Effect of functional sports on children s spatial awareness aged 6-8 years / 中国学校卫生

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To examine the effect of functional sports training on the development of spatial awareness in children aged 6-8 years old,to provide a reference to improve children s ability of spatial sense.@*Methods@#A class of 125 children aged 6-8 years from first, second, and third grades of an elementary school in Zhengzhou City were conveniently selected by stratified random sampling, who were divided into the experimental group ( n =62) and the control group ( n =63) by random number tables. The experimental group received functional sports intervention for 8 weeks,3 times a week,20 min each time, and the control group received traditional sports game program.@*Results@#After the intervention,the error values of depth perception, orientation perception, and space perception in the experimertal group of 6 and 7 year old children reduced by 1.98 cm, 2.88°, and 22.00 cm (6 year old children) and 1.61 cm, 2.34°, and 17.99 cm (7 year old children) compared with the control group, respectively. Compared with those in the control group of 8 year old after the intervention, and the differences were of statistical signifiance( t =-3.07, -2.94, -3.07 ; -3.25, -3.29, -3.15, P <0.01). There was no significant difference in the error values of depth perception, orientation perception and space perception between the experimental group and the control group after intervention ( P >0.05). In the experimental group, the error values of depth perception, orientation perception and space perception reduced by 2.30 cm, 3.88°, 28.05 cm (6 year old children), 2.16 cm, 2.15°, 17.45 cm (7 year old children) and 1.16 cm, 1.81°, 9.10 cm (8 year old children) in children aged 6-8 years after intervention, significant improvement were observed compared with before intervention ( t = 8.50 , 9.04, 7.35; 7.39, 10.30, 11.05; 4.67, 4.46, 14.14, P <0.01). Compared with before the intervention, children aged 6-8 in the control group only had significant differences in space perception( t =4.13, 6.71, 8.93, P <0.01).@*Conclusion@#Functional sports games can improve depth perception, orientation perception and spatial perception for children aged 6-8 years. It can be integrated into children s daily activities to play a positive role in promoting the healthy growth of children.