The Place, Role and Importance of Motor
Games in the Physical Education Lesson
for Secondary School Pupils
MIRCEA DRAGU¹, CORINA DOBROTA2 ,
CONSTANTIN PLOEŞTEANU3
DUNAREA DE JOS UNIVERSITY OF GALATI,
ROMANIA
Introductory remarks
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Social insight may be influenced by the following game characteristics:
It presumes assigning roles as well as knowing and observing certain rules;
thus, the game participants learn that their relationship with the others
presupposes a general consensus;
It operates as a means of creating new interpersonal relations and modifying
former relations, as well as choosing social partners;
It is a means of verifying the relations with others and their attitude towards us,
as seen in the moment of choosing teams/ sides by assigning roles within the
members of the same team;
It shows that success and action efficiency also depend on others; at a certain
point of interpersonal interaction, someone’s own actions are also compared to
the partners’ actions;
It serves as a means of post-analysis and anticipation of interpersonal relations,
and possible behaviours in a future situation;
It is a means of appropriating the negotiation behavior; choosing the game
elements (place, leader, teammates, etc.) constitutes learning the manner of
presenting and complying with demands in relation to others;
It is a means of natural experimenting of certain interactional presuppositions
and behavior strategies in case of success or failure.
Introductory remarks
 Movement games have certain advantages, through content, form and effects, over
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other types of exercise. Thus, they provide the optimum circumstances of
simultaneous development of the basic and specific motor skills, as well as the mental
qualities and personality features.
“Through games, children spend their energy” [Acsinte, (2007), 28] , getting involved
in “serious” work similar to the circumstances in real life. Due to the multiple
favourable influences over children, “movement games have become an important
method in physical education, […] included in the lesson content and at all levels”
[Antohe & Hutupas, (2002), 57].
It is well known that sports teachers make intense use of movement games, clearly
expressing the role of movement, and the “quality of the teaching technique is the one
improving the game character to higher standards” [Hansa & Calin, (2004), 191].
[…] “in physical education the motor game is one of the main means” [Dragu, (2006),
76].
Since each game has precise rules, the child learns “to correctly assess the concrete
game situations, take individual decisions, or decisions correlated with the
teammates’ , in an intellectually challenging manner” [Ploesteanu, (2004), 7]. That is
why games should be pleasant, stimulating, to produce enthusiasm and emulation,
but also able to form knowledge, skills and abilities, training the child for life and
work. During play, the child is taught how to observe, think, search for solutions to
various punctual problems, stimulating his initiative, creativity, etc. in cooperation
with his teammates and even the opponents.
Introductory remarks
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Movement games favour:
The balanced development of the child’s nervous system;
Better stimulation of the metabolic processes;
Improvement of the functions of the respiratory and
circulatory systems, contributing to strengthening the
entire body;
Development of the basic and applicative motor skills;
Development of physical attributes;
Harmonious physical development “in close connection
to all the other educational components: intellectual,
moral , aesthetic” [Dragu, (2004) , 48].
Introductory remarks
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Motor games have a clear finality, evincing the
following objectives:
they educate the general motor ability;
they favour a harmonious physical development;
they contribute to forming moral and social
conscience;
they contribute to improving the intellect;
they support social integration.
Research hypotheses
 Taking into account the pupils movement needs, it
was deemed necessary to integrate movement games
in the fifth graders’ physical education lessons, in
order to obtain better results in accumulating motor
skills;
 By practising applicative routines in movement
games, pupils acquire the ability to act not only
during physical education lessons, but also
independently in similar situations, by motor skill
associations created spontaneously.
Subjects
 five 5th grade classes were selected:
69 subjects enrolled in 3 parallel classes making up a sample of
37 girls and a sample of 32 boys (for the experiment proper).
 53 subjects enrolled in 2 classes making up a sample of 27 girls
and a sample of 26 boys (control).
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 None of the subjects belongs to sports clubs or
associations or has ever trained in a sporting
discipline.
Research organisation
 The experiment took place at the School no.17 in the
county of Galaţi, Romania in the 2009 – 2010 school
year.
 The school’ s gym allows the optimal performance of
movement games comprising a wide range of motor
skills and abilities. The movement games used were
of average level, specific to the subjects age group
and training level.
