In the master's thesis, the relationship between the quantity of physical/sports activity of children and their motor skills were determined.
In the theoretical part, firstly the motor development of human being, its principles and stages were presented. Through the latter, the definition of motor skills and their division was established. Each motor skill has been specifically described including the factors influencing their development. In this regard, special attention was given to school and family, especially to parents as the latter play a major role in how much time their children are physically active, how important the physical activity is perceived, which sports/physical activities are involved, etc. Furthermore, two test batteries for the measurement of motor abilities, namely Sports education chart and EURO FIT test battery were described. The definition of physical/sports activity of children, factors influencing the physical activity of the children and the influence of the quantity of physical activity were presented. The leisure time of children, how they spent it and which activities are mostly or rarely used were also described. Findings on how to improve the quantity of physical/sports activity of children and adolescents as well as summaries of some previous studies on the gender differences in motor skills and in quantity of physical/sports activity and the differences in the motor skills of urban, suburban and rural children were also presented in the theoretical part of the master’s thesis.
In the empirical part, 399 children who attended the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th grade in two Slovenian elementary schools, namely the Elementary School Anton Martin Slomšek in Vrhnika and the Elementary School Ivan Grohar in Škofja Loka, participated in the study. The focus was on how much are the pupils physically active and their achievements in measuring motor skills as well as on any existing gender differences in the quantity of physical/sports activity and any existing differences in the development of motor skills. The differences in the quantity of physical/sports activity among pupils of higher and lower grades were also presented.
The results showed that there is no statistically significant correlation between the physical/sports activity of children and the development of their motor skills.
However, there are statistically significant gender differences in the quantity of physical/sports activity. Boys are repeatedly and intensively more physically/sportingly active than girls.
There are also statistically significant gender differences in the development of motor skills. Girls are better in flexibility and persistence, and boys get better results in tests of strength.
Among pupils of higher and lower grades, there are statistically significant differences in the quantity of physical/sports activity, i.e. pupils of lower grades are more physically/sportingly active than pupils of higher grades. The latter spend more time using electronic devices.
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