Cognitive style and teaching style influences on the motor skill performance of 11 and 12 year old physical education students

The current study examined the influence of cognitive style and teaching style on the motor skill performance of children. A sample of 163 students aged 11 to 12 years old (M = 11.31, SD = 0.46) were categorized as either field dependent or field independent on the basis of their scores on the Group Embedded Figures Test. Children completed a ball handling skills task that assessed throwing and catching abilities at the commencement and completion of the treatment. Sessions were delivered for 15 minutes at the commencement of their standard lessons that were undertaken over a period of one academic year. Analysis of variance was used to contrast pre and post test throwing and catching skill change scores (i.e., motor skill) of students categorized as field dependent or field independent for each of the holistic, analytic and control teaching groups. The Tukey's Honest Significant Difference post hoc test was used to analyse the motor skill change score differences according to teaching protocol group. A preset alpha level of α = .05 was used for all statistical procedures. A significant between subject difference was found for the teaching protocol category (F (2, 157) = (3.298, p = .040, η2p = .040). No significant differences were found for the interaction of teaching protocol and cognitive style. A significant post hoc difference was found for the contrast according to teaching protocol between the holistic and analytic groups, p = .048. These findings highlight that student performance in a throwing and catching task was influenced by both the matching and mis-matching of cognitive style and teaching style within the field independent sample. The children categorized as field dependent did not demonstrate any significant changes in the performance task as an outcome of participation in any of the three teaching groups.