Faculty of Health, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise, University of Canberra, Bruce, ACT, Australia.
Fenner School of Environment and Society, College of Medicine, Biology and Environment, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Scand J Med Sci Sports. 2017 Dec;27(12):1824-1832. doi: 10.1111/sms.12801. Epub 2016 Dec 28.
In Australian government-funded primary schools, the responsibility for physical education (PE) falls mainly on general classroom teachers, many of whom possess limited PE training. This study sought to examine the impact of specialist-taught PE on eye-hand coordination (EHC) development. In this 4-year cluster-randomized intervention, participants were 187 boys and 172 girls initially in grade 2 in 29 primary schools, where no school employed university-trained specialist PE teachers. In 13 (intervention) schools, specialist PE teachers conducted 268 PE classes (two 45-minute sessions/wk) from grade 2 to grade 6. The intervention was based on traditional PE educational objectives, including fundamental motor skills, but did not specifically focus on EHC. The remaining 16 (control) schools continued with common-practice PE taught by general classroom teachers (30-60 min/wk). EHC was measured by a ball throw and wall-rebound catch test and recorded at ages 8, 10, and 12 (SD 0.3) at ends of grades 2, 4, and 6, respectively. There was steady yearly improvement of EHC in both groups, but no evidence of any intervention effect in boys (P=.88) or girls (P=.20). The introduction of specialist-taught PE during 4 years of primary school did not influence EHC development. Considering evidence that classroom teachers make little contribution to PE in this jurisdiction, together with the steady progression of EHC over the 4 years, other influences such as organized sport, after-school activities, natural development, and parental instruction are conceivably more influential factors in EHC development during primary school years.
在澳大利亚政府资助的小学中，体育课的责任主要落在普通课堂教师身上，其中许多人接受的体育培训有限。本研究旨在考察由专业教师教授的体育课对手眼协调能力（EHC）发展的影响。在这项为期 4 年的整群随机干预研究中，参与者为 29 所小学中最初处于 2 年级的 187 名男孩和 172 名女孩，这些学校中没有一所雇用受过大学培训的专业体育教师。在 13 所（干预）学校中，专业体育教师从 2 年级到 6 年级教授 268 节体育课（每周两次，每次 45 分钟）。干预措施基于传统的体育教育目标，包括基本运动技能，但并未特别关注 EHC。其余 16 所（对照）学校继续由普通课堂教师教授常规体育课（每周 30-60 分钟）。EHC 通过球投掷和墙壁反弹接球测试进行测量，并分别在 8 岁、10 岁和 12 岁（SD 0.3）时记录在 2 年级、4 年级和 6 年级结束时。两个组的 EHC 均呈逐年稳步提高，但男孩（P=.88）或女孩（P=.20）均无任何干预效果的证据。在 4 年的小学期间引入专业教授的体育课并没有影响 EHC 的发展。考虑到在该司法管辖区，课堂教师对体育课的贡献微不足道，以及 EHC 在 4 年内的稳步发展，其他因素，如有组织的运动、课外活 动、自然发展和父母指导，在小学期间 EHC 发展中可能是更具影响力的因素。
