Enhancing early children’s basic handwriting skills through hands-on participant team teaching: A monadic experimental design

Abstract

This study investigated the impact of hands-on participant team teaching (HPTT) on children’s basic handwriting skills. Pre-test and post-test were conducted to measure changes in accuracy, correct strokes, consistency, control, grip, independence, and neatness. Initial observations revealed a teaching approach that heavily relied on parental assistance, which raised concerns about the student’s proficiency in basic handwriting skills. This monadic experimental study used seven early childhood pupils at a San Jose City, Philippines public school. Three researchers immersed themselves in teaching the selected students using HPTT, after a pre-test followed by a series of interventions then ended with a post-test. Experts validated rubrics used for scoring the pre-test and post-test. Qualitative data were gathered using semi-structured interviews. The pre-test results indicated a substantial deficit in basic handwriting skills. However, following the implementation of HPTT, the mean post-test score substantially increased, underscoring the effectiveness of the team-teaching intervention. Another critical finding is that guidance and personalized support play a pivotal role. Students who receive consistent help, especially in managing strokes and grips, consistently improve their handwriting abilities. This study highlights the impact of structured interventions and personalized assistance in honing handwriting skills. This highlights the potential of HPTT as an effective teaching method for enhancing children’s basic handwriting skills. The study underscores the importance of innovative and interactive teaching strategies and calls for further research to explore these findings’ long-term effects and generalizability to diverse student populations and settings.

Keywords

• collaborative
• fine motor skills
• early childhood education
• philippines