PED 201-Spring 2011: Lab #1                                                        Hannah Johnson

1. I found that at St. Mary’s that a lot of the older kids like to go on their own and play games such as basketball or soccer. They usually played in small groups, with another person, or even alone. Many of the older kids seemed as if they didn’t want us to tell them what to do, they wanted to play the game they wanted to. With the younger kids they loved the idea that you were teaching them a new game and were excited to join in and play. They couldn’t do things like playing basketball or soccer on their own because they don’t have the skills needed to do that yet. They liked playing simple games like tag, where they could run around and chase one another. I think that grade level influences motor behavior, the older you are the better you get a certain skills or games. I didn’t see a huge difference between genders of ability; some of the girls didn’t want to play games and sat out, while every boy was playing a game.

2.  The older kids were using hand-eye coordination when playing basketball and having to catch the ball. They were also using foot-eye coordination when playing soccer. I didn’t see a lot of the little kids using hand-eye coordination because many of the activities they weren’t using balls. When they played SWAT though they used a noodle to hit older students; in a sense they had to use their senses and be able to tell how far away they needed to be to hit the other student below the waste with the noodle. The younger student’s reflexes and coordination wasn’t as well developed as the older kids. Many times they play simple games were they just run because it is easier for them than trying to stop balls or throw or kick them, they are slowly developing these kids as they get older.