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Research in Motor Development Affecting Revisions
This is an excerpt from National Physical Education Standards-4th Edition by SHAPE America - Society of Health and Physical Educators.
Research in motor development provides the foundation for the restructuring of the national standards and Grade-Span Learning Indicators for preK-12 physical education. Developmental principles, including the principle that development is age-related, not age-dependent, support the adoption of grade spans. Skill development is not dependent on one’s age but on opportunities for practice, instruction, and encouragement. Thus, it would not be expected to have all children in a second-grade class at the same stage of motor skill development.
The Hourglass Model is a helpful heuristic for conceptualizing, describing, and explaining the process of motor development (see figure 1.1). The two sources of sand include the environment and heredity, both of which influence the process of motor development. Hereditary factors are more prominent in the first two phases of motor development, whereas instruction, practice, encouragement, and ecology of the environment play a significant role within the fundamental and specialized movement phases of motor development. Each phase of motor development also includes specific stages that describe the characteristics of skill development during that stage. Detailed information about the phases and stages of motor development will be explained in chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6. Understanding the phases and stages of motor development is critical to the design of developmentally appropriate instructional experiences for preK-12 students.
The preK-2 Grade-Span Learning Indicators and associated Learning Progressions reflect children’s development within the fundamental movement phase (see chapter 3). Similarly, the Grade-Span Learning Indicators and associated Learning Progressions for grades 3-5 reflect children’s development within the fundamental movement phase and subsequent specialized movement phase (see chapter 4). Finally, the Grade-Span Learning Indicators and associated Learning Progressions for grades 6-8 and 9-12 reflect adolescents’ development within the specialized movement phase (see chapters 5 and 6).
Reprinted by permission from J.D. Goodway, J.C. Ozmun, and D.L. Gallahue, Understanding Motor Development: Infants, Children, Adolescents, and Adults, 8th ed. (Burlington, MA: Jones and Barlett Learning, 2020), 49.
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