LESSON COMPENDIUM IN
PEd 211 – PRINCIPLES of MOTOR CONTROL and
LEARNING of EXERCISE, SPORTS and DANCE
ESSU Maydolong Campus
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This Learning Compendium is exclusively for the use of ESSU for its flexible learning
modality and is not for sale.
Made possible through the effort of:
PASEL RAMIREZ- DERATAS, EDD-PE
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KNOWING
MOTOR SKILLS
In this chapter, students will be equipped with the knowledge on basic motor skills,
types of motor skills, and its developments. The principles of learning motor skills will guide
students associate learnings leading to fine motor skill performance. Such development or
delay of motor skill will give students optimum understanding on the importance of learning
motor skills from early life stages to skill performance stages.
Upon completion of this chapter, students are expected to:
1. Gain basic understanding on motor skills and its development and how it affects
learnings.
2. Identify and discuss principles of learning motor skills.
3. Perform the basic motor skills necessary in achieving fine motor skill performance.
4. Give reflections on the delay and/ or development of motor skill in actual life situations.
Motor Skills
A. UNDERSTANDING MOTOR SKILLS
A motor skill is a learned ability to cause a predetermined movement outcome with
maximum certainty. It refers to the ability to perform specific tasks and physical movements.
Motor learning is the relatively permanent change in the ability to perform a skill as a
result of practice or experience. Performance is an act of executing a motor skill.
The goal of motor skill is to optimize the ability to perform the skill at the rate of success,
precision, and to reduce the energy consumption required for performance. Continuous
practice of a specific motor skill will result in a greatly improved performance.
Motor skills are skills that enable the movements and tasks done every day- from
feeding oneself to moving from place to place. Typically, children develop certain motor skills
at specific ages, but not every child reaches milestones at precisely the same time. A child
with motor impairments has trouble moving in a controlled, coordinated, and efficient way. If a
child seems to be delayed in developing fine or gross motor skills, they should undergo an
assessment and may require physical or occupational therapy to catch up.
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B. TYPES OF MOTOR SKILLS
Motor skills are movements and actions of the muscles. Typically, they are
categorized into two, the gross and fine motor skills:
GROSS MOTOR SKILLS
• Requires the use of large muscle groups in the body to allow for balance,
coordination, reaction time, and physical strength so that bigger movements
can be done, such as walking and jumping.
• The skill required is not extensive and therefore are usually associated with
continuous tasks.
• Much of the development of these skills occurs during early childhood.
• The performance level of gross motor skill remains unchanged after periods of
non-use.
• Gross motor skills can be further divided into two subgroups:
1. Oculomotor Skills- running, jumping, sliding, and swimming
2. Object-Control Skills- throwing, catching and kicking
FINE MOTOR SKILLS
• Requires the use of smaller muscle groups to perform a high degree of control
and precision with smaller movements with the wrists, hands, fingers, and the
feet and toes.
• These tasks are precise in nature- like playing the piano, writing carefully, and
blinking.
• Discrete tasks usually require more fine motor skill than gross motor skills.
• Generally, there is a retention loss of fine motor skills over a period of non-use.
• Fine motor skills can become impaired. Some reasons for impairment could be
injury, illness, stroke, congenital deformities, cerebral palsy, and
developmental disabilities. Problems with the brain, spinal cord, peripheral
nerves, muscles, or joints can also have an effect on fine motor skills, and
decrease control.
C. THE LOCOMOTOR, NON-LOCOMOTOR and MANIPULATIVE SKILLS
LOCOMOTOR SKILLS enable children to move through different environments,
moving their body from one place to another.
The key locomotor skills are walking, running, jumping, hopping, crawling,
marching, climbing, galloping, sliding, leaping, hopping, and skipping.
NON-LOCOMOTOR SKILLS enable a person to move on the spot without any change
in location.
Skills include twisting (the rotation of a selected body part around its long axis);
bending (moving a joint); swaying i.e. fluidly and gradually shifting the center of gravity
from one body part to another; stretching i.e. moving body parts away from the center
of gravity; turning i.e. rotating the body along the long axis; swinging i.e. rhythmical,
smooth motion of a body part resembling a pendulum.
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MANIPULATIVE SKILLS
A MANIPULATIVE SKILL is one in which a child handles an object with the hands,
feet, or other body parts.
Manipulative skills are basic to the development of sport skills; throwing,
catching, bouncing, rolling, kicking, and striking (with and without an object).
Motor Skills Development
A. PRINCIPLES OF MOTOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
Motor skills develop in different parts of a body along three principles:
1. Cephalocaudal
• Development from head to foot.
• The head develops earlier than the hand. For example, an infant is able to
follow something with their eyes before they can touch or grab it.
• Similarly, hand coordination develops before the coordination of the legs and
feet.
2. Proximodistal
• Movement of limbs that are closer to the body develop before the parts that are
further away, such as a baby learns to control the upper arm before the hands
or fingers.
• Fine movements of the fingers are the last to develop in the body.
3. Gross to Specific
• A pattern in which larger muscle movements develop before finer movements.
For example, a child only being able to pick up large objects, starts picking up
an object that is small between the thumb and fingers.
• The earlier movements involve larger groups of muscles, but as the child grows
finer movements become possible and specific things can be achieved.
B. CHARACTERISTICS OF MOTOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
1. In children, a critical period for the acquisition of motor skills is in preschool years (ages
3–5), as fundamental neuroanatomic structure shows significant development,
elaboration, and myelination over the course of this period.
2. Many factors contribute to the rate that children develop their motor skills. Unless
afflicted with a severe disability, children are expected to develop a wide range of basic
movement abilities and motor skills.
