Title: Athletic literacy. Objectives: The aim of my study was to compare athletic literacy of 1st and 5th-graders and to test if children can perform basic athletic excercises and can be therefore called athletically literate. Methods: Cross-sectional study, video analysis. Results: Fifth-graders performed the excersises more precisely compared to first- graders. Their performance was more coordinated and smooth. However, in video analysis of key phases of movements (nodal points) the difference wasn't as pronounced as expected. Children from both groups have similiar motoric skills, but fifth-graders have more experience and orientate better in the movements. Indeed, this "extra" ability is what can be called athletic literacy. Children not only learned the movements, but also know how to use them properly. Keywords: Physical literacy, athletic literacy, kinogram.

Topic: Physical literacy Goals: The aproximation of physical literacy, collection and evaluation questionnaires of physical literacy knowledge and students anamnesis. Description of applicants progress in the specific movement skills. Method: Unified questionnaires was used for obtaining informations. We make video for movement analysis. Results: The results didn't obtain our expectation that students are able to express precisely the content of physical literacy by specific skills. However, they have expected attitude to early specialization in sport that is not important in all kind of sport. Finally, the applicants have moved forward to their movement skills. Key words: athletic, physical literacy, students

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of circus arts instruction on the physical literacy (PL) of children in grades 4 and 5. Methods: A prospective, clustered, quasi-experimental design was used to compare schools with circus arts instruction in physical education class (PE CIRCUS) to three matched schools using standard Physical Health and Education curriculum delivery (PE). PL assessments were obtained at the beginning and end of one semester using PLAY Tools (physicalliteracy.ca). These tools provided an assessment of 1) motor competence, confidence, and comprehension, 2) the child's self-report of physical literacy, 3) the PE teacher's surrogate assessment of the child, 4) the parental assessment of the child, and 5) an inventory of the child's activities. Results: 211 students participated, with equal numbers in grades 4 and 5, and an even distribution between PE and PE CIRCUS groups. There were significant (p<0.05) improvements in motor competence in movement skills (curricular linked) over time for both school settings, but with substantial endpoint differences (7.9%, p<0.01) in favour of PE CIRCUS for 15 of 18 movement skills in grade 5 only. The gender gap in motor competence in the PE CIRCUS group was smaller than that in the PE group. Children in the PE CIRCUS schools revealed greater movement terminology comprehension and higher confidence in execution (p<0.05). Children in the PE CIRCUS schools reported greater confidence, felt more talented, were more eager to participate (p=0.055), and girls associated physical activity with happiness (p<0.05) more than those in the PE schools. Conclusion: Circus arts instruction can effectively aid in the development of physical literacy in children. Providing a quality physical literacy experience, such as circus arts instruction, does not amplify the gender gap, but provides equitable levels of motor competence development for males and females, and assists with achieving current PE curricular objectives. The results of this study provide insight to allow for further development of effective physical education delivery methods in schools, and provide quantitative research to support the positive effects of circus arts instruction reported qualitatively. / October 2015

Background: Children with congenital heart disease (CHD) often face barriers unique to their diagnoses, making participation in community physical activity programs difficult. This pilot, feasibility study evaluated the appropriateness (i.e. feasibility and enjoyment ) of the Sportball program among a group of children with CHD. This study also sought to observe any changes in physical literacy outcomes and to explore physical activity perceptions of participants, in order to better inform the future use of community-based interventions for this population. Methods: This study employed a mixed-methods evaluation of a 10-week community-based intervention. Data from two focus groups (baseline and post-intervention) and field notes after each intervention session were collected. Physical literacy outcomes were determined using the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy. Results: Participants with CHD (n=9) successfully participated in Sportball, as demonstrated by the ability of all participants to complete program activities, participants’ overall enjoyment of the program and fair attendance (approximately 80% of intervention sessions). Improvements in motor skill and torso strength were observed, with a statistically significant difference (p < 0.01) in motor skill classification. Participation in Sportball facilitated positive social interactions during sport and was influenced by personal, social and environmental factors. Conclusion: Overall, participation in Sportball is appropriate for children with CHD who may have motor development delays and/or activity restrictions.

