Qualitative and quantitatively appropriate sports activity plays a key role in shaping a child’s harmonious overall development (Završnik and Pišot, 2005). Regular physical activity in children contributes to their motor development (Gallahue and Ozmun, 2021). A »minute for health« is a movement-active interruption of lessons in schools for a few minutes (Jurak et al., 2016), which is intended to carry out 2 to 4 movement tasks that physically exercise and mentally relax students (Štemberger, 2011). The purpose of our work is to investigate whether short, specifically targeted physical activities during class, such as a »minute for health«, can contribute to the improvement of certain physical abilities of students. We want to find out whether a adapted »minute for health« that includes exercises for developing coordination and balance has a significant impact on the development of coordination and balance skills in second grade primary school students.
The research methodology is based on a quasi-experimental method, where students are divided into two groups. The experimental group performs an adapted »minute for health«, which includes exercises for developing coordination and balance, while the control group performs a »minute for health« without specific exercises to develop coordination and balance. The study included 63 students from two primary schools. The intervention lasted 8 weeks. »Minute for health« was carried out five times a week when the pupils were present during the educational process. Measurements for the Flamingo test and polygon backwards test were carried out one week before the start of the intervention and one week after the end of the intervention.
The results of the study show that incorporating a adapted »minute for health« into the classroom has a significant impact on improving coordination and balance in students. After the intervention, the girls in the experimental group showed statistically significantly greater progress between the initial and final balance than the boys.
It can be concluded that the intervention, which lasted 8 weeks, proved to be successful, as it had a significant impact on the development of the motor skills of coordination and balance of the pupils.
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