Course:KIN355/2020 Projects/Directionality

Force creation and stability at the time of projection

Defining the Concept and Its Importance

Directionality is the last component of body awareness to develop. Body awareness allows children to know their body, what their body can do and how to use their body. There are 6 components of body awareness, which are body concept, body schema, laterality, lateral preference, midline, and directionality.

Directionality is to project the concept of directions of their own body to the outside world. That is, directionality is the ability to differentiate the directions in their own body, to use visual information of their own body to understand the relations among objects or between objects and themselves, and to know how it feels to move toward a direction. Children with directionality know how it feels like to move forward, backward, upward, downward, and sideways, can identify the back, front, top, bottom, inside or outside of objects and themselves, and they can also know where the object is or the object is far or close to them.

The ability of directionality emerges at around age 2 to 3. Children learn to identify the top, bottom, front and back of their own bodies. By age 5, they know how to use two certain body parts at the same time, change direction of movements quickly and move toward certain direction. By age 8, children learn to distinguish left and right of themselves and the objects and know the location of an objects in relation to themselves, for example, they know the object is behind them. By age 11, they know relation between objects, for example, they know the tree is in front of the chair.

Directionality is one of the components of perceptual-motor skills, the cognitive part of movement, which is crucial not only to children’s motor development, also to cognitive development, activities of daily living and academic performance. Directionality has been proven to be one of the most important components of literacy and reading skills, in fact, it contributes greatly to fluent reading and orientation of letters and numbers, which are essential for children’s learning. Directionality also allows children to make connections of verbal cues and the movements, use their body and force accurately, efficiently and aimfully, and plan their movements. Actually, directionality is important to most physical activities. Research has shown that motor integration problems are often found in children older than 6 with difficulties in directionality, like poor coordination, difficulty in processing instruction with directions and motor planning.

There are ways that we can support children to develop directional awareness at home and school. In general, it would be helpful to create a safe and open environment that the children can move freely and climb. Also, concept of directions can be integrated with other activities. Encouraging children to move different parts of their body or the objects in different direction and painting or drawing are helpful with building the directional awareness as well. To guide children to learn directionality, visual cues like colored line on the floors, signs, arrows and so on can be helpful.

Role in Childhood Development and Contemporary Considerations

        Directionality develops after the other components of body awareness do, which are body concept, body schema, literality and lateral preference, and the success of the development of directionality depends on the acquisition of these components. Directionality is also an ability to use the knowledge of their own body on the outside world, understanding the directions not only of their own body but also of the relation between the objects or between the objects and themselves.

       It plays an important role in the development of both fine motor and gross motor. While developing directionality, children learn to recognize different parts of their body and transfer the knowledge onto the objects and the environment and they also learn how it feels like to move their body parts forwards, backwards, up, down, left and right

       Directionality allows children to know where the objects or their own body parts should move to fulfill the purpose of the action. This is extremely important because it’s not only related to daily activities, but also it may influence the safety of the children. Almost every activity requires us to move an object or our own body parts toward a certain direction or to a certain place, to successfully complete the task, directionality is necessary. Besides, children need to know where to move to avoid bumping into each other or hitting some object or there would be a safety issue.

       Motor planning skills and coordination are also influenced by directionality. Directionality helps the children identify their own movements, that is, children with directionality are more likely to know how much force of which body parts they should use toward which direction. This is the foundation of motor planning and coordination. Therefore, movements of poor quality are easier to be seen in children with poor directionality.

       Directionality also helps children to connect verbal or visual cues and movements. When children are learning motor skills, verbal instruction is one of the most common ways. Children need to know the terms of directions and body parts to act the right way. Visual information is also one of the main ways for children to learn motor skills. Children usually imitate the movements before they can do it on their own. To do this, children need to project the knowledge of their own body and directions on the person who’s demonstrating the movements. Children without directionality may have difficulties in processing both verbal and visual cues, therefore, motor learning may be more challenging for them.

       Since directionality develops on the basis of other components of body awareness, it’s recommended to incorporate not only directionality but also other components of body awareness into the interaction with toddler or the preschool curriculum, so the development of directionality can be supported. Directionality is also the bridge of the knowledge of own body and the outside world, and the ability is expected to be well-developed in elementary age. Therefore, teaching body awareness with emphasis on directionality in the physical education class in elementary school is also encouraged.

Practical Applications

Game Title:  Teddy Bear Says

Activity Purpose

The purpose of this game is to use the foundations of the game “Simon Says” to help enhance and develop a child’s understanding of directionality, which as previously mentioned is the ability to differentiate direction in one’s own body and also applying these directions in the world in reference to themselves or objects. This game can aid in practicing and strengthening the understanding children have of directions in regards to themselves and also begin to learn directionality in regards to other objects and the environment (see modifications for details).

Target Age

The target age for this activity is ages six and up. This is because by this age (as mentioned in the Defining the Concept and Its Importance) children typically have the capability to differentiate between their left and right sides and understand above and below them which will be pertinent to be able to participate in the activity. Additionally this age range is chosen to begin developing and understanding awareness objection location in relation to themselves, which as mentioned earlier is a milestone that should be met by age eight.

Apparatus/Equipment

To play, children need a teddy bear or stuffed animal of their choice to play. Alternatively, children can use a toy or even a small blanket.

Limited amount of space is needed to play this game and children only need enough space to move a few steps to all sides (front, back, left, and right).