Events and tests
 The results of the events tested were measured in the experimental
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and the control group in the following periods:
Initial test (T1): 15 September – 1 October 2009;
Final test (T2): 1 June – 15 June 2010;
The events used to determine certain parameters of the functional
capacity were as follows: vital capacity, maximal anaerobic strength,
the Mazur test and the Ruffier test.
The events used to determine the motor skill were divided
as follows:
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General motor tests: leap over the gym horse 30", tractions on the gym horse,
the Matorin test and relay 5 x 10 m.
The specific motor tests were: separate performance of 4 modules consisting of
combinations of 2 applicative-utilitarian motor skills and covering a school
application distance set-up to this purpose.
 The psychological tests used in this research were: the
Bourdon and the Prague test.
Data analysis and interpretation
 The
statistic parameters characterising the tendency of the
phenomenon under investigation were: the arithmetic average, the
standard deviation, minimum value, amplitude of data spread, the
variability coefficient. As a result of the calculations the results were
gathered in tables for each test separately and the differences
between tests were considered in order to determine the progress
achieved in each group.
 The differences were calculated between the average values
achieved by the experiment group samples and the control group
samples. The Student test was applied in order to see if there are
significant differences between the groups in the final test. The
progress was calculated in absolute value and as a percentage, for
each subject separately, in all the events performed. The progress
was also calculated in absolute value and as a percentage for each
sample, as well as the differences between samples.
Table 1. Functional capacity– boys (D = T2 - T1)
Events
Vital capacity
Maximal anaerobic
capacity
Aerobic effort
capacity
Ruffier Test
Sample
T1
T2
D
D(%)
Experiment
1609.06
1832.81
223.75
14.26
Witness
1555.77
1646.15
90.38
5.99
Experiment
767.10
869.16
102.06
13.66
Witness
750.98
847.56
96.58
13.25
Experiment
55.96
58.51
2.55
4.57
Witness
54.38
56.87
2.48
4.48
Experiment
10.08
9.61
-0.47
-4.74
Witness
10.12
9.85
-0.28
-2.75
Table 2. Functional capacity– girls (D = T2 - T1)
Events
Vital capacity
Maximal anaerobic
capacity
Aerobic effort
capacity
Ruffier Test
Sample
T1
T2
D
D(%)
Experiment
1506.76
1687.84
181.08
12.49
Witness
1512.96
1603.70
90.74
6.20
Experiment
813.01
892.01
79.00
9.86
Witness
759.02
855.15
60.13
7.68
Experiment
54.37
56.74
2.37
4.38
Witness
53.30
55.60
2.30
4.35
Experiment
10.22
9.91
-0.31
-3.06
Witness
10.54
10.27
-0.27
-2.54
Interpretation
 In the samples of the experimental group the
arithmetic averages are higher than in the control
group, both for girls and for boys; the differences are
considerable for all parameters, save the maximum
anaerobic strength in the girls group. This parameter
is not extremely important in the female subjects, as
it is caused by a lower body mass included in the
calculation formula.
Table 3. General motor tests– boys (D = T2 - T1)
Events
Leap over the gym
horse
Tractions on the
gym bench
Matorin test
5x10m relay
Sample
T1
T2
D
D(%)
Experiment
9.44
13.16
3.72
39.98
Witness
9.27
12.23
2.96
32.19
Experiment
6.44
7.56
1.13
18.30
Witness
6.27
7.15
0.88
14.51
Experiment
300.00
326.25
26.25
8.97
Witness
291.92
310.00
18.08
6.23
Experiment
19.72
19.32
-0.40
-2.04
Witness
20.66
20.21
-0.45
-2.18
Interpretation
 The sample in the experimental group are
superior to the control group in point of all
the motor parameters, the differences
between the arithmetic averages in the final
tests being obvious for the threshold of 1%
or 5%. School-level movement games
applied in the instructional process to the
sample of the experimental group increased
the level of motor skills to a greater extent
than in the samples of the control group.
