Background: It is widely recommended for teachers to provide positive feedback to foster the development and maintenance of children's motivation and perseverance. However, not all positive feedback has positive consequences and an important differentiation can be made between positive person-oriented feedback (i.e. 'you are very talented') and…

Background: Many Irish children are failing to meet the recommended guidelines for physical activity. Research shows that children are failing to develop the necessary physical literacy skills to reverse this trend. Early childhood has been identified as a critical period to intervene, with the school environment identified as a key environment to…

Background: The meaningful assessment of motor competence is well positioned for school-based curricular emphasis, through the integration of motor skills and movement patterns in both primary, and second level school physical education. Aligned with the growing interest in holistic motor competence assessment in physical education, the aim of…

Background: Exergames are a new socio-technological phenomenon consisting of digital motor games that aim to stimulate players' motor skills. The physical-motor component of exergames has been well studied, but knowing more about their possible psychological effects in the school context is interesting to promote physical exercise practice.…

Background: The bicycle is a popular means of transportation, exercise, recreation and also socializing for children worldwide, allowing them several physical and psychological benefits. Several methodologies and types of bicycles have been used for learning how to cycle, however, the best approach is still unclear. Purpose: The purpose of this…

Background: The relation between physical activity (PA), motor skills and cognitive function in children is receiving considerable attention. To transition scientific evidence into pedagogical practice, however, we need to further our understanding of which qualitative PA characteristics are best suited to stimulate motor skills and executive…

Background: Physical practice is the cornerstone of acquiring and developing movement skills in physical education and sport. However, research has suggested that psychological tools, such as mental imagery (MI), could effectively supplement a learner's physical practice schedule. MI is the mental simulation of a movement or situation in the…

Background: Fundamental Motor Skills (FMS) are important building blocks for children's sport-participation and lifelong physical activity. In the last decade, several international studies have reported delays in the development of FMS. To get better insight into the Dutch situation and to provide future directions, this study examined the…

Background: Although physical literacy is explicitly defined and integrated into Canadian provincial physical education curricula, limited empirical evidence substantiates the development of physical literacy in elementary physical education. Despite physical education curricular expectations, developing and assessing physical literacy in students…

Introduction: Recently Baggs and Chemero (2018. "Radical Embodiment in Two Directions." "Synthese," 1-16. doi:10.1007/s11229-018-02020-9) advocated for the possible 'productive synthesis' between the enactive and the ecological approaches in order to understand and to explain how an agent behaves and interacts with the…

Purpose: This article is centered on the Mixed Methods Research (MMR) used by the "Sports Life" research team to analyze the conditions under which social interactions are developed in the physical education (PE) setting and PE teacher training context. Firstly, we focus on the value of combining various types of quantitative data with…

Background: The implementation of a quality daily physical activity program in school is influenced by a multitude of factors. Considering the characteristics and possible interactions of factors when choosing the study methods is likely to influence the interpretation of the results. Mixed methods approach, by collecting both quantitative and…

Background: The construct of physical literacy is gaining traction internationally and yet measurement of physical literacy is in its infancy. This paper describes the development of a pictorial child report scale of perceived physical literacy based on the comprehensive Australian Physical Literacy Framework, which includes 30 elements within…

Background: Sport Education (SE: Siedentop, D., P. A. Hastie, and H. Van der Mars. 2019. "Complete Guide to Sport Education." 3rd ed. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics) is a pedagogical model that has been espoused to develop physically literate students through more authentic sports experiences in physical education (Hastie, P. A., and T.…

Background: Motivation for physical education (PE) is considered an important factor for the development of children's physical skills during PE. According to self-determination theory, satisfaction of the psychological needs of autonomy, relatedness, and competence is related to higher levels of autonomous motivation, and lower levels of…