Teddy Bear Says Diagram

Instructions

1. Have children stand up and have them hold their teddy bear.
2. The game will require a person to lead the game. They will say “Teddy bear says” followed by a command. These commands will be regarding participants directionality. An example of a command may be “Teddy bear says to put teddy to your right”. (See below for examples of more commands)
3. If “teddy bear says” to do a command, then children will move their stuffed animal or themselves to accurately complete the command.
4. If “teddy bear says” is not said before a command, children are not to move positions or follow another command unless “teddy bear says” is used again.
5. If a participant moves on a command where “teddy bear says” is not said then there are two options:
   • Children are out of the game
   • Children have to perform a task to be able to join the game again. (ie. this task may be identifying a direction or body part correctly or doing 5 jumping hacks)

Command Examples

Teddy bear says to put teddy....

• On your right/left
• Behind/in front of you
• Above you
• Under you

Modification

To increase the difficulty and implement body parts into the game, the “leader” of the game can increase the complexity of commands.

• One way to increase the complexity of the game is to include body part identification. With this modification participants will be asked to move their teddy bear in reference to one of the body parts. An example of a command could be “teddy bear says to hold them with your right hand”.
  • Command examples: “teddy bear says to”... place them beside your left foot, sit them on your shoulder, place them on your hip, set on your head, etc.

• Another way to modify the game helps participants think of their body in reference to objects in their environment and requires a more advanced understanding of directionality. In this modification, participants are putting their body in reference to their teddy bear (in comparison to putting their teddy bear in reference to themselves). An example of a command would be “teddy bear says to stand on their right”. Other commands may include “teddy bear asking” participants to stand on their left, behind them, over them/on top of them etc.

The game can also be modified to lower the difficulty level and complexity of the game. Some participants may need more assistance. In this case the leader may have their own teddy bear to help mirror commands if children are having difficulty.

Game Title: Captain’s Coming

Activity Purpose

The purpose of this activity is to target enhancing and strengthening children’s directionality. As described earlier, directionality pertains to the understanding directions in reference to oneself and also objects: left, right, up, and down, etc. Captain’s Coming is an activity that provides children to develop their understanding of directionality and also is a way to keep children moving and active.

Target Age

The target age for this activity is about the age period distinguished as middle-aged children, this is distinguished as ages 6 to eight, however this activity may also be applicable for ages 5. This is the recommended age as by the end of this age period children should be able to distinguish left and right of themselves, as mentioned earlier in section 1. Additionally, section 1 notes that by age five children typically know how to move to a certain direction. The target age is listed in a range as this game has a large variance depending on the instructions and language used. At the younger age of the spectrum, children may need more guidance and a more simplified version of the game. At the older age of the spectrum, children will likely have enhanced cognitive levels and thus a more complex version of the game can be more applicable (see Modifications for more details).

Apparatus/Equipment

For this game, children need enough space to be able to run around; considering an outdoor space or a gymnasium may be good environments for this activity.

Children will be running around on an imaginary “ship”. One can either delegate boundaries of the space or may consider using objects such as traffic cones or disc markers to layout the area that children will be playing.

Captain's Coming Diagram

Instructions

A leader will be giving commands to participants for this game.

1. Participants first must understand the boundaries of the game, which will be the “captain’s ship”. Children will be told the different sides of the shop (bow, stern, port, and starboard).
2. Children will be given commands by the leader of the game; the commands should be explained to the participants before the start of the game (See below for list of commands).
3. Children will follow the commands of the leader, the most important command is “captain’s coming”. When this command is called, all children must salute. Children must hold the salute until the leader says “at ease”. If participants follow other commands stated by the leader after “captain’s coming” yet before “at ease” is said, then they are out of the game.

Commands:

Bow – Go to the front of the “ship”

Stern – Go to the back of the “ship”

Port – Go to the left side of the “ship”

Starboard – Go to the right side of the “ship”

Hit the Deck – get down on your stomach

Rowboat – Quickly find a partner and sit in a line and “row”

Seasick – Head to the side of the “ship” and do your duty overboard

Jellyfish – Get down on the ground and shake your arms and legs in the air

Lifeboat – Quickly find other crew-mates to make a group of 6 and sit in a circle on the ground

Octopus – Quickly find other crew-mates to make a group of 8 together and  gather in a circle with each person sticking a leg out

Captain’s Coming – Stand at attention and salute

At Ease – Relax (this command is only said after “captain’s coming” has been said

Modifications

The complexity of this game allows for many different modifications to adjust the game to fit a participant’s needs and level of development.

For younger participants or those with a less comprehensive understanding of directionality, the commands of the game may be altered or less may be used. In example, leaders might consider calling the sides of the boat “left” and “right” instead of “bow” and “stern”. Additionally as mentioned the amount of commands may be dependent on the participant groups. For younger groups, one may consider using less commands to not overcomplicate the game.

Additionally, if children need more assistance, the leader can help by mirroring the direction to move or help point children in the right direction if they are having difficulty. This may either be applicable for the whole game or can be eventually phased out of the game as the children learn.

Summary

Directionality is a child's ability to understand the position of their own body to the outside world and is one of the 6 main components of body awareness. Children with competence in directionality have shown positive outcomes in both motor and cognitive skills in school. Teachers can facilitate the development by placing coloured lines in the room and asking students to follow those lines. Parents can facilitate the development by creating a safe and open environment where children can move freely and climb. Games like Teddy Bear Says and Captains Coming are great for developing a child's understanding of directionality.