The Impact of a Nonlinear Pedagogical Approach to Primary School Physical Education Upon Children’s Movement Skill Competence

Abstract

Purpose: To investigate the effects of a nonlinear pedagogical approach to primary school physical education (PE) upon children’s movement skill competence. Methods: Forty-six (male = 25 and female = 21) children aged 6–9 years participated in either a nonlinear pedagogy (NP) or linear pedagogy approach to PE for 9 weeks. Children’s movement skill competence was assessed utilizing measures representative of children’s play at pretest, posttest, and 13-week retention test time points. Results: Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed significant improvements for general motor coordination (p < .05, d = 0.234) and time-to-contact judgment performance (p < .05) for the NP group only. Significant between-group differences existed for general motor coordination at the retention test time point (p < .05, d = 0.119) in favor of the NP group. Conclusion: Our results reveal that NP approaches to primary school PE can be efficacious in enhancing children’s movement skill competence. Thus, it seems appropriate that NP approaches to PE are utilized more readily within the primary school sector.