Effects of Selected Exercises on Elementary School Third Grade Girl Students’ Motor Development

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to examine the influence of selected exercises on motor development in elementary school third grade girl students in Ahwaz City, Iran. METHODS: The present study was semi–experimental, performed as field and using experimental and control groups. The statistical population included all third grade girl students of elementary schools of Ahvaz city (10,500 subjects). Forty of whom were randomly selected (cluster stage) and then were divided randomly into two experimental (N=20, Mean age=8.9±0.49) and control (N=20, Mean age=8.9±0.48) groups. Experimental group was given training for eight weeks, 3 sessions per week and each session lasting 45 minutes. To measure motor development, the Test of Gross Motor Development, edition2 (TGMD-2; 2002) was applied. Statistical analysis was performed using independent t-test and paired t-test. RESULTS: The results showed statistically significant differences between control and experimental groups regarding locomotion skills (8.433, P<0.05), manipulation skills (10.951, P<0.001) and overall motor development (13.203, P<0.001). In fact, selected exercises impacted on the motor development of subjects and led to their motor development progress. CONCLUSIONS: The selected exercises can be used as an appropriate plan to improve motor skill development in third grade of elementary school.