Manipulative skill competency and health-related physical fitnes in elementary school students

Weiyun Chen*,Steve Mason,Austin Hammond-Bennett,Sandy Zalmout

School of Kinesiology,University of Michigan,Ann Arbor,MI 48109,USA

Manipulative skill competency and health-related physical fitnes in elementary school students

Weiyun Chen*,Steve Mason,Austin Hammond-Bennett,Sandy Zalmout

School of Kinesiology,University of Michigan,Ann Arbor,MI 48109,USA

Background:Improving motor skill competency and enhancing health-related physical fitnes are desired learning outcomes for school-aged children.Achieving motor skill competency and a healthy level of physical fitnes lay a foundation for being a physically active person across a lifetime.The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between levels of manipulative skill competency and physical fitnes for elementary school boys and girls.

Methods:In this study,565 fourth-grade students and their 9 physical education teachers were voluntary participants.The students were assessed in 4 basic specialized manipulative skills and 4 fitnes components during regular physical education lessons.Data were analyzed with descriptive statistics,univariate analyses,and multipleR2liner regression methods.

Results:Boys were more proficien at the manipulative skills than girls,while girls had significan higher percentages for meeting the healthy fitnes zone for the fitnes tests than boys.Four manipulative skills significant y predicted progressive aerobic cardiovascular endurance run (PACER),push-up,and trunk lifts tests atp＜0.05 level,but not curl-up test for both boys and girls.Boys and girls in the skill-competent group significant y outperformed their counterparts in the skill-incompetent group on PACER,push-up,and trunk lifts tests atp＜0.05 level,with an exception of curl-up test.

Conclusion:The more competent in manipulative skills,the higher healthy level in cardiovascular endurance,upper-body muscular strength and endurance,and fl xibility the students demonstrated.Demonstrating manipulative skill competence and maintaining a healthy level of physical fitnes are 2 major desired learning outcomes for elementary school students to be able to achieve.

©2016 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.on behalf of Shanghai University of Sport.This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Fitness assessment;Healthy fitnes zone;Manipulative skill competency;Physical fitness Skill assessment

1.Introduction

Improving motor skill competency and enhancing healthrelated physical fitnes are desired learning outcomes for school-aged children to achieve.1Children who are skillfully competent and physically fi are more likely to be active persons compared to their counterparts who are less skillful and unfit2–8Demonstrating motor skill competency and achieving a healthenhancing level of physical fitnes are cornerstones for developing a physically active lifestyle throughout childhood and adolescence,and into adulthood.2–17

National Standard 1 for K-12 Physical Education(PE)define that students should“demonstrate competency in motor skills and movement patterns”.1According to the outcome expectation for grades 3–5,students’achieving the Standard 1 implies to demonstrate mature forms of fundamental motor skills,to combine one skill with another,and to apply the skills in dynamic situations.1The fundamental motor skills,consisting of locomotor skills,manipulative skills,and non-manipulative skills,are building blocks for successful participation in many sports and various physical activities(PAs).1–8Empirical studies showed that children with adequate motor skill competency spent significant y more time in moderate-to-vigorous PA than children with insufficien motor skill competency.15–18Especially,childhood manipulative skill proficien y was associated with adolescents’participation in a variety of PA and organizedsports and also significant y predicted their cardiovascular fitnes in adolescence.7,8However,given a lack of performancebased motor skill assessment tools in previous studies,2–8,15–18motor skill competency was evaluated either using productoriented criteria with a combined product score or merely process-oriented criteria with“yes”or“no”rating scale.To fil the gaps in motor skill assessments,the National Association for Sport and Physical Education(NASPE)publishedPE Metrics:Assessing the National Standard 1:Elementary,19as a result of conducting 4 years of extensive testing with 4000 students at 90 schools in the US.The PE metrics assessment rubrics are specifical y designed to assess levels of students’competency in fundamental motor skills using both process-and productoriented criteria.19

