Jamie McGann’s research while affiliated with Dublin City University and other places

Underdevelopment of cognitive abilities in children, such as memory and attention, may make the use of verbal instructions difficult for learning new motor skills. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether visual and haptic cues which emphasize certain instructions facilitate skill acquisition in young tennis players. Twenty children were distributed in 2 groups: experimental (EXP) and control (CON). EXP received a racket with visual and haptic cues while CON trained with a classic racket. The task consisted of playing 30 consecutive forehands during a pretest and 16 weeks post-intervention. EXP displayed a larger improvement both in their technique (better ready position, more balls hit in front and to the side of the body) and in their performance (more points scored), highlighting the positive impact of visual and haptic cues during the early stage of motor learning.

In Ireland, physical education (PE) in the first three years of second level (12-15 years) is taught within the broader program area of Wellbeing, which necessarily influences the aims and objectives which need to be achieved. Within this context, Y-PATH PE4Me is proposed as an underpinning curriculum model to serve as an appropriate and valuable guide to aid delivery of second-level PE. Y-PATH PE4Me aims to enable every student to lead a sustained physically active life. This proposed curriculum model is facilitated by (i) utilising pedagogical strategies to foster an autonomous motivational climate, and (ii) maintaining a consistent focus on core learning outcomes, which emphasise the development of positive attitudes and motivation towards physical activity, health-related knowledge and awareness, and core movement skills. Y-PATH PE4Me offers a structured model to guide well-aligned pedagogical decisions towards the goals and philosophy of wellbeing-aligned PE.

In Ireland, physical education (PE) in the first three years of second level (12–15 years) is taught within the broader program area of Wellbeing, which necessarily influences the aims and objectives which need to be achieved. Within this context, Y-PATH PE4Me is proposed as an underpinning curriculum model to serve as an appropriate and valuable guide to aid delivery of second-level PE. Y-PATH PE4Me aims to enable every student to lead a sustained physically active life. This proposed curriculum model is facilitated by (i) utilising pedagogical strategies to foster an autonomous motivational climate, and (ii) maintaining a consistent focus on core learning outcomes, which emphasise the development of positive attitudes and motivation towards physical activity, health-related knowledge and awareness, and core movement skills. Y-PATH PE4Me offers a structured model to guide well-aligned pedagogical decisions towards the goals and philosophy of wellbeing-aligned PE.

Whole-school physical activity (PA) promotion programmes are recommended to increase youth PA. Evaluation of programmes is essential to ensure practice is guided by evidence. This paper evaluates the Active School Flag (ASF), a whole-school PA promotion programme in Ireland, using the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, Implementation, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) framework. ASF was evaluated across three levels—(1) administration, (2) application, (3) outcomes—using a mixed-methods case study design. Existing data sources were reviewed, the programme coordinator was interviewed, and a pilot study was conducted to investigate impact on 3rd and 5th class students (3 schools, n = 126 students, age range 8–12 years). In-school Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA; by accelerometery), motivation for PA (BREQ), PA self-efficacy (PASES), school affect and peer social support (Kidscreen27) were measured pre-programme (0 months), post-programme (8 months), and at retention (12 months). Teacher perceptions of classroom behaviour (CBAST) were also measured pre- and post-programme. ASF has been successful in engaging 46% of primary schools nationally. Students’ in-school moderate–vigorous PA increased in all pilot-study schools from pre-programme to retention (η² = 0.68–0.84). ASF programme design facilitates implementation fidelity, adoption and maintenance through buy in from schools and government stakeholders. ASF presents as an effective PA promotion programme in the short-to-medium term for primary schools. This RE-AIM evaluation provides evidence of ASF effectiveness, alongside valuable findings that could support programme improvement, and inform future similar programmes.

