All posts by : daniel

Our research group has extensive experience in assessing physical growth and motor development, health behaviors, physical fitness, and overweight/obesity in children and adolescents in different settings. Furthermore, we have been involved in a number of public and private funded population-based studies in different countries. Nevertheless, the demands of the present project require the recruitment of new staff. Hence, we will provide adequate training and support in the various facets of the study. Moreover, PE teachers will also be involved in the data collection. The purpose of including PE teachers is that they may become certified in the process of assessing and interpreting the results about growth and motor development. Thus, after the end of the project, these teachers will have self-sufficiency to continue the process of monitoring children’s development of fundamental skills and performance, increasing the overall quality of their PE classes. 

We will train them thoroughly. As such:

1. All training sessions will be organized before the data collection so that all team members and PE teachers will be familiarized with protocols and procedures using questionnaires and field assessments.
2. To guarantee the success of training and quality control, the coordination team will provide: standardized training and certification programs; an operations’ manual with procedures, slides and videos; didactical and functional workshop led by experts, as well as, comprehensive simulation training comprising 3 to 5 days of intensive training on all protocols.
3. All PE teachers involved in the study (~10) will participate in a short duration workshop (~3 hours) to introduce the Meu Educativo ® platform assistant, and its functionalities. Teachers will learn how to handle the platform, how to measure body size (height and weight), and motor development (fundamental motor skills). Furthermore, PE teachers will participate in additional workshops aimed at training them to implement innovative pedagogical models (Sport Education or the Skill-theme’s approach) specifically tailored to enhance children’s motor development.
4. A pilot study will be conducted to verify the quality of data collection by testing protocols in loco, checking all instruments and time allotted for each study domain. Further, it will be a crucial factor for detecting putative problems during the data collection. Additional training will be provided whenever necessary to maintain high-quality control.