Enhancing Time Reading and Recording Skills in First-Grade Children with Learning Difficulties Using the "Clock Motor Game"

Aymen Hawani; Liwa Masmoudi; Omar Trabelsi; Mohamed Abdelkader Souissi; Anis Ben Chikha; Maher Mrayah; Nizar Souissi; Santo Marsigliante; Mateusz Rozmiarek; Antonella Muscella

doi:10.3390/children10111748

Enhancing Time Reading and Recording Skills in First-Grade Children with Learning Difficulties Using the "Clock Motor Game"

Children (Basel). 2023 Oct 27;10(11):1748. doi: 10.3390/children10111748.

Authors

Aymen Hawani^{1

2}, Liwa Masmoudi^{3

4}, Omar Trabelsi^{2

5}, Mohamed Abdelkader Souissi^{2

6}, Anis Ben Chikha^{1

7}, Maher Mrayah¹, Nizar Souissi², Santo Marsigliante⁸, Mateusz Rozmiarek⁹, Antonella Muscella⁸

Affiliations

¹ Higher Institute of Sport and Physical Education (Ksar Saïd), University of Manouba, Manouba 2010, Tunisia.
² Physical Activity, Sport and Health, Research Unit (UR18JS01), National Observatory of Sport, Tunis 1003, Tunisia.
³ High Institute of Sport and Physical Education, University of Sfax, Sfax 3029, Tunisia.
⁴ Research Laboratory, Education, Motricity, Sport and Health (EM2S), LR15JS01, High Institute of Sport and Physical Education, University of Sfax, Sfax 3038, Tunisia.
⁵ High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Kef, University of Jendouba, El Kef 7100, Tunisia.
⁶ The High Institute of Sport and Physical Education of Gafsa, University of Gafsa, Gafsa 2112, Tunisia.
⁷ Research Unit ECOTIDI (UR16ES10), Virtual University, Tunis 1073, Tunisia.
⁸ Department of Biological and Environmental Science and Technologies (DiSTeBA), University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy.
⁹ Department of Sports Tourism, Faculty of Physical Culture Sciences, Poznan University of Physical Education, 61-871 Poznan, Poland.

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the effect of the motor game, "Clock Motor Games", on the improvement of "Reading and Recording of Time" (RRT) in children with Grade 1 mathematical learning difficulties (MLDs). A within-school cluster-randomized intervention study was conducted with 232 children (aged 6-7 years) with limited physical education experience (0.7 ± 0.3 years). The participants were divided into two groups: a control group, which received conventional teaching on time without any additional motor activities, and an experimental group, which incorporated the concept of time with the "Clock Motor Game", for 3 weeks. The Clock-Reading Test was administered before the intervention (T₀), immediately after each session (T₁), and five weeks after the intervention (T₂) in both groups. The results demonstrated that the experimental group exhibited significantly greater improvements in RRT performance compared to the control group (U = 4416.5; p < 0.001; r = 0.3; medium effect). Additionally, the experimental group was more likely to show progress and less likely to experience regression or stagnation compared to the control group (25% vs. 38.4%). The findings suggest that practicing "Clock Motor Games" can positively contribute to the RRT ability in children with Grade 1 MLD.

Keywords: mathematical learning difficulties; motor games; pupils; reading and recording of time; skill.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.