The presence of primitive (infant) reflexes in school-aged children as indicators of immaturity in neuromotor functioning has been associated with under-achievement in terms of reading, writing and mathematics, and been linked to conditions such as dyslexia, developmental coordination disorder (DCD) and attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder…

K-12 students enter physical education with many naive conceptions or misconceptions of how motor skills are acquired. One goal of physical education is to teach concepts that will help students learn and perform motor skills, but many practitioners don't know how to provide experiences that will teach students to apply their knowledge…

Constraints are characteristics of the individual, the task, or the environment that mold and shape movement choices and performances. Constraints can be positive--encouraging proficient movements or negative--discouraging movement or promoting ineffective movements. Physical educators must analyze, evaluate, and determine the effect various…

Opportunities for the enhancement of total development must be available to children once they enter the educational system. The physical education program of the total school curriculum should provide these opportunities. Striving for the total development of children through physical activity is explained in the model for "thinking and feeling…

Proper warm-up is important for any activity, but designing an effective warm-up can be time consuming. An alternative approach is to take a cue from Laban Movement Analysis (LMA) and consider movement design from the perspective of space and planes of motion. Efficient warm-up exercises using LMA are described. (SM)

The concept of attention in sport is important because the inability to process the right kind and amount of information may lead to a mismatch in perception and consequent motor output. Research has shown that the ability to choose between relevant and irrelevant information increases dramatically at about 12 years of age. By giving up the…

Discusses elements for a developmentally appropriate movement program for young children ages 3-5 years old. Emphasizes four major areas from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education guidelines: child development, teaching strategies, content, and assessment. Includes a vignette of an appropriate movement class for 4-year-olds.…

The concern of this text is the need that many individuals have for nonverbal, primarily physical forms of expression, and how this need has fueled the development of a new psychomotor discipline. The book treats the theory and practice of dance therapy, and examines the entire field from its inception through the present. Dance therapy, the use…

This activity book was designed to complement the theory and suggestions for teachers in its companion document, Basic Movement Skills (K-3), printed in 1990. It has an activity-based focus, concentrating on exercises that contribute to development of all basic movement skills. Each activity highlights the main skill focus and addresses any…

The movement-exploration activities described in this book are designed to appeal to primary-level children's natural instinct toward imaginative play and discovery and offer opportunities to develop physical skills in a familiar environment. The discovery of the physical self involves body-part and body-surface identification, isolated movements…

Eurythmy is a disciplined art of movement of the arms and body that visibly expresses the vowels and consonants of speech and the tones and intervals of musical melody. In the classroom, eurythmic movements have a therapeutic function in which the child's development is supported and enhanced through its various stages. This article discusses the…

In this teachers' resource manual for elementary health, objectives are stated for a balanced physical education program that will provide developmental opportunities in the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains for students from kindergarten through grade twelve. Specific objectives are set forth for kindergarten through grade seven in…

This handbook was designed for those individuals interested in increasing their understanding of basic movement skill development, observation and assessment, and program implementation. The basic movement skills identified in the text are the essential building blocks on which all physical education, active play, recreation, and physical activity…

This book focuses on how teachers can guide children to acquire ownership of musical concepts through their personal construction of knowledge. It is intended for teachers of grades K-3, music educators, and preservice teachers. The book contends that music and movement are important to the development of the whole child and can be integrated…

This collection contains fifty physical education objectives, related sample items, and directions for administering and scoring, and is divided into four categories. The first measures movement skills: body awareness, perception, locomotion, axial skills, balance, and gross motor coordination in games and sports. The second category measures…