Development and validation of a survey instrument for detecting basic motor competencies in elementary school children

Basic motor competencies (in German: Motorische Basiskompetenzen;
MOBAK) are motor performance dispositions formulated as minimum standards
that empower children to participate in the culture of human movement. In opposition
to movement-specific and process-oriented fundamental movement
skills assessing the quality of movement execution, basic motor competencies
are context-specific and product-oriented and focus on the mastery of minimum
motor demands. Consequently, the promotion of basic motor competencies is a
central goal of physical education, as they are essential prerequisites to be able to
develop a physically active lifestyle. For the diagnosis of basic motor competencies,
teachers need valid survey instruments that can help them to adapt their
didactic-methodical action. For this purpose, a test battery for the assessment
of the basic motor competencies of third graders was developed (MOBAK-3) and
subjected to empirical validation (N = 399; 50.4% female; M = 8.45 years, SD = .52).
The exploratory structural equation modeling indicates a structure with three factors
named “Locomotion,” “Object-control” and “Moving in water”. This structure
could be confirmed in the confirmatory factor analysis (CFI = .998; RMSEA = .009)