Likewise,maintaining and enhancing health-related physical fitness including cardiovascular endurance,muscular strength and endurance,fl xibility,and body composition,lays a foundation for participating in a variety of sports and PA.1–14A healthy level of physical fitnes is a key indicator of health status.9–14Students who demonstrated healthy cardiovascular endurance level had a lower level of overall adiposity and abdominal adiposity9and low metabolic risk.11It is shown that muscular strength/endurance was associated with established and emerging cardiovascular disease risk factors.9–11Improvements in muscular fitnes seem to have a positive effect on skeletal health.9Healthy physical fitnes in children and adolescents tend to track healthy fitnes in adulthood.9–13Given the essential role of physical fitnes in maintaining health,schools should conduct physical fitnes testing to determine how well students meet the National Standard 4:Achieves and Maintains a Health-enhancing Level of Physical Fitness.1Recently,the FITNESSGRAM®test has been used to assess students’levels of physical fitness2–8It is a nationally recognized,valid,and reliable fitnes assessment toolkit specifical y designed for assessing cardiovascular endurance,muscular strength and endurance,fl xibility,and body composition through a variety of test items.20The FITNESSGRAM®7test compares the testing scores to the healthy fitnes zone(HFZ)standards based on specifi age and gender guidelines to evaluate boys’and girls’physical fitnes levels on each test and suggest areas for improvement.20

Despite that manipulative skills are central to a variety of sports and PA and manipulative skill competency contributed significant y more to children’participation in sports and PA than locomotor skill competency,2–7few studies had ever assessed elementary school students’both process and product of performance in manipulative skills using the PE metrics assessments rubrics.19Therefore,the impact of manipulative skill competency assessed with both process-and productoriented criteria on healthy levels of physical fitnes in elementary school students remains largely unknown.Thus,this study aimed at examining relationships between levels of manipulative skill competency and levels of health-related physical fitnes in elementary school boys and girls.This study will provide empirical insight about what specifi manipulative skills contribute to what specifi health-related fitnes components for boys and girls.

2.Methods

2.1.Participants

Five hundred and sixty-fi e fourth-grade students and their 9 PE teachers from 9 elementary schools located in a suburban area in the US were recruited as subjects from the third year of theHealthy Kids and Smart Kidsproject.The project was designed to help elementary school students become physically active,mentally healthy,and socially cooperative children through implementing the Coordinated Approach to Child Health(CATCH)PE curriculum and Mileage Club(MC)Recess Program as well as family/community events.21–23The project was awarded Carol White Physical Education Program(PEP) grant by U.S.Department of Education.

In this study,the fourth-grade students consisted of 318 of boys and 247 of girls aged 9–10 years old who completed all tests.The social-economic status of the students’family ranged from lower-middle,middle,to upper-middle classes.The fourthgrade students had one 60-min co-ed PE class each week,a total of 72 weeks during an academic year.The regular PE class size ranged from 18 to 28 students.Students with learning disabilities participated in a special education class which was not included in this study.Four male and 5 female PE teachers’ages ranged from 33 to 55 years old and their teaching experience varied from 6 to 26 years.The University of Michigan Health Sciences and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board(IRB-HSBS) and the school district granted the permission for conducting this study.The student’s parent/guardian signed the consent form to grant the permission for their child to participate in this study.All 9 PE teachers signed the consent form to indicate their willingness to participate in this study.

2.2.Data collection

2.2.1.Motor skill measurements

Students’performance in 4 manipulative skills was assessed with validated PE metrics assessment rubrics19by their PE teachers who underwent 3 days of training in PE Metrics.Each assessment rubric has its specifi essential dimensions,performance indicators(assessment criteria for each level of the rating scale)on 0–4 rating scales,and the number of trial for testing.19Table 1 presents the criteria for competence(Level 3) on each essential dimension and the total competent score on each skill assessment described in the PE metrics.To learn more detailed information about each skill assessment,please refer to the PE metrics.19

Four manipulative skills selected from the PE metrics19and assessed in this study were soccer dribbling,passing,and receiving skills,overhand throwing skill,striking skill with a paddle,and basketball dribbling,passing,and receiving skills. The rationales for assessing the 4 manipulative skills are that they are the core PE content taught to upper-elementary school students and they are basic manipulative skills used playing a variety of team-and individual-sports by upper-elementary school students.1

Throughout the academic year of 2011–2012,the soccer skills were assessed in the firs week of October,the throwingskill was assessed in the second week of November,the striking skill with a paddle was assessed in the second week of January, and the basketball skills were assessed in the second week of March.Each PE teacher was required to strictly use the PE metrics assessment testing protocols,directions,assessment criteria,assessment rubrics,and assessment tasks19to conduct each skill assessment with 1 student at a time in the school gymnasium during a regular PE class at his/her school.

