Analysis of gain scores, also called change scores or difference scores, was used to test for the effect of treatment; unpaired Student’s t-tests were used to compare the post- and pre-test difference in scores between the control and intervention groups (Allison, 1990; Ragosa, 1995; Oakes and Feldman, 2001). Since baseline differences between groups existed at pre-test, analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was applied as an alternative to analyze the scores. We used the post-test gross motor and pre-literacy scores as the dependent variable, the control/intervention group as independent variable and the pre-test score as covariate. 
ANCOVA focuses on differences between the groups at post-test while holding constant pre-test differences. In all the analyses, the level of significance was set at p < 0.05. Statistics were performed by using STATA/MP 12.1.
Performance
In the standard, CG and you may IG did not reveal one tall differences (p > 0.05) regarding gender, chronological ages, lbs, peak, Bmi and you will terrible motor reputation, as the revealed in Dining table dos.
After the experimental period, CG did not exhibit any significant difference in locomotor, object-control skills or QGMD scores. In contrast, the intervention group showed significant differences (p < 0.001) from baseline to post-test in gross motor skills. As shown in Figures 2, 3, locomotor, object-control skills and QGMD increased by 24.4%, 9.7%, and 10.4%, respectively, in IG. Moreover, the mean difference of QGMD between pre- and post-intervention in IG was significantly higher than that in CG (11.3 vs. 3.2, p = 0.0082). These results confirmed preliminary results previously reported (Battaglia et al., 2018). The same result occurred for the locomotor skills, showing a significant mean difference of 2.5 in IG compared to the 0.7 in CG (p = 0.0050). The analysis of covariance confirmed the positive effect of the intervention in the improvement of children's gross motor skills, starting even from different pre-test scores.
Figure 2. Score of gross motor development quotient in control and intervention group. ??? p < 0.01, compared with pre-test.
Figure 3. Score of locomotor and object control skills after 16 weeks of physical education program. ??? p < 0.01, compared with pre-test.
Desk 3 screens that specific pieces of locomotor and you will target control enjoy don’t upsurge in the manage group after the experimental months, whenever you are an extremely high increase was found in all the items when you look at the IG as a result to help you PEP.
Every pre-literacy event notably enhanced during the IG after the input months, during CG just the level of mistakes towards the naming regarding stuff somewhat decreased (come across Desk cuatro). However, the new analyses off gain results and you can ANCOVA don’t show any extreme perception throughout the intervention ranging from CG and IG.
Dialogue
This study investigated the effects of a specific PEP on the outcomes of fundamental motor and pre-literacy skills concerning visual analysis and spatial orientation abilities in a sample of preschool children from Palermo. Gross motor development was expressed as a composite score of a set of fundamental motor skills across the two gross motor skill domains. We observed a positive effect of PEP on gross motor development in the studied population. In particular, IG showed a significant increase in both locomotor (p < 0. These findings are consistent with those of previous studies that investigated the effect of PE on preschoolers' gross motor skills (Derri et al. For instance, Derri et al. Analysis of the covariance and gain scores confirmed the positive effect of our intervention in the rise of children's gross motor skills, even starting from different pre-test scores.
The aid of obtain score otherwise ANCOVA could have been mainly debated prior to now about study off pre-test/post-attempt models. Once the ANCOVA is acceptable only for randomized controlled examples and you may normally prejudice contributes to non-similar organizations or observational models, the research off gain scores provides for appropriate, objective testing for the majority browse activities (Ragosa, 1995). From the lack of randomization, when standard differences when considering organizations can be found, change-rating designs produce less biased quotes (Allison, 1990). Considering QGMD scores recommended of the manual’s instructions, i unearthed that IG improved the newest disgusting motor efficiency out of mediocre to above mediocre in contrast to CG, and therefore don’t show any related changes. Additionally, the business of one tutorial in many sub-phases (social-warm up, main, cool-down-views phase) was the ideal cure for raise kid’s contribution.