Table 4. General motor tests – girls (D = T2 - T1)
Events
Leap over the gym
horse
Tractions on the
gym bench
Matorin test
5x10m relay
Sample
T1
T2
D
D(%)
Experiment
9.24
12.76
3.51
38.36
Witness
9.07
11.81
2.74
30.46
Experiment
6.24
7.49
1.24
21.03
Witness
6.07
7.11
1.04
17.52
Experiment
291.62
316.16
24.86
8.66
Witness
292.59
315.00
22.41
7.88
Experiment
19.74
19.34
-0.40
-2.04
Witness
20.75
20.31
-0.43
-2.11
Table 5. Specific motor tests- boys (D = T2 - T1)
Tests
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3
Module 4
Applicative routine
– time achieved
Applicative routine
– degree obtained
Sample
T1
T2
D
D(%)
Experiment
7.22
8.08
0.86
14.01
Witness
7.02
7.42
0.40
6.08
Experiment
7.17
8.00
0.83
12.24
Witness
7.02
7.44
0.42
6.16
Experiment
7.00
7.92
0.92
13.75
Witness
6.88
7.54
0.65
10.11
Experiment
6.94
7.91
0.97
14.52
Witness
7.04
7.57
0.50
7.67
Experiment
73.22
67.34
-5.88
-8.01
Witness
75.58
71.19
-4.38
-5.82
Experiment
6.63
7.77
1.14
18.18
Witness
6.37
7.08
0.71
11.59
Interpretation
 For all motor parameters the null hypothesis is
disproved, confirming the working hypothesis. As a
result of calculating the correlation coefficient, it was
found that there is a strong connection between the
degrees obtained in the 4 modules and the degree
obtained in the applicative routine (r > 0.75). The
coefficient was calculated for the data collected in the
final test.
Table 6. Specific motor tests - girls (D = T2 - T1)
Tests
Module 1
Module 2
Module 3
Module 4
Applicative routine
– time achieved
Applicative routine
– degree obtained
Sample
T1
T2
D
D(%)
Experiment
6.91
7.74
0.84
12.99
Witness
6.89
7.41
0.52
7.60
Experiment
6.80
7.72
0.92
14.29
Witness
6.83
7.52
0.69
10.57
Experiment
6.78
7.78
1.00
15.32
Witness
6.81
7.52
0.70
11.17
Experiment
7.00
7.85
0.85
13.71
Witness
6.96
7.37
0.41
6.07
Experiment
73.86
67.89
-5.97
.8.08
Witness
76.33
71.89
-4.44
-5.85
Experiment
6.46
7.72
1.26
20.55
Witness
6.33
7.07
0.74
12.05
Table 7. Psychological tests – boys (D = T2 - T1)
Event
Prague Test
Bourdon Test
Sample
T1
T2
D
D(%)
Experiment
55.16
60.19
5.03
9.28
Witness
52.81
56.54
3.73
7.22
Experiment
0.850
0.885
0.035
4.24
Witness
0.837
0.859
0.02
2.65
Table 8. Psychological tests - girls (D = T2 - T1)
Event
Prague Test
Bourdon Test
Sample
T1
T2
D
D(%)
Experiment
56.35
61.46
5.11
9.21
Witness
54.48
58.44
3.96
7.46
Experiment
0.945
0.880
0.02
2.78
Witness
0.834
0.956
0.035
4.26
Interpretation
 The subjects in the experimental group have a better
distributive attention than the subjects in the control
group, in the boys and the girls case. The differences
between the arithmetic averages in the final test are
considerable, in favour of the experimental group. Thus,
the null hypothesis is proved inconsistent, confirming the
working hypothesis. Similarly, the concentration ability
is higher in the experimental group, both for girls and for
boys, than in the control group.
 The differences between the average values are
considerable, thus the null hypothesis is proved void, and
the working hypothesis is confirmed.
Conclusions
 This research contributes to improving the action modalities in the
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instructive and educational process in school. School movement games
are the expression of needs emerging from the development and
importance of physical education in school
and the practical
applicability of the motor skill acquired.
Movement games played in school aid to a great extent the instructional
process to develop the motor skills of 5th graders. Thus, their motor
experience is put to use and the motor skills may associate in forming
motor abilities.
In the 5th grade pupils are compatible to their organisms’ possibilities of
adaptation and response to the demands specific to physical education at
school level. They are apt to psychomotor activities of the type included
in the school curricula, being able to exceed their previous performance.
Movement games played in school encourage motor experience so that
the pupils may gradually discover this psychomotor potential and
autonomously decide on the circumstances of its use.
In order to stabilise the acquired motor skills, school movement games
should take place systematically, in continuous lesson series.
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