Design, validation and administration of an observation tool for assessing water psychomotor skills in pre-school education

Abstract

This research has aimed to create a new observation tool that lets the assessment of water psychomotor skills as well as the knowledge of its current state of development through its administration. In order to that, 8 experts (Physical Education teachers and swimming monitors all of them), have analyzed the Observation Tool for Assessing Water Psychomotor skills, composed by 5 factors (familiarization with the context, balance, displacement, handling and social relationships) reporting satisfactory results. Furthermore, the water psychomotor development of 58 children aged between 3 and 6 years old was studied. Displacement and handling factors got the highest values meanwhile social relationships got the lowest value. Likewise, 5-6 years old group showed significant higher levels of water psychomotor development than 3-4 years old group.

Keywords

• habilidades motrices
• desarrollo motor
• actividades acuáticas
• natación infantil