It is well established that engaging in a physically active lifestyle benefits the long-term development and well-being of all children and youth. For children living with chronic medical conditions (CMCs), the benefits of participating in physical activity are critically important for achieving positive health outcomes and mitigating the risk of secondary chronic disease and more significant morbidity. Unfortunately, most children with CMCs are insufficiently active to achieve its associated benefits, often citing disease-related barriers to participation. To better understand how children with CMCs navigate their participation in physical activity, the concept of physical literacy can be applied as a helpful lens. In brief, physical literacy describes one’s physical, cognitive, and affective capacities to engage in an active lifestyle. Despite facing unique risks and barriers in active contexts, some evidence suggests that children with CMCs can still achieve or excel in their physical literacy. This suggests that those who are struggling to navigate their participation in an active lifestyle would benefit from potential support in their physical literacy development. However, efforts to intervene could be misplaced or misguided without adequate contextual knowledge about how the lived experiences of children with CMCs inform their physical literacy development. The overall purpose of this research was to comprehensively examine how physical literacy is developed among children with CMCs. Collectively, this is accomplished throughout the dissertation by contextualising, describing, and reflecting on how children with CMCs develop physical literacy. Margaret Whitehead’s conceptualisation of physical literacy was the guiding framework for this work, built on a philosophical foundation combining monism, existentialism, and phenomenology. A pragmatic approach was applied to guide the research process, employing mixed and multiple methods. This research was conducted with school-aged children, 8 to 12 years old, living with CMCs and recruited from outpatient Cardiology, Endocrinology, Hematology, Cystic Fibrosis/Respirology, and Neurology clinics at a local children’s hospital in Ottawa, Ontario. Where applicable, physical literacy was measured using the second edition of the Canadian Assessment of Physical Literacy. Qualitative methods were strategically applied and combined throughout the research program, including interviews, focus groups, open-ended questionnaires and field notes. This research was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which dramatically influenced physical activity behaviours worldwide. Thus, the physical literacy development of children with CMCs could only be understood by first acknowledging the relative impact of the pandemic. The purpose of Article 1 was to evaluate and understand how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the physical literacy development of children with CMCs during the first two years (2020-22). Compared to pre-pandemic matched pairs, the overall physical literacy levels of children with CMCs were significantly diminished during the pandemic, driven primarily by decreases in physical competence and daily behaviour. It was challenging for children with CMCs to play active games in the context of the pandemic, where they had to learn how to navigate additional constraints to prevent the spread of COVID-19. These precautions also constrained how children with CMCs developed social connections, which was cited as a reason that participants felt less motivated to engage in physical activities during the pandemic. Children with CMCs also spoke hesitantly about returning to pre-pandemic activities, as they perceived changes in their physical competence and the participation contexts would make it difficult to be engaged (i.e., mask-wearing requirements, uncertain safety rules, potentially sudden closures). Nonetheless, participants with CMCs maintained high levels of measured intrinsic motivation and confidence in physical activity. Once the pandemic context was better understood, the purpose of Article 2 was to describe the overall physical literacy development of children with CMCs by examining measured outcomes and comparing the experiences and perspectives of those with high and low levels of physical literacy. Most children with CMCs (~80%) were beginning (< 17th percentile) or progressing (<65th percentile) in their physical literacy journey when compared to normative classifications. Total physical literacy seemingly contributed to a sense of self and how participants with CMCs approached new experiences. In the affective domain, attitudes towards physical activity were generally informed by prior experiences, and the meaningfulness of physical activity was more salient than enjoyment. In their physical competence, participants with CMCs found it particularly difficult to navigate bodily self-regulation alongside complex movement patterns and understood the implications of practice for sustained participation in physical activity. Cognitively, it is promising that children with CMCs adopted general definitions of physical activity, recognising the benefits of an active lifestyle for their health, and understood the relative importance of evaluating risks in active contexts. Participants with higher scores spoke more about physical activity experiences where the affective, cognitive, physical, and behavioural domains seemingly overlapped (i.e., curiosity in active settings, valuing practice experiences, performing complex movement patterns in game contexts, etc.). Overall, findings identified multiple areas where children with CMCs may be supported in their physical literacy development, including opportunities to practice bodily self-regulation strategies and develop confidence in risk evaluation. Finally, the purpose of Article 3 was to reflect upon the acquired knowledge of physical literacy among children with CMCs by observing how it may be applied within a community-based setting. The “I Can Play Anything” multi-sport program was developed for the RA Centre, a community-based recreational facility in Ottawa, Ontario. The program was designed based on the concept of physical literacy and teaching principles drawn from various behaviour change theories, including self-determination theory. Descriptive, reflective and reflexive data were collected using a combination of interviews, focus groups, field notes and open-ended questionnaires. The developed themes represent the combined expectations, applications, and potential implications of the program for children with CMCs, which are: 1) Learning to play, 2) Inclusion supported by individualised variations, and 3) Understanding one’s need for rest. Reported perceptions and experiences within the community-based multi-sport program reflect how children with CMCs may be effectively supported in similar, active contexts. The final chapter of this dissertation integrates the results from all three articles, emphasising areas of physical literacy development which are particularly relevant to the lived experiences of children with CMCs. Salient ideas discussed throughout this dissertation were recognising and valuing skill progressions developed through practice, the influence of meaningful experiences on active behaviours, self-regulating activity intensities in active contexts, and applying a general definition of embodied participation to physical literacy. My research contributes valuable knowledge to the methodological, theoretical, and practical advancement of physical literacy research, particularly among children with CMCs. This dissertation emphasises and encourages the unique potential for collaboration between the health and recreation sectors to facilitate the ongoing physical literacy development of children living with CMCs.

