Developmental associations of fundamental motor skills and executive functions in preschoolers - The role of the physical activity and the effects on early numeracy.

BACKGROUND: Physical activity, fundamental motor skills, executive functions and early numeracy have shown to be related, but very little is known about the developmental relations of these factors. PROCEDURE: We followed 317 children (3-6 years) over two years. Fundamental motor skills and executive functions (inhibition+switching, updating) were measured at all time points (T1, T2, T3) and physical activity at T1 and early numeracy at T3. MAIN FINDINGS: Children with better fundamental motor skills at T1 developed slower in inhibition and switching. Fundamental motor skills developed faster in children who had better initial inhibition and switching ability. Vigorous physical activity at T1 was associated with a weaker initial inhibition and switching. The initial level and the developmental rate of updating were related to better early numeracy skills. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate that fundamental motor skills and executive functions are developmentally related, and updating is an important predictor for early numeracy in preschoolers.

Cross-Lagged Associations between Physical Activity, Motor Performance, and Academic Skills in Primary School Children.

PURPOSE: Few longitudinal studies have investigated the interwoven longitudinal dynamics between physical activity (PA), motor performance, and academic skills in middle childhood. Therefore, we investigated the cross-lagged associations between PA, motor performance, and academic skills from grade 1 to grade 3 in Finnish primary school children. METHODS: A total of 189 children 6-9 yr old at baseline comprised the study sample. Total PA was assessed using a questionnaire filled out by parents, moderate-to-vigorous PA by combined heart rate and body movement monitor, motor performance by 10 × 5-m shuttle run test, and academic skills by arithmetic fluency and reading comprehension tests in grade 1 and grade 3. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling adjusted for gender, parental education, and household income. RESULTS: The final model fitted the data very well ( χ237 = 68.516, P = 0.0012, root-mean-square error of approximation = 0.067, comparative fit index = 0.95, Tucker-Lewis Index = 0.89) and explained 91% of variance in the latent academic skills variable, 41% of the variance in the latent PA variable, and 32% of variance in motor performance in grade 3. Better motor performance in grade 1 was associated with higher academic skills in grade 3, but it did not predict PA. PA was not directly or indirectly associated with academic skills. However, higher levels of PA in grade 1 predicted better motor performance in grade 3. Academic skills did not predict PA or motor performance. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that better motor performance, but not PA, predicts later academic skills. Academic skills in grade 1 do not contribute to PA or motor performance in the early school years.

Associations between physical activity, motor skills, executive functions and early numeracy in preschoolers.

We investigated direct and indirect cross-sectional associations of physical activity, fundamental motor skills, executive functions, and early numeracy in preschoolers. The participants were 214 preschoolers aged three to five years. Time spent in moderate and vigorous physical activity was measured by hip-worn accelerometers and fundamental motor skills using the tasks assessing locomotor, object control, and stability skills. Inhibition/switching and working memory/updating, as components of executive functions, were assessed by computerised tests and a standardised test was used to assess early numeracy. Path analyses were used to examine direct and indirect associations between the constructs. Our results showed that stability skills were indirectly positively associated with early numeracy through inhibition/switching (ß = 0.07, p < 0.05, 95% CI [0.02, 0.14]) and locomotor skills through working memory/updating (ß = 0.13, p = 0.001, 95% CI [0.06, 0.20]). Vigorous physical activity was positively associated with early numeracy through locomotor skills and working memory/updating (ß = 0.04, p = 0.01, 95% CI [0.01, 0.07]) and negatively associated with early numeracy through inhibition/switching (ß = -0.06, p < 0.05, 95% CI [-0.11, -0.02]).Highlights Locomotor skills are positively associated with early numeracy through working memory/updating.Stability skills are positively associated with early numeracy through inhibition/switching.Vigorous physical activity is indirectly associated with early numeracy: Positively through locomotor skills and working memory/updating and negatively through inhibition/switching.

Reciprocal effects of mathematics performance, school engagement and burnout during adolescence.

BACKGROUND: Transitioning into adolescence while simultaneously facing greater academic demands as the level of education increases often entails both academic challenges and general declines in students' school-related well-being. Still, however, relatively little is known about the causal relationship between students' academic well-being (i.e., school engagement and burnout) and their performance during the adolescent years. AIMS: This study examined longitudinal relations between adolescents' mathematics performance, school engagement and burnout (exhaustion, cynicism and inadequacy) across lower secondary education. SAMPLE: Data came from a longitudinal research project, following Finnish lower secondary school (grades 7-9) students (N = 1131) over 4 years (2016-2019). METHODS: Students completed standardized mathematics tests and self-report measures of school engagement and burnout at four time points, twice within both 7th and 9th grade. A random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) was used to examine pathways between engagement, burnout and mathematics performance over time. RESULTS: Higher mathematics performance increased students' engagement and lowered their exhaustion and cynicism over time, whereas both engagement and exhaustion predicted higher performance. Negative relations were also found from inadequacy and cynicism on students' mathematics performance. Furthermore, school burnout predicted engagement both positively (from exhaustion) and negatively (from cynicism and inadequacy) within and between the school years, whereas engagement only predicted cynicism and inadequacy negatively within 7th grade. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that the overall relation between students' mathematics performance, engagement and burnout is rather reciprocal, but also, that the relations become more prominent over time, demonstrating the importance of supporting both learning and well-being in school.

Academic Well-Being, Mathematics Performance, and Educational Aspirations in Lower Secondary Education: Changes Within a School Year.

It has been suggested that both performance and academic well-being play a role in adolescent students' educational attainment and school dropout. In this study, we therefore examined, first, what kinds of academic well-being (i.e., school burnout, schoolwork engagement, and mathematics self-concept) and mathematics performance profiles can be identified among lower secondary school students (Ngrade 7 = 583, Ngrade 9 = 497); second, how stable these profiles are across one school year during the seventh and ninth grades; and, third, how students with different academic well-being and mathematics performance profiles differ with respect to their educational aspirations. By means of latent profile analyses, three groups of students in seventh grade: thriving (34%), average (51%), and negative academic well-being (15%) and four groups of students in ninth grade: thriving (25%), average (50%), negative academic well-being (18%), and low-performing (7%) with distinct well-being and mathematics performance profiles were identified. Configural frequency analyses revealed that the profiles were relatively stable across one school year; 60% of the students displayed identical profiles over time. The thriving students reported the highest educational aspirations compared to the other groups. In addition, the low-performing students in the ninth grade had the lowest educational aspirations just before the transition to upper secondary school. Practical implications as well as directions for future research are discussed.