Making a good start: Differential Impacts of Teaching Methods for Promoting Motor Performance and Understanding Among 6–7 Year Old Children

Background: A good start and early success with motor skills is an important feature of primary education when promoting lifelong physical activity. Notably, however, empirical guidance on optimal teaching methods is limited, especially when considering between genders. To address this paucity, we compared across several teaching methods that were informed by different skill acquisition approaches (i.e., cognitive and ecological) in children when practicing an age-appropriate interception task. We also tested for gender differences.
Methods: Five groups of 14 Kuwaiti children (N = 70) practiced a bowling task under different teaching conditions, namely: Solo; Social learning; Demonstrations; Questioning, and; Verbal instructions. Performance outcome scores, participants’ understanding and teacher observations were used to evaluate the conditions’ impact.
Results: ANOVA showed significant effects for teaching method on performance outcome scores. Post-hoc analyses found verbal instruction was significantly better than solo and social learning. Analyses of near misses found significant differences for gender, with males outperforming females. Assessment of participants’ understanding revealed a higher level for males and those receiving verbal instruction compared with social and solo practice.
Conclusion: Different teaching methods generate different practice outcomes and levels of understanding in children. Offering more direct guidance can support necessary early success.