Search Results

Purpose: With the belief that situational interest (SI) can be characterized as being triggered and maintained, the authors conducted this study to identify the underlying structure of SI and to develop a new measurement in physical education. Method: There were 558 students from two urban high schools in Shanghai, China, who served as participants. The authors developed the Situational Interest Inventory-Physical Education through three systematic stages. Both exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were conducted. Results: An exploratory factor analysis provided preliminary support, with a model comprising three components: triggered SI, maintained SI feeling, and maintained SI value. The three-component model was further corroborated through a confirmatory factor analysis. Its predictive validity was supported with significant correlations to in-class engagement. Conclusion: The findings lend initial evidence to the theoretical mechanism of interest development. Clarifying how SI is related to the mode of teachers’ instruction and learning content may help design effective motivational strategies and nurture long-term individual interest.

Purpose: While the expectancy–value theory recognizes the significance of cost as an essential component, it has garnered minimal attention in physical education. Utilizing two separate datasets, we explored the degree to which the inclusion of cost in an expectancy–value–cost model could augment its predictive capability. Method: Study 1 utilized a cross-sectional data set (N = 144) to investigate the predictive roles of expectancy belief, task value, and cost on behavioral and emotional engagement. Study 2 employed a longitudinal data set (N = 251) to assess how these variables influenced the hypothetical choice of attending physical education and cardiorespiratory fitness. Results: Cost played a significant role in explaining additional variance, surpassing what could be predicted through expectancy and value. Specifically, cost emerged as a crucial factor in predicting emotional engagement, hypothetical choice, and cardiorespiratory fitness. Conclusion: Incorporating cost as an independent construct can yield valuable supplementary insights into the determinants of students’ learning.

To date, there has been little research considering both autism spectrum disorder (ASD) symptom severity and motor impairment simultaneously when investigating their associations with obesity. This study was designed to identify the moderating role of symptom severity in the relationship between motor competence and overweight/obesity for children with ASD. Seventy-eight children with a clinical diagnosis were recruited from a large autism rehabilitation center in Wuhan, China. Chi-square, partial correlation, and moderation regression analyses revealed that the prevalence of overweight and obesity was similar regardless of symptom severity. Balance was the only motor skill that correlated with body mass index. Furthermore, symptom severity significantly moderated the correlation. Children with low autism severity might be more likely to demonstrate the relationship between balance and body mass index than those with high autism severity. Combating obesity by enhancing motor competence should cautiously consider personal and environment factors such as individual severity of ASD.

The current study evaluated the developmental characteristics of printed and cursive letter writing in early school-age children. We predicted fewer age-related changes on spatial and temporal measures in cursive letter writing due to lower explicit timing demands compared with printed letter writing. Thirty children wrote the letters e and l in cursive and printed forms repetitively. For printed letters, significant age effects were seen in temporal consistency, whereas cursive letters showed age-related improvement in spatial consistency. Children tended to have higher consistency for printed handwriting than they did for cursive writing. Because of an overall advantage for printed handwriting, the explicit timing hypothesis was not fully supported. We argue that experiential factors influence the development of handwriting.

Although one of the criteria for the diagnosis of developmental coordination disorder (DCD) suggests learning impairments, there is a lack of studies investigating motor adaptation in these children. This study examined the ability of 7 children with DCD to adapt to a novel visuomotor relationship by exposing them to a 45° visual feedback rotation while they performed a center-out drawing task, and compared their performance with that of 7 normally developing children. The results show that the children with DCD were less affected by the feedback distortion than the control children, and did not show aftereffects, suggesting they had a less well-defined internal model. A principal component analysis of the performance variables during early and late exposure showed that the variables accounting for most of the variance in the trajectories are different between the 2 groups, suggesting that underlying control processes might operate differently in the 2 groups of children.

Difficulty with implicit learning plays an important role in the symptomology of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, findings in motor learning are inconsistent. This study evaluated implicit sequence learning and its relationship with motor ability in children with and without ASD. We adopted a classic serial reaction time task with a retention task and three awareness tests. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children was administered to assess children’s motor ability. Significant learning differences between children with and without ASD were only found in retention but not immediately after the serial reaction time task. These findings suggest that the impaired implicit learning in ASD is characterized as impaired consolidation where the relatively permanent changes are missing. Exploratory moderation analyses revealed a significant relationship between implicit learning and motor ability for individuals with faster response time. We argue the importance of response speed for optimal learning and should be weighted more for future intervention in children with ASD.

The current study examined the acquisition, retention, and transfer effects of a motor program. Children with autism spectrum disorder participated in a 9-week program that targeted 13 fundamental motor skills based upon the Test of Gross Motor Development-3. Assessments were conducted before and after the program, as well as at 2-month follow-up. Significant improvements were found on not only the trained fundamental motor skills (acquisition) but also the untrained tasks on balance (transfer). The follow-up tests revealed continuous improvement on the trained locomotor skills (retention), as well as the untrained skills on balance (retention + transfer). These findings highlight the importance of continuous support and long-term participation on motor practices.