Everyone Can Implement Eduball in Physical Education to Develop Cognitive and Motor Skills in Primary School Students

Abstract

Studies suggest that incorporating core academic subjects into physical education (PE) stimulates the development of both motor and cognitive skills in primary school students. For example, several experiments show that children’s participation in Eduball, i.e., a method that uses educational balls with printed letters, numbers, and other signs, improves their physical fitness while simultaneously developing their mathematical and language skills. However, the question of who should conduct such classes to make them most effective (regular classroom teachers, physical education teachers, or maybe both in cooperation?) remains unanswered. Here, we replicated a previous Eduball experiment, but now, instead of one experimental group, there were three. In the first, Eduball-classes were conducted by the classroom teacher, in the second, by the physical education teacher, and in the third, collaboratively. After one year intervention, all experimental groups significantly improved both their cognitive (mathematical, reading, and writing) and gross motor (locomotor and object control) skills, and these effects were larger than in the control group participating in traditional PE. Importantly, there were no differences in progression between the Eduball-groups. Thus, our study demonstrates that methods linking PE with cognitive tasks can be effectively used by both PE specialists and general classroom teachers.

Physical Education with Eduball Stimulates Non-Native Language Learning in Primary School Students

“…Additionally, this set contains four unprinted orange balls that could be used as universal blanks (see Figure 1b). Precisely as in the Eduball experiments replicated here (for more details, see [24][25][26][27][28]), various activities from the Eduball games set [44,45] were incorporated into PE lesson plans. However, the games were selected not only for the thematic cycle and the day's theme (in compliance with the curricula) as in the past Eduball studies, but also for the current level of development in a non-native language.…”

“…However, the games were selected not only for the thematic cycle and the day's theme (in compliance with the curricula) as in the past Eduball studies, but also for the current level of development in a non-native language. Therefore, while students prac- Precisely as in the Eduball experiments replicated here (for more details, see [24][25][26][27][28]), various activities from the Eduball games set [44,45] were incorporated into PE lesson plans. However, the games were selected not only for the thematic cycle and the day's theme (in compliance with the curricula) as in the past Eduball studies, but also for the current level of development in a non-native language.…”

“…Nevertheless, all the activities were based on the core curriculum. Most of all, it is worth emphasizing that adapting the games to the students' English language level never changed the idea of Eduball, and each game reflected the basic principles of the method (for detailed descriptions of the Eduball method, see [22][23][24][25][26][27][28]).…”

“…Eduball enables merging movement with learning content using a set of educational balls for team mini-games printed with letters, numbers, and other signs. Our studies to date [22][23][24][25][26][27][28] show that participation in the Eduball classes, or in classes with very similar balls called SmartBall, used by other authors [29], influences both motor and academic achievements. For the latter, the Eduball method improves various aspects of fundamental school skills, such as mathematical and language dexterities [24][25][26].…”

“…Notably, the Eduball method is easy-to-use and does not require a drastic change in the curriculum or any special methodical preparation. Furthermore, all types of child teachers (i.e., regular school teachers, PE teachers, and both of them in collaboration) can use Eduball effectively to develop cognitive and motor skills in school students [28]. Additionally, Eduball can be successfully used as therapeutic support for low-performing students, particularly children diagnosed with such complex language disorders as dyslexia.…”