Table 1 Criteria for competence(Level 3)on each essential dimension of the PE metrics assessment rubrics.

In this study,the Cronbachαreliability coefficient of soccer skills,throwing skill,striking skill with a paddle,and basketball skills assessments were 0.90,0.89,0.88,and 0.92. The results showed that 4 manipulative skill assessments had satisfactory internal consistency reliability.24

2.2.2.FITNESSGRAM®tests

Students’ physical fitnes was assessed using 4 FITNESSGRAM®test items20by their PE teachers who attended 1-day training.The physical fitnes tests included:(a) 15 m version of progressive aerobic cardiovascular endurance run(PACER)for cardiovascular endurance,(b)curl-up test for abdominal muscular strength and endurance,(c)push-up test for upper body strength and endurance,and(d)trunk lift for trunk extensor strength and fl xibility.During the firs 2 weeks of May,each PE teacher administered 1 physical fitnes test at a time to their students in the school gymnasium during a regular PE lesson in accordance with the testing protocols such as test objective,equipment and facilities,test instructions,when to stop the test,and scoring described in FITNESSGRAM®Test Administration Manual.20For PACER test,a group of students were tested at a time while the other group of students counted and recorded their partner’s number of successful running laps on the PACER testing sheet.After the completion of the test,each group switched its role.For the other 3 fitnes tests,the PE teacher tested 1 student at a time and recorded the student’s score on each testing scoring sheet. Then,each PE teacher used the FITNESSGRAM®software (Version 8.4;the Cooper Institute,Dallas,TX,USA)to record the testing results.

The FITNESSGRAM®test uses criterion-referenced standards to classify fitnes levels into the HFZ and the Needs Improvement(NI)Zone.20If a child’s score on a fitnes test is in the HFZ he/she is considered to have a healthy level of that specifi fitness In contrast,the NI indicates that if the student continues to track at this level there is the potential for future health risks.The HFZ is define specifical y for each test type, age,and gender.20The“FITNESSGRAM®standards for HFZ for boys”and the“FITNESSGRAM®standards for HFZ for girls”were used to determine whether a student’s score on each test was placed into the HFZ or not.20

2.3.Data analysis

SPSS statistics software(Version 21.0;IBM Cooperation, Armonk,NY,USA)was used to conduct all statistical analysis of the data assessed in this study.A significan level ofp＜0.05 was set for all statistical analysis.To determine levels and proportions of boys’and girls’demonstration of competency in each manipulative skill assessment and meeting the HFZ in each physical fitnes test,descriptive statistics and percentageswere computed.To examine the mean score difference in each manipulative skill assessment between boys and girls,the independent samplettest was utilized.To examine if there was a significan difference of observed frequency for meeting HFZ between boys and girls on each physical fitnes test,the Fisher exactχ2method was conducted.Regardless of the genderspecifi guidelines for HFZ,to determine the mean score difference in each physical fitnes test between boys and girls,the independent samplettest was utilized.

Given gender differences in the manipulative skill assessments and physical fitnestests by means of the univariate analysis,the rest of statistical analysis were conducted for boys and girls separately.A composite score of the skill competent level in the 4 skill tests were computed to classify an overall skill competence into 2 groups(skill-competent level=42–56 scores,skill-incompetent level=14–41 scores)based on the PE metrics criteria for definin the competent level.To examine whether the manipulative skills predicted the HFZ in each physical fitnes test for boys and girls,the multipleR2linear regression analyses were then performed using the total score of each manipulative skill assessment as predictors.Subsequently, to assess the relative importance of each manipulative skill in predicting each physical fitnes test for boys and girls,the standardized multiple regression coefficient were analyzed. Furthermore,to examine mean score difference of each physical fitnes test between the 2 levels of overall skill competency, the independent samplettest was conducted by gender.

3.Results

3.1.Descriptive statistics and univariate analysis in manipulative skill assessments

Table 2 presents the descriptive statistics of manipulative skill assessments by gender and the total sample.The mean score of the total sample was slightly higher than the competent level on soccer skills,throwing skill,and basketball skills, while the mean score of the total sample was at the competent level on striking skill assessment.Boys’mean scores of 4 manipulative skill assessments and girls’mean scores of 3 skill assessments were slightly higher than the competent level,but girls’mean score of striking skill assessment was lower than the competent level.Independent samplettests indicated that boys scored significant y higher than girls on soccer skills(t=3.55,df=563),overhand throwing skill (t=4.59,df=563),basketball skills(t=5.23,df=563),and striking skill(t=4.01,df=563)atp＜0.01 significan level.

