Work Type

Poster

Date

2018

Faculty Advisor

Julia Looper

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine whether the TGMD-2 can identify the children in the Young Ambassadors (YA) program as competent in their motor skills, and determine if there is a link between the overall physical activity level of the children in YA and their motor competency scores. It was hypothesized that the TGMD-2 would misclassify YA participants as having average motor competence due to their participation in non-traditional motor skills, and that children with higher levels of physical activity would score higher on the TGMD-2.
 12 participants were recruited from the Tacoma Public Schools 2017 YA program. Two trained researchers completed all the testing as described in the manual, each administering the same portion of the test. Following completion of the TGMD-2, each participant was fitted with an Actigraph activity monitor, which was worn for five consecutive days to track physical activity levels. Descriptive scores on the TGMD-2 ranged from below average to above average, with no significant difference between locomotor and object control scores (p=0.898). No correlation was found between physical activity levels and TGMD-2 locomotor scores (R =0.09, p=0.767) or object control score (R= 0.09, p=0.781). This study demonstrates that proficiency in complex non-traditional motor skills and high activity levels do not correlate with average or above average scores on the test. The TGMD-2 may not be the best tool for measuring motor proficiency in specific populations of children that practice non-traditional motor skills in their activities.

Publisher

University of Puget Sound

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