In order for initiatives targeting physical activity in the school community to be effectively implemented, they need to ‘make sense’ from the school’s perspective. That is, teachers need to see their value and feel confident that implementation will result in change. Teachers also need to feel competent in doing what’s required of them to implement an initiative as intended. This study takes a mixed methods research approach (questionnaire and focus groups) to understand motivations, perceived benefits and challenges associated with implementing the ‘Active School Flag’ (ASF) initiative. Active School Flag ‘coordinators’ from Irish primary schools completed questionnaires (n = 236) and participated in focus groups (n = 19). Data were analysed using descriptive and Thematic Analysis (TA). Findings suggest that schools are both intrinsically motivated (e.g. ‘to improve the health of the children’) and extrinsically motivated (by recognition and status) to implement the ASF initiative. Results also reveal a litany of perceived benefits attributed to ASF implementation (including ‘less active children become more active’). Conversely, results indicate that implementation comes with challenges relating to ‘time’ and ‘paperwork’. Findings of this study have the potential to be used as inputs to improve the ASF implementation process and inform similar future programmes.

Sedentary past‐times such as video gameplay are cited as having a negative effect on children's Fundamental Motor Skills (FMS) acquisition. Conversely, “exergames” utilise 3D sensor control systems (eg, Kinect®) to offer full body interactive user experiences in which FMS outputs are often part of the game “play” experience. This study evaluated the impact that participation in (1) commercial exergames and, (2) purpose‐built exergames had on user locomotor skill outcomes (run, hop, skip, jump and slide) when both sets of games were deployed with a “principled” human‐in‐the‐loop personalisation process. Typically developing children aged between 5 and 6 years were divided into two groups; a control group (n = 20; 45% girls) exposed to commercial exergames and, an experimental group (n = 20; 50% girls) exposed to purpose‐built exergames. Gameplay was delivered daily, in the classroom, over a period of 8 weeks. The Test of Gross Motor Development‐2 was utilised to assess children's locomotor skills at three time points (pre, interim and posttest). A mixed analysis of variance with repeated measures on time was conducted to evaluate results of the experimental group in comparison to the control group. A significant interaction effect was observed relating to Time × Group. Pairwise comparisons with a Bonferroni adjustment demonstrated that the experimental group made significant improvements for each locomotor skill (run, hop, skip, jump and slide) from pretest to posttest while the control group made significant improvements in only one locomotor skill (the slide) over the same timeframe. Results indicate that principled design and deployment of purpose‐built exergames support high quality locomotor outputs and, improved outcomes over time. Practitioner Notes What is already known about this topic A majority of modern children do not possess proficient locomotor skills and cannot hop, skip or even run properly Teachers typically target motor skills in the Physical Education setting but these skills require regular personalised practice to improve performance 3D sensor controlled exergames provide a potential platform to target locomotor skill acquisition in the classroom, but currently lack the necessary design principles to improve user locomotor skill outcomes What this paper adds A suite of “principled” exergames with adaptable features to target locomotor skills in the classroom A human‐in‐the‐loop deployment process that empowers the teacher to be a crucial component of the learning experience Empirical evidence to support the effectiveness of purpose‐built exergames for locomotor skill acquisition purposes in the classroom Implications for practice and/or policy Educators can work with a gaming system to effectively deploy “short bouts” of 3D sensor exergameplay in the classroom and facilitate significantly improved locomotor skills in children. Design and development of educational technology could consider the teacher as a valuable “human intelligent system” capable of making decisions about the user and user experience that the system cannot. This could potentially transform effectiveness of educational technologies from both the teacher and learner perspective.

Research indicates that commercial exergames do not support acquisition of user Fundamental Movement Skills (FMS) owing to both technical and theoretical limitations. That is, affordable 3D sensors (e.g. Kinect®) demonstrate poor accuracy detection enabling users to ‘cheat’ motor skill outputs during gameplay and, lack fundamental design principles crucial to improve motor skill outcomes over time. Accordingly, this study outlines a principled framework to support design and deployment of video games with a primary ‘play’ purpose of motor skill acquisition. A systematic review of effective real-life interventions for motor skill acquisition was undertaken. Twenty-two studies met criteria for inclusion and were then analysed for underpinning ‘principled’ ingredients. Findings were discussed alongside fundamental game design principles, framed by The Theory of Constraints, The Exertion Framework and gaming schema from gaming literature. This led to development of a generalised framework entitled ‘PaCMAn’ (Principles and Conditions for Motor Acquisition). PaCMAn is intended to support effective design of video games for motor skill acquisition and, guide non-gaming experts (teachers, clinicians, researchers) tasked with a ‘human-in-the-loop’ deployment process deemed necessary to negotiate currently existing limitations of affordable 3D sensors.