Effect of a gamified program on physical fitness and motor coordination

Abstract

The objective of this study was to analyze the effect on motor coordination, lower body strength and agility of a gamified Physical Education programme developed to improve the ability to jump in schoolchildren between 8 and 11 years old. A pre-post quasi-experimental design was used with two groups (experimental group: 172 boys and 157 girls; Control group: 99 boys and 69 girls). Motor coordination was measured through the 3JS test, the ability to jump horizontally with feet together, and the ability to jump vertically by jumping with counter movement. Agility was assessed through the 4x10 test. A mixed design of factorial variance analysis was applied in which the intervention and sex were inter-subject fixed effect factors, while the time of measurement of the variable was a repeated measures factor within-subjects with two levels. The present study showed that a gamified teaching approach in Physical Education improved the performance of lower body strength, agility, and motor coordination. However, no differences were found based on sex and age.