Among 318 boys,92%of them demonstrated the competent level or above in basketball skills,84%in throwing skill,81% in soccer skills,and 70%in striking skill.Of 247 girls,83%of the girls demonstrated the competent level or above in basketball skills,76%in throwing skill,68%in soccer skills,and 56% in striking skill.Results ofχ2tests revealed a significan difference of percentages between boys and girls on soccer skills (χ2=26.29,df=9),throwing skill(χ2=45.47,df=16),basketball skills(χ2=35.67,df=8),and striking skills(χ2=24.30,df=6)at the significan level ofp＜0.01.

Table 2 Descriptive statistics for manipulative skills by gender and total sample.

3.2.Descriptive statistics and univariate analysis in physical ftness tests

Table 3 presents descriptive statistics of physical fitnes tests by gender and the total sample.To meet the HFZ standards for 15 m PACER test,a 10-year-old boy should run between 30 and 80 laps,while a 10-year-old girl run between 9 and 54 laps.20For PACER test,boys’mean score was on the low end of HFZ and 47%of the boys ran 30 laps or more,meeting the HFZ.In contrast,the girls’mean score was in the middle of HFZ and 98%of the girls ran 9 laps or more,reaching HFZ.χ2testindicated that the percentage of girls who met the HFZ was significanty higher than that of boys based on the genderspecifi guidelines(χ2=113.89,df=63,p＜0.01).However, regardless of the age-and gender-specifi guidelines for the healthy zone,an independentttest was used to examine the mean lap differences between the boys and the girls.The results of thettest indicated that boys statistically outperformed girls on the PACER test(meanboys=30vs.meangirls=25,t=3.578,df=563,p＜0.01).

Table 3 Descriptive statistics of physical fitnes tests by gender and total sample.

To reach the HFZ for the curl-up test,10-year-old boys and girls need to complete 12–24 and 12–26 curl-ups.20For curl-up test,bothboys’and girls’mean scores were higher than thehigh end of HFZ.Seventy-seven percent of boys and 83%of girls met HFZ and above.Aχ2test revealed that the percentage of girls’meeting the HFZ was statistically and significant y higher than that of boys’(χ2=84.6,df=60,p＜0.05).However,ttest revealed no statistically significan difference in the mean score of curl-up test between boys and girls(meanboys=27vs. meangirls=27,t=0.138,df=563,p＞0.05).

To meet the HFZ for push-up test,10-year-old boys and girls need to perform 7–20 and 7–15 completed push-ups.20Regarding push-up test,boys’and girls’mean scores were moderately higher than the low end of HFZ.Seventy-fi e percent of boys and 73%of girls reached HFZ.Aχ2test yielded no significan difference of percentages for meeting the HFZ between boys and girls.In contrast,the results of thettest indicated that boys’mean score in push-up test was significantly higher than girls’(meanboys=13vs.meangirls=12,t=2.285,df=563,p＜0.05).

To meet the HFZ for the trunk lift test,both boys and girls need to lift the upper body 9–12 inches off the floo from the prone position.20For trunk lift test,boys’and girls’mean scores were close to the high end of HFZ.Eighty-seven percent of boys and 92%of girls met HFZ.Aχ2test indicated that the percentage of girls reaching HFZ was statistically and signifi cantly higher than that of boys(χ2=22.59,df=12,p＜0.05). Similarly,thettest yielded a significan mean score difference in the trunk lift test between boys and girls(meanboys=10.98vs. meangirls=11.43,t=-3.349,df=563,p＜0.01).

3.3.Predictors of manipulative skills to physical ftness tests

Table 4 presents the results of the multipleR2linear regression analysis with manipulative skills predicting each physical fitnes test for boys and girls.The regression model with the 4 manipulative skills as independent variables and PACER test as a dependent variable indicated that these skills significant y predicted PACER test for boys(F(4,313)=10.98,p＜0.01)and girls(F(4,242)=2.93,p＜0.05).These manipulative skills explained 12%of the variance in PACER test for boys and 5% for girls.The results of standardized regression coefficient(β) for boys indicated that basketball and throwing skills were significan contributors to predicting the number of laps run for PACER test,while soccer and striking skills did not display significanβweights.In contrast,none of the skills for girls displayed significanβweights atp＜0.05 level.

