In Japan, social and emotional skills are considered important to school education; however, their actual status lacks sufficient investigation. Thus, this study elucidates gender and grade differences in social and emotional skills among children in the middle and upper grades of elementary school. The study recruited 822 elementary school children in grades 3–6 and conducted a questionnaire survey using the 21 items of the Social and Emotional Skills Evaluation Scale for Elementary School children (Yamada et al., 2023), which was previously verified for reliability and validity. The scale covers seven subscales, namely, self-esteem, compassion, sociability, respect, self-control, passion for goals, and perseverance. After excluding responses with omission or missing information, the study analyzed data from 788 subjects. The total score and the subscale scores for the Social and Emotional Skills Evaluation scale were calculated. Moreover, a two-factor analysis of variance was conducted on the total and the subscale scores to examine gender and grade differences. The total score for social and emotional skills was significantly higher in third and fourth graders compared to sixth graders. In terms of subscales, we observed a significant interaction in perseverance and self-esteem in which sixth-grade boys exhibited significantly higher values than sixth-grade girls for both the subscale scores. Furthermore, the scores for both subscales in girls were lower in sixth grade than in other grades. The girls also displayed significantly higher scores than boys in self-control, respect, and consideration. For sociability, the third, fourth, and fifth graders produced significantly higher values than sixth graders. These results revealed that the social and emotional skills of middle and upper elementary school children tend to decline with the progress in their grades. The findings also revealed that the characteristics of gender and grade differences differ according to the subscale.
The purpose of this study was to develop treasure hunt cards as a means of increasing the amount of physical activity in young children, and to compare the amount of physical activity before and during the introduction of the cards.
This study aims to clarify the influence of the introduction of rhythmic exercises “Ukiuki Taisou”, which includes movements connected to running, jumping, and throwing, with the intention of acquiring fundamental movements, on the qualitative transformation of fundamental movements in young children. The subjects were 121 children (60 children aged 4-5 and 61 children aged 5-6) in a private kindergarten. For rhythmic exercises, “Ukiuki Taisou” (Kadomoto, 2021) was used. To facilitate the implementation of exercises as part of the kindergarten program: (1) a sports day based around the exercises was scheduled; and (2) a DVD showing how to do them was distributed to parents/guardians. The intervention consisted of daily exercises during the 10 days before the sports day. Two weeks before the sports day and two weeks after the end of the sports day, we examined the children's running, jumping, and throwing as the fundamental movements. Three fundamental movements were evaluated and scored by two people using Nakamura et al's (2011) observational evaluation method. In addition, to grasp the ripple effect at home, we surveyed the viewing situation of the distributed DVDs using an online questionnaire. For the analysis, a paired t-test was performed for each sex and grade for each movement score before and after the intervention. The results show that performance was significantly higher after the intervention (p=0.000-0.018), except for the jumping movement of girls aged 4-5 (p=0.182) before and after the intervention. 70.9% of parents/guardians answered that they “frequently” or “sometimes” watched the exercise DVD at home. From the above, we argue that a cooperative approach to rhythmic exercises, combining the efforts of both kindergartens and parents/guardians, can help improve children's fundamental movements.
In the instruction of kicking pullover, practice is often carried out with a single goal of achieving a technique. However, to provide each student with the most suitable exercise tasks and instructions, it is effective to set multiple step-by-step goals in the practice process. Therefore, this study set stepwise goals of kicking pullover movement by applying the latent rank theory to the observational evaluation and extracting the proficiency rank. The subjects were 80 elementary school children (39 boys and 41 girls) and 32 university students (11 males and 21 females) who belong to the athletic club, and the video images of the subjects' kicking pullover movements were observed and evaluated. The latent rank theory adopts a 6-rank model, and as a result of interpreting the movement based on the item category reference profile, three ranks were extracted before the technique was achieved, and three were extracted after the technique was achieved. All proficiency ranks appeared in each grade of elementary school students and university students. Stepwise goals from Goal 1 to Goal 5 were set based on the movement indicated by the proficiency rank of kicking pullover. Goal 1: To take off in an upward direction. Goal 2: To take a large step forward. Goal 3: To keep the body close to the horizontal bar by pulling the elbows to the side of the body. Goal 4: To pinch both legs. Goal 5: To raise the waist and let the upper body rise smoothly. It is expected that the stepwise movement goals can be widely used for exercise guidance for children such as elementary school physical education classes and practical skill guidance for university students.
The purpose of this study is overview of injuries to elementary school children in Physical Education Classes by grade level and gender. The data provided by the Japan Sport Council, on injuries in children of seven from 2013 to 2019. The results revealed the following:
This study aimed to assess the physical activity and fitness of the students of two primary schools: one in which students commute to school mainly by bus or car and the other by walking. The “A” primary school included 18 students from grade 3 to 6 (mean age; 10.1 ± 1.7 years) and the “B” primary school included 88 students from grade 3 to 6 (mean age; 10.1 ± 1.3 years) in the study. Time and modes of commuting were assessed using a questionnaire, and physical activity was assessed using an accelerometer. Furthermore, physical fitness was assessed using hand grip, sit-ups, sit and reach, side-to-side steps, 20-meter shuttle run, 50-meter dash, standing broad jump, and ball throwing tests. All students from the “A” primary school used bus or car to commute to and from school. Conversely, in the “B” primary school, 19.3% of students commuted to school by bus or car, whereas 20.5% commuted from school by bus or car. Moreover, no significant difference was observed in the sedentary behavior of the students of both schools. In contrast, all other factors (step count, light physical activity, and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity) were significantly higher for the students of the “B” primary school than those of the “A” primary school. Regarding the physical activity guidelines, none of the “A” primary school students and 54.5% of the “B” primary school students fulfilled the guidelines. Physical fitness of the “B” primary school students was significantly higher than “A” primary school students in sit and reach, 20-meter shuttle run, and 50-meter dash. In conclusion, this study suggested that commuting to and from school by bus or car was associated with low physical activity and fitness.
This study aims to develop a motor play program based on tennis for preschool children and verify its effects. I created a “rolling teni-ping play” program based on the “teni-ping” developed by Imai (2013) and investigated behavioral and affective changes in 5-year-old children.
The decline in children's physical fitness has become a widely recognized problem in recent years. To address this issue, the Japanese government introduced the New Physical Fitness Test in 2008. The latest report shows that more than 80% of elementary schools throughout Japan have been complying with this directive. According to the Japan Sports Agency, 71.1% of the schools were using the test results to help develop their yearly plans; however, as the questionnaires were answered by each of the schools, it is unclear whether the elementary school teachers were actually using the test results effectively or not. The purpose of this research is to identify elementary school teachers' attitude toward the physical fitness test, and to determine how they are utilizing it as an educational tool to stimulate and promote students' personal fitness goals. The research was conducted among 840 teachers who are currently working at elementary schools across Japan. The questionnaires consisted of a total of 11 questions, of which nine required descriptive answers. The KJ method was used to categorize each answer into smaller groups of similar answer. The results showed that the elementary school teachers had both positive and negative perceptions of the physical fitness test, and the two major findings were as follows: (1) Although some of the teachers used the fitness test in their class, they were unable to identify a relationship between the education guidelines and the fitness test; therefore, they could not utilize the test results effectively. (2) Teachers felt burdened by the limited time they have to prepare and manage the New Physical Fitness Test. According to these findings, there should be clearer guidelines on how to use the test effectively, so that both teachers and students will be able to utilize the assessment and implement it to improve their fitness.
