MARK DONALD NOVEMBER 5 TH, 2014 Self-Perception of Ability for New Physical Activities and Physical Literacy in Children

Overview Introduction Review of Literature Purpose Hypothesis Methodology Acknowledgements

Introduction What is physical literacy? Why is it important? How do we assess it? “A physically literate individual moves with poise, economy and confidence in a wide variety of physically challenging situations” (Whitehead, 2001, p. 131).

Review of Literature Children are able to develop a perception of how proficient they are at certain tasks (Eccles et al., 1993) Perceived competence influences physical activity choices (Bell, 2007; Lintunen et al., 1999)

Review of Literature Transfer of fundamental movement skills is essential for trying new physical activities (Rosalie & Muller, 2012) “The physically literate individual is perceptive in 'reading' all aspects of the physical environment, anticipating movement needs or possibilities and responding appropriately to these, with intelligence and imagination.” (Whitehead, 2001)

Purpose To examine the relationship between a child’s self- perception of their ability to try new physical activities to their overall physical literacy.

Hypothesis It is hypothesized that there will be a positive correlation between perceived ability to try new physical activities and overall physical literacy scores.

Study Design Cross-sectional study Approximately 200 participants between ages 8 to 12 yrs Research ethics approval received from St.FX University, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, and the Strait Regional School Board.

Methodology Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy (HALO, 2014) Examines 4 domains of physical literacy

Participants Participants: student in grades 4-6 (8-12 yrs old) in schools from the Strait Regional School Board Grade 4 students enrolled in Fit4Life program at St. FX University Informed consent, informed assent and health screening form to be completed prior to testing

Physical Competence FITNESSGRAM PACER 15/20m shuttle run (Merideth & Welk, 2010) Obstacle course (HALO, 2014)

Obstacle Course Layout

Physical Competence FITNESSGRAM PACER 15/20m shuttle run (Merideth & Welk, 2010) Obstacle course (HALO, 2014) Grip strength - Smedley Grip Tester, CSEP protocol (CHMS, 2010) Isometric plank hold (Boyer et al., 2013) BMI z-score percentile (WHO 2007, HALO 2014) Waist circumference- CSEP Protocol (Ardern et al. 2004) Sit and reach test- CSEP protocol (CHMS 2010)

Daily Behaviours Daily step count- Stepscount Piezo SC- StepMVX pedometer (Tudor- Locke et al., 2004) Sedentary time-Knowledge of Physical Activity Questionnaire (HALO, 2013) Moderate to vigorous physical activity levels- Knowledge of Physical Activity Questionnaire (HALO, 2013)

Knowledge and Understanding Knowledge of Physical Activity Questionnaire (HALO, 2013)

Motivation and Confidence Knowledge of Physical Activity Questionnaire (HALO, 2013) “What's more like me?” (Hay, 1992)

Scoring

Comparison Question three, section six of Knowledge of Physical Activity Questionnaire

Statistical Analysis Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient between the overall physical literacy scores and the response to question three, section six will be calculated using SPSS (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 20.0) Level of significance is set at p ≤ 0.05

Questions

Acknowledgements My thanks to my advisor, Dr. Angie Kolen and my second reader, Dr. Melanie Lam for sharing their advice, guidance and expertise