The regression model containing 4 manipulative skills predictors of push-up test revealed that the 4 skills significant ypredicted the number of push-up performed by boys(F(4, 313)=6.54,p＜0.01)and girls(F(4,242)=6.49,p＜0.01).The 4 skills accounted for 8%of the variance in the number of push-up completed by boys and 10%for girls.For boys,basketball skills demonstrated significanβweight.In contrast, throwing and striking skills displayed significanβweights for girls.

Table 4 Results of multipleR2regression model using manipulative skills predicting physical fitnes tests.

The regression model with the 4 manipulative skills as predictors of trunk lift test indicated that the 4 skills significant y predicted trunk lift for boys(F(4,313)=9.21,p＜0.01)and girls(F(4,242)=10.69,p＜0.01).The 4 skills explained 11% of the variance in trunk lift for boys and 15%for girls.Striking and soccer skills for boys and throwing,basketball and striking skills for girls displayed significanβweights.The regression model with the 4 manipulative skills as predictors of curl-up test revealed no significan associations for boys and girls.

3.4.Differences in physical ftness tests between skill competent and skill incompetent groups

The composite skill competent score of 42 in the 4 manipulative skill assessments was used to classify 261 boys into the skill-competent group and 57 boys into the skill-incompetent group.Table 5 shows boys’mean scores of physical fitnes tests between the skill-competent and the skill-incompetent groups. The results ofttests indicated that boys in the skill-competent group significant y outperformed their counterparts in the skillincompetent group on PACER(t=4.54,df=85.39,p＜0.01), push-up(t=2.96,df=81.76,p＜0.01),and trunk lift test (t=2.30,df=74.04,p＜0.05),but not on curl-up test.

Similarly,the composite skill competent score of 42 in the 4 manipulative skill assessments was used to classify 173 girls into the skill-competent group and 74 girls into the skillincompetent group.Table 5 shows girls’mean scores of fitnes tests between the skill-competent and skill-incompetent groups. Results ofttests revealed a significanc difference of mean scores between the 2 groups for PACER(t=4.45,df=206.25), push-up(t=4.39,df=169.17),and trunk lift test(t=2.86,df=96.93)atp＜0.01 significan level,not for curl-up test.

4.Discussion

This study was central to examining the relationship between levels of manipulative skill competency and levels of health-related physical fitness The discussion of the results was organized into 4 parts:(a)gender differences in manipulative skills,(b)gender differences in physical fitnes tests,(c)relationship between manipulative skills and physical fitnes by gender,and(d)physical fitnes differences between skillcompetent and skill-incompetent groups.

4.1.Gender differences in manipulative skills

Consistent with the previous studies,5–8,25–27this study found gender differences in manipulative skill competence.Previous studies5–8,25–27showed that boys were more proficien than girls in manipulative skill performance.Similarly,this study confi med that boys were more skillfully competent in performing all 4 manipulative skills than girls.The gender differences in the 4 manipulative skills might be related to environmental influences15–17Due to the fact that 3 of the 4 skills including soccer dribbling,passing,and receiving skills,overhand throwing skill,and basketball dribbling,passing,and receiving skills are all basic specialized skills used for playing team sports. These team sports are more popular among boys than girls. Boys are more likely to play these team sports during recesses in school and outside of school,compared to girls.Therefore, participation in these team sports may be considered more socially acceptable for boys,compared to girls.Given the social environment influences boys may have more opportunities to participate in these sports.Therefore,they may have more opportunities to practice and refin the manipulative skills widely used in playing these sports.15–18

However,it is important to note that despite the gender differences in the manipulative skill competence,the promising results of this study indicated that both boys and girls,on average,demonstrated slightly higher than the competent level on the manipulative skills,except for girls’performance on striking skill assessment,which was slightly lower than the competent level.The results of this study were much better than the finding reported by Zhu et al.28who examined levels of fifth-rade students’manipulative skill competency while testing the validity of the PE metrics assessment rubrics.They reported that fifth-rade students,on average,scored 1 level lower than the competent level in soccer dribbling,passing,and receiving skills,scored slightly lower than the competent level in overhand throwing skill,and demonstrated 2 levels lower than the competent level in striking skill with a paddle.