The purpose of the study is to make teachers' perspective visible on the concept of physical ability in the subject PE, especially linked to assessment. Fair assessment and teachers' interpretation of the governing documents are central in my study, they have highlighted how everyone's individual opinion affects their grading, etc. A theoretical starting point is Liu and Chen's (2021) study where they describe what Physical literacy is and why it could be developed into an asset for the Swedish system as well.Several other studies point to how the teachers find it difficult to interpret the concepts and that teaching that takes place at the same school between physical education teachers looks different, that the teachers do not assess in the same way and that the assessment is not fair for the students. The results from my qualitative study showed that all teachers have different views when it comes to defining concepts such as physical ability, but that they all have similar connections between them. Also, how some of the teachers highlight how the curriculum is too open to interpretation and that it affects the fair assessment. Furthermore, the results strengthened how the teachers are affected by their professional time, that the experience creates a sense of security and sometimes safety when grading. The result shows that too high demands are placed on the teachers and that they need more direct directives and clearer explanations of concepts to strive for a fairer assessment, with which you can analyze my result with.

Physical literacy (PL) is defined as the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to value and take responsibility for engagement inphysical activities for life. The concept has become more prominent during recent years and has also inspired the latest curriculum for physical education and health (PEH) in Sweden. There has not yet been many empirical studies on the concept. The aim of this study was to explore elementary school PEH teachers’ knowledge, understanding and application of the psychological domains of PL. Five PEH teachers working with school children in grades 1-3 were interviewed and the data was analyzed using thematic analysis. Results showed that the teachers were used to teaching knowledge and understanding, and they had strategies to foster confidence but did not have the same systematic approach or understanding of motivation. In addition, the teachers emphasised emotions and social relations as important dimensions in PEH. The implications of this study is that there is a foundation for letting PL influence PEH in Sweden to a greater extent but there are also challenges to this aspiration. More empirical research on implementation of PL is needed. / Rörelserikedom eller ”physical literacy” (PL) definieras som att med motivation, självförtroende, kunskap, förståelse och fysisk kompetens värdesätta och utveckla ett livslångt intresse för fysisk aktivitet. Konceptet har fått stort genomslag under senare år och har också inspirerat den senaste läroplanen för idrott och hälsa i Sverige. Empiriska studier av konceptet har inte ännu gjorts i någon större utsträckning. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka kunskap, förståelse och tillämpning av de psykologiska domänerna i PL hos idrottslärare i lågstadiet. Fem lärare som undervisar idrott och hälsa i årskurs 1-3 intervjuades och data analyserades genom tematisk analys. Resultatet visade på att lärarna var vana vid att lära ut kunskap och förståelse, de hade strategier för att främja självförtroende men de hade inte samma systematiska angreppssätt eller förståelse för motivation. Utöver detta så betonade lärarna känslornas och de sociala relationernas vikt inom idrott och hälsa. Studien implicerar att det finns underlag för att låta PL influera idrott och hälsa i Sverige i större utsträckning, men det finns också utmaningar till denna strävan. Det behövs mer empirisk forskning på implementering av PL.