3. Motor skill development progresses in seven stages throughout an individual's life:
reflexive, rudimentary, fundamental, sports skill, growth and refinement, peak
performance, and regression.
4. Development is age-related but is not age dependent. In regard to age, it is seen that
typical developments are expected to attain gross motor skills used for postural control
and vertical mobility by 5 years of age.
5. Dominant development in boys are balance skills (gross motor), and, in girls are
manual skills (fine motor).
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In the childhood stages of development, gender differences can greatly
influence motor skills. In the article "An Investigation of Age and Gender Differences in
Preschool Children's Specific Motor Skills", girls scored significantly higher than boys
on visual motor and graphomotor tasks. The results from this study suggest that girls
attain manual dexterity earlier than boys. Variability of results in the tests can be
attributed towards the multiplicity of different assessment tools used.
Environment can greatly influence motor skills . Parents and teachers often
encourage girls to engage in [quiet] activities requiring fine motor skills, while boys
are tolerated to participate in dynamic movement actions. In the journal article
"Gender Differences in Motor Skill Proficiency From Childhood to Adolescence" by Lisa
Barrett, the evidence for gender-based motor skills is apparent. In general, boys are
more skillful in object control and object manipulation skills. These tasks
include throwing, kicking, and catching skills. These skills were tested and
concluded that boys perform better with these tasks. There was no evidence for the
difference in locomotor skill between the genders, but both are improved in the
intervention of physical activity.
C. ASPECT OF MOTOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
There are six aspects of motor skills development:
1. Qualitative – changes in movement-process results in changes in movement-
outcome.
2. Sequential – certain motor patterns precede others.
3. Cumulative – current movements are built on previous ones.
4. Directional – cephalocaudal or proximodistal
5. Multifactorial – numerous-factors impact
6. Individual – dependent on each person
D. COMPONENTS OF MOTOR SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
• Growth – increase in the size of the body or its parts as the individual progresses
toward maturity (quantitative structural changes)
• Maturation – refers to qualitative changes that enable one to progress to higher
levels of functioning; it is primarily innate
• Experience or learning – refers to factors within the environment that may alter or
modify the appearance of various developmental characteristics through the
process of learning
• Adaptation – refers to the complex interplay or interaction between forces within
the individual (nature) and the environment (nurture)
Principles of Learning Motor Skills
A. Principle of Interest
The student's attitude toward learning a skill determines for the most part the
amount and kind of learning that takes place.
B. Principle of Practice
Practicing the motor skill correctly is essential for learning to take place.
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C. Principle of Distributed Practice
General short periods of intense practice will result in more learning than
longer, massed practice sessions.
D. Principle of Skill Specificity
The student’s ability to perform one motor skill effectively is independent of
his/her ability to perform other motor skills.
E. Principle of Whole-Part Learning
The complexity of the skill to be learned and the leaner's ability determine
whether it is more efficient to teach the whole skill or break the skill into component
parts.
F. Principle of Transfer
The more identical two tasks are the greater the possibility that positive
transfer will occur.
Practice conditions should match the conditions in which the motor skill is
going to be used.
G. Principle of Skill Improvement
The development of motor skills progresses along a continuum from least
mature to most mature. The rate of progression and the amount of progress within an
individual depends upon the interaction of nature and nurture.
H. Principle of Feedback
Internal and external sources of information about motor performance is
essential for learning to take place.
I. Principle of Variable Practice
Block practice aids in performance while variable practice aids in learning.
Variable practice causes an increase in attention .
Motor Skills Delay
A. GROSS MOTOR SKILLS DELAY
Motor skill developmental delays may be related to problems with gross motor
skills, such as crawling or walking, or fine motor skills, such as using fingers to grasp
a spoon.
Causes:
Possible causes of motor skill delays. Children who are born prematurely may
not develop muscles at the same rate as other children.
• Premature birth: some babies born prematurely experience health issues that
might affect their gross motor development. They may develop slower than
their peers. Premature babies also sometimes have delayed muscle growth
and development.
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Treatment:
Gross motor skill delays may also be a sign of Dyspraxia. If children's gross
motor delays affect movements, they may receive physical therapy to help with gross
motor skills or they may need modifications or assistive technology to keep up with
mobility or athletics.
B. FINE MOTOR SKILLS DELAY
If a child has difficulties with fine motor skills they might: Have an awkward or
immature pencil grasp for their age. Have messy, slow or laborious drawing,
colouring or writing skills. Fatigue quickly when typing or using a mouse on a computer.
Have difficulty (or achieves a messy/choppy outcome) when using scissors.
Causes:
• Children with neurological conditions or developmental delays may have
difficulty with fine motor skills. Difficulties with fine motor skills often aren't
diagnosed until preschool when it becomes more obvious that children are
struggling with different school activities, such as learning to copy shapes or
letters.
• Some children are diagnosed with dysgraphia, a learning difference that affects
writing skills, while others might be diagnosed with developmental coordination
disorder (DCD or dyspraxia), a condition that is still not widely understood.
Signs of Fine Motor Delay
• Has trouble grasping or releasing objects.
• Lacks hand-eye coordination.
• Appears clumsy.
• Doesn't use both hands together.
Treatment
Kids with fine motor skill difficulties might need occupational therapy,
modifications, or assistive technology.
How To Test Fine Motor Skills
Grade Screening Test
Bilateral Coordination – for K 1-3: Balance on each foot for 10 seconds
Fine Motor Functions- for K-3: Jumping up and down on two feet and landing on
both feet while clapping hands
Upper Extremity Coordination- for K: Toss and catch ball or bounce and catch,
five times
