Summary

This paper concerns the effects of a psychomotor training, focused on improving the social abilities of the participants, versus an ordinary lesson in physical education. The self-perception profile list, developed by Susan Harter in 1985, was used to evaluate the progress. The participants were tested on six different aspects, knowing: scholastic competence, social acceptance, athletic competence, physical appearance, behavioral conduct, and global self-worth.

In this experiment, two groups each containing five children were examined. One group participated in the psychomotor training, the other group participated in the physical education lesson. Both groups followed these trainings for ten weeks, 45 minutes per week.

After ten weeks, a large difference was observed between the groups. The subjects participating in the psychomotor training improved on 19 out of 30 items, whereas the other subjects scored higher on only 13 out of 30 items. Besides, the physical education group deteriorated on 12 out of 30 items, whereas the psychomotor group scored lower on only 3 out of 30 items.

Concluding, according to the self-perception profile list for children, the psychomotor training contributes more to the improvement of social abilities and the self-perception progress of children than the regular physical education lesson.