Title: Swimming literacy of 11-12 year old kids Goals: The aim of this thesis is to identify and assess the level of swimming literacy of children at the eight year high school. Swimming level reference file is going to be assessed in relation to the defined primary and post the swimming literacy (see Sec. 2.3). We are going to work with a group of 24 pupils who shares swimming training in compulsory education. Method: In this work, we collected the data based on the observation and videorecording. Through expert evaluation using scaling, we obtained a video processed and evaluated. The obtained data are subjected to final processing using nonparametric statistical methods. Results: Based on the results of the work we can see that the level of the reference set of swimming is sufficient in terms of primary and post-literacy of the swimming. Watched group of boys and girls are not differ significantly from each other, except for one test in which the difference between boys and girls was significant. Key words: physical literacy, swimming literacy, diagnosis of the swimming literacy

This thesis deals with questions about the built environment in relation to the education of the body. The purpose of the thesis is to illustrate and discuss prerequisites for physical literacy and education in school gymnasiums. The aim of the study was to examine how discourses about body and body movement are related to questions about knowledge and education within physical education in school (PE). Using discourse analysis I explore how discursive practices such as rooms and talk produce, reproduce and change discourses about body, movement and knowledge. The discursive practices that I have focused on are the designing of rooms for physical education as well as PE teachers’ ways of expressing themselves regarding these kinds of rooms. The empirical material that has been analyzed consists of rooms used for physical education, interviews with PE teachers and text material from a journal for PE teachers. The results of the analysis suggest that some discourses can be described as strong and/or dominant and some as weaker. One example is the dominant discourse about body movement as competition and performance. Another example is the strong, although not dominant discourse about body movement as practice within which the body is (re)produced as a learning body. A third one is the weak discourse about movement as experiencing one’s body. One of the conclusions of the study is that a more open design of rooms for physical education would enhance the possibilities for the practice discourse and the experience discourse to grow stronger, which would be desirable considering the emphasis on learning and positive experiences of body movement in the syllabus for PE. Another conclusion is that if the practice discourse would be more clearly materialized in the gymnasiums, it could mean that other discursive practices too such as teachers’ and pupils’ speech acts and body acts within PE could change more easily.

How are we moving, or how much physical activities are present in societal settingssuch as eldercare units, schools, universities and offices? This general question was explored using different design-oriented approaches in four cases, with children,elderly, students and office workers. The results unveil a complexity of the problemarea that initially seemed quite straightforward. In many of the explored settings and situations, and for many of the participants, the activities they are engaged with do not include or encourage their abilities for physical movements to any great extent and this is not in line with the extent of movement that they actually desire. Physical activity can be defined as an activity performed through movement that expends energy. Research results from the public health domains and related areas show a major concern for the negative effects related to low levels of physical activity and prolonged sedentary postures found in many of the above-mentioned settings. In general, physical activities of today seem mainly related to sports, and specific activities designed for improving health and well-being. The participants in the four explorative case studies in this thesis demonstrated how they would like their physical activities to be integrated in the everyday activities of the different settings explored and not mainly as a separate activity specifically dedicated for health and well-being. How can knowledge of physical activity inform the design and development of interactive products and systems in these settings? New insights were gained through design-oriented explorations together with the participants inthe different field settings and through analysis of these observations. The results are not only the insights gained through the analysed empirical observations but also include a physical activity-oriented design method called Physical Movement Sketching as well as experiences from using Movement Probes. The experiences from using these two design methods led me to formulate a proposal for a new approach called Movement Acumen Design. This approach applies a socioecological perspective on physical activities. It provides methods and concepts to support the integration of physical activities into everyday activities performed with the support of interactive technology and it argues that physical activity should reclaim a more central role in these situations. Let us design for it to happen! / <p>QC 20150217</p>