Blog: Our Kids Need to Move!

It is good to remind ourselves to hold on and work on things that would greatly benefit a child. And that is exactly what I would love to do: encourage, gently nudge you and cheer you on to focus on the crucial aspect of child development. Read on!

Before I break it down further, let us first begin with the premise that when it comes to learning and development within the educational setting, all domains are interrelated and co-dependable. These domains may be known as cognitive (knowledge), psychomotor (skills) and affective (attitudes) according to the Taxonomy of Learning Domains (1956) or physical well-being and motor development, social-emotional development, approaches to learning, language and literacy and cognitive according to Snow and Van Hamel (2008); and lastly physical development, social and emotional development, cognitive development and language development according to Wortham and Hardin (2016).

Regardless of the various schools of thought and the vast bodies of research and findings over the years, our focus today is on the physical development/physical well-being and motor development or psychomotor domain. Specifically, I’d like to win you over as you read on (i) about the definition based on research, (ii) pause and reflect on how motor movements are incorporated within the three spheres of our environments and (iii) motor movement and its importance in a child.

What about the Psychomotor or Physical Well-Being and Motor Development or Physical Development domain?

Simply put, this domain would be better understood as “the physically encoding of information, with movement and/or with activities where the gross and fine muscles are used for expressing or interpreting information or concepts. This area also refers to natural automatic responses or reflexes… comprised of utilizing motor skills and coordinating them” as elaborated by Hoque (2016) on the psychomotor domain.

Similarly, Snow and Van Hemel (2008) aptly summarised that the physical well-being and motor development domain includes the issues of health, sensory systems, growth, fitness, and motor development. Likewise, Wortham and Hardin (2016) emphasised that “preschool children are in the most important period of physical and motor development.

Beginning with babies, who are in the initial stages of learning to control their bodies, physical development is rapid and continues into their primary school years. … These skills are used for eating, dressing, writing, using small construction toys, and performing other tasks. Preschool children learn to work with puzzles, cut with scissors, use brushes, pens, pencils, and markers; and manipulate small blocks, counters, and modelling clay.”

All In all, children need to develop their motor movement as it is a fundamental aspect of their physical development! Motor movement is crucial as they begin to understand the world around them and learn and grow through movements. Motor movement is complex and broad, happens in stages and it is not learned overnight instead, motor movement should be nurtured as its effect either positively or negatively on the development and growth of a child.  A child with adequate exposure and opportunities to develop their motor movement will be capable of doing so much more!

Let’s Pause and Reflect: Homes, Schools, Classrooms and Communities and Motor Movements

With due consideration to the ecological system theory, as elaborated by Urie Bronfenbrenner (1977), now, let us together, take stock of how we interact, nurture and care for our young children entrusted to us within these environments: our homes, schools and classrooms, and our communities at large. Here are some questions for us to consider and help us in our reflection:

At Homes:

• What are our children doing: Participating in various motor-developing activities? Hooked up to a digital device? Drowning with traditional academic content? Which is more?
• What life skills can our children attempt to do with much assistance from us, some assistance from us, or work on it independently? Are there progress and if yes, what is its rate?
• What household chores or responsibilities are we able to entrust children to tidy up after play or with some age-appropriate chores or are we the ones who must do it all?
• What do we know about our children: What motor abilities do our children feel good about? What do they enjoy most? What do they struggle to do?
• What do our children think about physical movements? Is their understanding accurate? Are they focusing on only one area or clueless altogether?

At Schools and classroom:

• What are our children exposed to: Holistic growth and development or rigid, academic emphasised curriculum?
• How do children relate to physical development with your schools and classroom: Limited to a particular time of the day, dependable of to the teacher who is teaching or as a component that happens speedily, simply to check it off and with a returned focus on academics or is it only available for a certain age-group?
• How much time is allocated for children to grow and develop their motor skills? Do we encourage such progress before we jump into academic demands?
• Are the children exposed to a variety of materials, opportunities, and the environment throughout their learning years under your care?
• What are our thoughts with regards to the physical development domain, do we know all that we need to know?
• In Communities:
• How much space is provided for children to grow and develop their motor movement?
• Are such spaces safe, clean, inviting, challenging and well-maintained? Is it inclusive and has considered the views of young children?
• Do buildings within our communities have space for children to grow and develop their motor movement? Are there requirements to consider the needs of young children when a building is constructed?
• Are the concepts and requirements for such space based on current research findings and the needs of the current and future generations and all children?
• Are there any discrepancies based on the social-economic background, ethnicity and geographical location needs that are not factored into when creating spaces for young children to grow and develop their motor movement?

I know, these questions are big and may require much time, discussions, adjustments, and collaborations. However, pausing and reflecting on these questions is a good start to move forward together toward the incorporation of consistent and developmentally appropriate motor movements into the lives of our young children.

Motor Movements and its Importance in a Child

Our lives are oftentimes built around seven categories of movements, as documented by Hoque (2016). These include perception (applying sensorial information to motor activities); set (the readiness to act upon something); guided response (to copy a displayed behaviour or to attempt through trial-and-error); mechanism (to transform learned responses into habits, proficiency and confidence); complex overt response (skillfully carry out complex patterns of actions);  adaptation (to change learned skills to meet unique events) and origination (to create new movement patterns for a unique circumstance). And while it may differ and take on various forms in our children, one such possibility of the above-mentioned characteristics can be seen and better understood by the statements below:

• Perception: A child cleans up after oneself when required or offers help.
• Set: A child attempts to master dressing herself or himself independently or attempts to complete a given task.
• Guided response: A child imitates instructions to perform certain tasks such as completing a jigsaw puzzle.
• Mechanism: A child participates actively and positively in a daily routine at home or school which involves a variety of roles and responsibilities.
• Complex overt response: A child can make markings like patterns, drawings, writings and so on.
• Adaptation: A child can build, create, make and put together various skills to produce something new.
• Origination: A child can participate in various creative movements or performances based on the needs of an event.

All of these originate and are built around motor movements, spatial awareness, visual focus, coordination, body control, balancing and so much more!

In a busy world where we are forced to make pertinent decisions about the lives of our young children, it is so easy to be caught up with the various demands that are expected so much of us. May I gently encourage you to take a moment and include more and substantial motor movements into the lives of young children under your care?  As aptly said by Maria Montessori, “Watching a child makes it obvious that the development of his mind comes through his Movements.” Let us then take time to allow the richness and complexity of motor movements to run their course gradually and consistently with the right tools and watch our children grow, develop, and thrive across every facet of their lives!

And now, we sing together: WE LIKE TO MOVE IT, MOVE IT; WE LIKE TO MOVE IT, MOVE IT; WE LIKE TO MOVE IT, MOVE IT; OUR KIDS LIKE TO (MOVE IT!)

P/s: Search “I like to move it” on the web, it’s a song from Madagascar just in case you did not sing along… :P

References:

• National Research Council, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Board on Testing and Assessment, Board on Children, Y. and F., Committee on Developmental Outcomes and Assessments for Young Children, Susan B. Van Hemel, & Catherine E. Snow. (2008). Early Childhood Assessment : Why, What, and How. National Academies Press.
• Hoque M. (2016) Three Domains of Learning: Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor. Journal of EFL Education and Research (JEFLER), Vol 2(2):45–52.
• Wortham, S. C., & Hardin, B. J. (2016). Assessment in early childhood education (Seventh edition.). Pearson.
• Guy-Evans, O. (2020, Nov 09). Bronfenbrenner's ecological systems theory. Simply Psychology. www.simplypsychology.org/Bronfenbrenner.html