Research on the Development and Verification of Children’s Fundamental Motor Skills Test System Based on Physical Literacy Evaluation

Objective: Children's Fundamental Motor Skill(FMS) measurement is a core component of physical literacy assessment and an important indicator for assessing, diagnosing, and monitoring the development of individual movement. Based on the classic measurement theory and movement development theory, considering the language and cultural background of China, it was aimed to develop a FMS testing system for Chinese children based on physical literacy assessment. Methods: The Delphi method was used to construct two sets of FMS measurement systems for children aged 3 to 5 and 6 to 9 years; the reliability, validity and feasibility of the measurement system were verified on 651 children in Shanghai. Results: The sub-test items for the 3 to 5 years old stage include:10-meter round-trip running, continuous jumping with both feet, kicking the ball over obstacles, one-handed coins, walking on the balance beam, and standing on one foot; the sub-test items for the 6~9 years old stage include: sliding sideways, jumping continuously on one foot, kicking the ball over obstacles, changing hands on the spot, walking the balance beam, and walking backwards in a straight line. The test-retest reliability coefficients were 0.66 to 0.94, and the internal consistency reliability coefficients were 0.66 and 0.62, respectively. The test results of all age children in the structural validity was improved with age(P<0.05); 95.24% of the sub-test items in simultaneous validity have significant correlation with the American Test of Gross Motor Development(TGMD-3)(P<0.05). Conclusions: The FMS testing system constructed in this study can be used to assess the development of FMS in Chinese children aged 3-9 years old.