4.2.Gender differences in physical ftness tests

Largely in line with the previous studies,2–8this study found gender differences in physical fitnes tests.According to the gender-specifi standards for the HFZ,almost all girls(98%)in this study met HFZ in PACER test,while less than half of the boys(47%)reaching the HFZ for cardiovascular endurance. However,comparing the mean laps,boys ran significan more laps than girls.Likewise,Erwin and Castelli6reported that boys statistically outperformed girls on PACER tests.Similarly, Barnett et al.7found that boys ran more laps than girls on cardiovascular endurance test.

Despite the higher percentage of girls’meeting the curl-up HFZ than that of boys,both girls and boys had same mean scoreof the curl-up test.Erwin and Castelli6also reported no statistically significan difference on the curl-ups by gender.Regarding the push-up test,the boys had slightly higher percentages for meeting the HFZ than the girls.Also,boys performed significanty higher number of push-ups than girls.Inconsistent with this finding the studies5,6found no significan difference in the mean score of the push-up test between boys and girls.For the trunk lift test,consistent with previous studies5–8that the girls had better fl xibility than the boys,this study found that more girls met the HFZ compared to boys and girls were more fl xible than boys.

Table 5 Physical fitnes tests between skill-competent and skill-incompetent groups by gender(mean±SD).

It is worthy to note that the proportions of the students’meeting the HFZ for the 4 fitnes tests were higher,compare to previous studies.5,6Both boys and girls of this study,on average, met the HFZ for cardiovascular endurance,upper-body strength and endurance,back extension strength and fl xibility,and reached a higher level than the HFZ for abdominal muscular strength and endurance.The promising results of the manipulative skills assessments and physical fitnes tests might be attributed to the third year of implementation of the project including teaching CATCH PE curriculum and conducting mileage club recess program.The CATCH PE curriculum provides students with developmentally appropriate PE content which maps most of the essential content addressed by the national standards.29The instructional practices of the CATCH PE are associated with maximizing time on task and learning opportunities,increasing levels of physical activity in PE class, and providing students with congruent and specifi feedback about their motor performance.29

4.3.Relationship between manipulative skills and physical ftness

In accordance with previous studies that manipulative skill proficien y was significant y associated with health-related physical fitness2–8this study found that all 4 manipulative skills were significan predictors of cardiovascular endurance,upperbody muscular strength and endurance,and back extensor fl xibility in upper-elementary school students.

Supporting the previous studies2–8that strength of the associations between the manipulative skills and physical fitnes tests was gender-specific one unique findin of this study was that the manipulative skill competency contributed to cardiovascular endurance more for boys than for girls.Furthermore, basketball skills and throwing skill were more significan predictors of the total variance in PACER test for boys.Partially inconsistent with this study,Okely et al.8found that a model containing fundamental locomotor and manipulative skills explained more variances in cardiovascular endurance test for adolescent girls than for boys.Given the significan role of manipulative skills in contributing to the healthy level of cardiovascular endurance for boys,this study suggests that to better enhance boys’cardiovascular endurance,school PE should provide quality instructions and developmentally appropriate learning opportunities for students to improve manipulative skills.

Another unique finding were that the manipulative skills competency were significan contributor to push-up and trunk lift tests more for girls,compared to boys.For boys,basketball skills were significan predictors of the variance in push-up test; soccer and striking skills were significan predictors of the variance in trunk lift test.In contrast,for girls,throwing and striking skills were significan predictors to the variance in push-up test;throwing skill,basketball skills,and striking skill were significan contributors to the variance in trunk lift test. The results indicated that manipulative skills,especially throwing and striking skills are instrumental to improving girls’upper body strength and back extensor fl xibility.To effectively enhance girls’upper body strength and endurance and fl xibility,PE teachers may engage students in practicing throwing and striking skills with different types of balls and rackets and performing the skills with different ways within the context of a variety of learning tasks and game situations.

4.4.Physical ftness differences between skill-competent and skill-incompetent groups

In line with the finding of previous studies,2–8this study confi med that elementary school students’manipulative skill competency played a critical role in contributing to their healthy levels of health-related fitness This study confi med that both boys and girls who were skillfully competent in performing all 4 manipulative skills were more physically fit compared to their counterparts who were less competent in the manipulative skills.

