Measuring children motor skills with MOBAK-1: criteria adaptation and comparison of two scoring systems

Introduction
The MOBAK-1 testing battery has been recently developed with the aim of assessing the locomotion and object-control abilities of first grade children. Previous researches have demonstrated the global interest of this testing battery (1,2). However, a critical analysis of children failures in the tests revealed that some failures were related to the misunderstanding of the instruction or to unsuitable criteria and not to children inability (2). Moreover, the discrimination of the scoring system was also questioned. The aim of the study is to improve criteria in order to avoid the failure that are not related to children ability and to compare the actual dichotomous scoring system with another scoring system taking in consideration the progression of the children.
Methods
The MOBAK-1 testing battery will be addressed to 30 first grade children. Criteria for each test will be adapted according to previous observations (2) and will include familiarization with the task and additional trial when it is clear that the failure is not due to children ability. All the children will be assessed at the same time with the actual dichotomous scoring system and with an original scoring system that takes the children level of development into account.
Results
We hypothesized that the adaptation of the criteria will improve the testing battery discrimination. We also expected that the scoring system based on children progression will be more accurate but will be more difficult to be used by unexperienced teachers.
Conclusion
According to the results of the study, concrete improvements will be addressed to the researchers who work on MOBAK testing battery development.
References
1. Herrmann, C., Gerlach, E., & Seelig, H. (2015). Development and validation of a test instrument for the assessment of basic motor competencies in primary school. Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science, 19(2), 80-90.
2. Jidovtseff B., Vandeloise V., Cloes M., Morgado L., Mornard M. (2017). Measuring children motor skills with MOBACK-1: descriptive data and critical analysis Book of abstracts. CIAPSE 2017. Finland.