title: Does physical education influence eye-hand coordination? The Lifestyles of our Kids intervention study.
abstract: In Australian government-funded primary schools, the responsibility for physical education (PE) falls mainly on general classroom teachers, many of whom possess limited PE training. This study sought to examine the impact of specialist-taught PE on eye-hand coordination (EHC) development. In this 4-year cluster-randomized intervention, participants were 187 boys and 172 girls initially in grade 2 in 29 primary schools, where no school employed university-trained specialist PE teachers. In 13 (intervention) schools, specialist PE teachers conducted 268 PE classes (two 45-minute sessions/wk) from grade 2 to grade 6. The intervention was based on traditional PE educational objectives, including fundamental motor skills, but did not specifically focus on EHC. The remaining 16 (control) schools continued with common-practice PE taught by general classroom teachers (30-60 min/wk). EHC was measured by a ball throw and wall-rebound catch test and recorded at ages 8, 10, and 12 (SD 0.3) at ends of grades 2, 4, and 6, respectively. There was steady yearly improvement of EHC in both groups, but no evidence of any intervention effect in boys (P=.88) or girls (P=.20). The introduction of specialist-taught PE during 4 years of primary school did not influence EHC development. Considering evidence that classroom teachers make little contribution to PE in this jurisdiction, together with the steady progression of EHC over the 4 years, other influences such as organized sport, after-school activities, natural development, and parental instruction are conceivably more influential factors in EHC development during primary school years.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Wicks
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Telford
authors.affiliation: Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: S J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Semple
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT, Australia.|College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Telford
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D009048:Motor Skills; D010806:Physical Education and Training; D011597:Psychomotor Performance; D012574:Schools
keywords: coordination; development; motor skills; object control; physical education