Seokheon Kang

Publication Date

2017

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Kim, So-Yeun||Zittel, Lauriece L.

Degree Name

M.S. Ed. (Master of Education)

Legacy Department

Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education

LCSH

Physical education and training

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine preschoolers' physical activity levels, physical activity choices, and the type of social interactions during designated large gross motor time. A total of 60 preschoolers (30 male and 30 female) aged from 36 to 72 months participated in this study. There were three groups including preschoolers with/without a developmental delay and those at risk for a developmental delay (DD). Each group had 10 male and 10 female preschoolers equally. The mean ages of participants, preschoolers with/without a disability and those at risk for a DD were 48.7 months ( SD=7.2), 48.7 months (SD=5.1), and 58.3 months ( SD=7.3), respectively. Preschoolers' physical activity levels, physical activity choices, and social interactions were filmed during a 25 minute designated large gross motor time and examined using Physical Activity Level Screening (PALS). The means of physical activity levels for preschoolers with/without a disability and those at risk for a DD were .89 (SD = .31), and .78 (SD= .16), and .99 (SD= .19), respectively. A two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to examine differences between means of physical activity levels and social interactions for group by gender. There were significant main effects for groups, F (2,54) = 4.192, p = .02. Preschoolers at risk for a DD were significantly more active than preschoolers without a disability (p= .02). There was no significant main effect for gender. Regarding physical activity choices of preschoolers, the average percentages of 'Portable-equipment', 'Fixed-equipment', 'Sedentary', and 'Locomotion' for three groups were 6.3%, 44.9%, 27.7%, and 21.1%, respectively. The means of social interactions for preschoolers with/without a disability and those at risk for a DD were .71 (SD= .22), .71 (SD= .30), and 1.0 (SD= .23), respectively. Results from the two-way ANOVA for social interaction indicated a significant main effect for groups, F (2,54) = 8.994, p < .001. The results of this study showed that there was no significant difference in social interactions between preschoolers with and without a disability. However, preschoolers at risk for a DD were more interactive with peers than those with and without a disability. There was no significant main effect for gender, F (2,54) = 1.358, p =.25, and no significant interaction, F (2, 54) = .955, p =.39. The results of this study indicated that the preschoolers across three groups engaged in light physical activity levels, and had limited social interactions with peers during designated large gross motor time. These results point to a need for teacher training and more structured large gross motor time in preschool settings to promote physical activity and social interactions in preschoolers of all abilities.

Comments

Advisors: So-Yeun Kim; Lauriece Zittel.||Committee members: Marilyn Looney.||Includes bibliographical references.

Extent

57 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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