Associação entre o desenvolvimento motor e o desempenho escolar em crianças do ensino público no Município de Santa Helena-PR

Abstract

Recognizing movement as a constitutive dimension of human development and children's learning, this dissertation aimed to understand the relationships between fundamental motor skills, executive functions, and academic performance in children from the early years of Elementary Education. This applied research with a mixed-methods approach, developed in a public municipal school in Santa Helena, Paraná, Brazil, had the participation of 64 students from the 3rd to 5th grades, of both sexes, as well as classroom teachers. In the quantitative analysis, the FG- COMPASS was employed to evaluate fundamental motor skills; the School Achievement Test (TDE II) was used to assess reading, writing, and arithmetic; the Five Digit Test (FDT) was administered to analyze executive functions such as attention, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility; while socioeconomic status was assessed using a questionnaire based on the ABEP criteria. The qualitative stage consisted of semi-structured interviews with teachers, analyzed using Bardin’s content analysis technique. The results indicated the absence of statistically significant direct associations between motor skills and academic performance, while also revealing consistent relationships between components of executive functions and aspects of learning, suggesting their mediating role in this process, as well as the influence of intervening factors such as motivation, engagement, and family context. Teachers’ perceptions highlighted the potential of pedagogical strategies that integrate movement, attentional regulation, and intentional practices in the school routine. In conclusion, the relationships between motor development, executive functions, and academic performance are complex and multifactorial, reinforcing the importance of integrative educational approaches, especially within the context of Physical Education. As an educational product, a comic book was developed with the aim of translating scientific knowledge into accessible language for the educational context.