australian Edition) were used to assess motor proficiency and academic performance in mathematics and reading, respectively. Associations between the components of motor proficiency and academic outcomes were examined using Pearson's and Spearman's correlation analyses. Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to determine how much variance in mathematics and reading composite scores could be explained by motor proficiency after controlling for age. Results: A significant moderate positive association was found between total motor composite and mathematics composite scores (r = .466, p < .001). Fine manual control composite scores were significantly associated with both mathematics (r s = .572, p < .001) and reading (r s = .476, p = .001) composite scores. After controlling for age, fine motor integration was the only component of motor proficiency that explained significant variance in mathematics and reading composite scores. Conclusions: The results of the study revealed that Year 1 children's overall motor proficiency was significantly related to their mathematical ability. Children's fine motor integration skills were also predictive of mathematics and reading ability. These study findings may interest both early childhood educators and paediatric health professionals.

Association Between Preschoolers’ Specific Fine (But Not Gross) Motor Skills and Later Academic Competencies: Educational Implications

“…Our results are also coherent with other studies in that specific fine motor skills have been found to be more closely linked to academic competencies than specific gross motor skills (Grissmer et al, 2010;Pagani et al, 2010;Pagani and Messier, 2012;Gandhi et al, 2013;Cameron et al, 2016;Pitchford et al, 2016;Zhang et al, 2019). In fact, in our study, specific gross motor skills were not found to be associated with academic competencies, also in accordance with the results of other authors (Grissmer et al, 2010;Pagani et al, 2010;Pagani and Messier, 2012;Gandhi et al, 2013;Pitchford et al, 2016;Macdonald et al, 2020). However, in the literature, certain results contradict this finding: some authors suggest significant associations between gross motor skills and academic competencies both in the literacy and mathematical domains (Son and Meisels, 2006;Pagani et al, 2010;Abdelkarim et al, 2017;de Waal, 2019).…”

“…They found that Coordination was only associated with mathematical aspects, but not with literacy. As for Integration, our results, like those of the literature, revealed associations with both literacy and mathematics competencies (Grissmer et al, 2010;Dinehart and Manfra, 2013;Manfra et al, 2016;Pitchford et al, 2016;Duran et al, 2018;Macdonald et al, 2020).…”

“…But, this is often forgotten, given the pressure existing in the lower education levels toward instrumental learning. As a result, many childcare settings focus exclusively on academic content, making young children's opportunities to advance motor skills in these settings increasingly limited (Cameron et al, 2016;Osborne et al, 2016;Macdonald et al, 2020).…”

Tes perseptual motorik untuk anak usia 5-6 tahun

“…In Kindergarten students, the form of physical activity that contains perceptual motor elements and is packaged in the form of play is very important. This is based on the findings of several research results, including: (1) there is a relationship between academic ability and perceptual motor skills, (Nourbakhsh, 2006); (2) the ability of spelling, reading, and mathematics of children aged 4-6 years is influenced by perceptual motor in terms of kinesthetic, visual, and auditory, (Dhingra et al, 2010); (3) cognitive skills of preschool children are influenced by physical activity programmed in a certain period, (Hosseini et al, 2011); (4) academic achievement is influenced by perceptual motor skills, children have good cognitive if supported by good perceptual motor skills, (Morales et al, 2011); (5) motor skills have a relationship with academic performance, in mathematics for grade 1 elementary school children, (Macdonald et al, 2020); (6) Perceptual motor has a relationship with basic motor skills in children aged 5-7 years, (Hyungmin & Johan, 2012); (7) the perceptual motor program intervention in children aged 6-7 years is effective in improving gross and fine motor skills as well as reading and spelling abilities., (Botha & Africa, 2020); (8) the perceptual motor exercise program can develop agility, running, balance, coordination and strength abilities in children aged 8-11 years who experience High Function Autistic Disorder., (Azar & Akbar, 2018); (9) the perceptual motor program given to Kindergarten children aged 4-6 years can improve gross and fine motor skills, (Sajedi & Barati, 2014); (10)perceptual motor development can be developed optimally in children aged 3-6 years, (Johnstone & Ramon., 2011); (11)the involvement of perceptual motor elements in the task of motion, through a form of play, really needs to be done by the teacher, in order to attract and make students happy, (Ningrum & Sukoco, 2017); and (12) Perceptual Motor Training (PMT) has an influence on gross motor development of children aged 5-6 years. Motor improvement rough child can be seen from the child who is able to do a variety kinds of locomotor motion, manipulative motion, and balance with correct and directed, (Lukmawati et al, 2019).…”

The contribution of motor functions to academic achievement in primary school: State of the art and future directions

“…A growing literature suggests that academic achievement can be selectively associated with motor proficiency in pupils attending primary school. For instance, Macdonald et al. (2020) documented that during the first year of primary school, fine motor integration skills predict the performance of mathematic skills, for example, numerical operations and math reasoning, and reading skills, for example, decoding words and pseudowords.…”