Regarding the differences in cardiovascular endurance between the skill-competent and the skill-incompetent groups, this study showed that boys who demonstrated the competent level in all 4 manipulative skills exhibited a very healthy level of cardiovascular endurance.In contrast,boys who were in skill-incompetent group did not reach the HFZ in cardiovascular endurance.Consistent with the present findings previous study4found that children with motor skill competence showed good cardiovascular fitnes performance,while children with motor skill incompetence performed poorly on a cardiovascular fitnes test.Although the girls in the skill-competent and skillincompetent groups all reached the HFZ for cardiovascular endurance,the girls who were manipulative skill competent ran significan more laps than the girls who were manipulative skill incompetent.In other words,the girls who demonstrated manipulative skill competent level reached more toward high end of the HFZ in PACER test with the mean lap of 27.27(HFZ of 9–54 laps),while the girls who showed manipulative skill incompetent level reached more toward low end of the HFZ in PACER test with the mean score of 20.57.

With respect to the differences in muscular strength and endurance between the skill-competent and the skill-incompetent group,this study showed that both boys and girls who were manipulative skill competent demonstrated more healthier level of upper-body muscular strength and endurance and fl xibility, compared to their counterparts who were manipulative skill incompetent,although boys and girls in the 2 groups met the HFZ for upper-body muscular strength and endurance,and back extensor strength and fl xibility.Both boys and girls who demonstrated manipulative skill competence reached high end of HFZ for push-up with mean score of 14.13 and 12.95(HFZ:7–20 for boys,7–15 for girls),compared to their counterparts who showed manipulative skill in-competence with the mean score of 10.12 and 8.80 in push-up test.Similarly,both boys and girls who demonstrated manipulative skill competence reached toward high end of HFZ in trunk lift test with mean score of 11.10 and 11.62(HFZ:9–12 for boys and girls),compared to their counterparts who were manipulative skill incompetent. Interestingly,both boys and girls in skill-competent group performed lower number of curl-ups than their counterparts in the skill-incompetent group,though no statistically significan difference was found.

Due to the more competent in the manipulative skills,the more physically fi in the health-related physical fitnes in upper elementary schools students,this study suggests that school PE should continually focus on teaching the essential content like manipulativeskills which are used in playing a variety ofsports. This is because that mastery of manipulative skills while playing the sports is a major vehicle for elementary school students to maintain and enhance health-enhancing level of physical fitness

5.Conclusion

It was concluded that boys outperformed girls on all 4 manipulative skills,but girls outperformed boys on 3 fitnes tests,except for push-up test.All 4 manipulative skills were significanty contributed to PACER,push-up,and trunk lift tests for boys and girls,but not curl-up test.However,the magnitudes of the manipulative skills predicting and contributing to healthy levels of physical fitnes were gender-specific Demonstration of competency in manipulative skills was instrumental to promoting healthy levels of physical fitnes for boys and girls.This study suggests that manipulative skills used for playing a variety of team and individual sports should be essential PE content for elementary schools students to learn and improve through engaging in developmentally appropriate learning activities.Demonstrating manipulative skill competency is one of the major desired learning outcomes for elementary school students to be able to achieve.Given the purpose of this study and age-specifi HFZ standards used for each physical fitnes test in FITNESSGRAM®,this study was limited to use crosssectional research design to examine the relationship between manipulative skills and physical fitnes in fourth-grade students.

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank the students and their physical education teachers of Huron Valley Public Schools for participating in this project.This study was funded by U.S.Department of Education,Carol White Physical Education Program grant(CFDA 84.215F).

Authors’contributions

WC designed the project,analyzed the data,and drafted the manuscript.SM,AHB,and SZ searched the literature on motor skills and fitness input the data,and edited the manuscript.All authors have read and approved the fina version of the manuscript,and agree with the order of the presentation of the authors.

Competing interests

There is no financia assistance with this project.There is no conflic of interests regarding financia and/or non-financia aspects.We do not have any financia interest of the subject matter discussed in the manuscript.

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Received 6 September 2014;revised 12 December 2014;accepted 9 March 2015

Available online 29 May 2015

Peer review under responsibility of Shanghai University of Sport.

*Corresponding author.

E-mail address:chenwy@umich.edu(W.Chen).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2015.03.007

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