3:58 p.m., Dec. 5, 2007--Nancy Getchell, associate professor of health, nutrition and exercise sciences, went to China in October to lecture Chinese scholars on research on motor development--the study of changes in movement during the life span from prenatal to older adulthood.

“This is a new area of research for the Chinese,” she said. “They are involved in exercise science, biomechanics, sports science and physical education, but the study of motor development is an unexplored subdiscipline of kinesiology, which studies the mechanics of movement and anatomy during physical activity.”

Getchell was invited to join a group of 10 scholars from the United States on a two-week lecture tour of Chinese universities, with scholars coming from many parts of China to listen to their presentations.

The tour was based on a textbook, Introduction to Human Motor Development, edited by Greg Payne of San Jose State University and written by U.S. researchers, including Getchell, who partnered with Chinese scholars. The book is scheduled for publication in January by the People's Education Press (PEP), an agency of the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China and is the first academic textbook on human motor development in China.

The group first participated in a national workshop on motor development, sponsored by PEP and lectured at the Beijing Normal University (linked to UD by a collaborative agreement), Beijing University and the Beijing Institute of Education. From there, the group went separate ways and lectured at a total of 12 different Chinese universities.

Getchell and a colleague from Michigan State University lectured for two days at Hebei Normal University Institute of Physical Education in Shijiazhuang and then lectured for two days at Shanxi University in Taiyuan. “Getting around by train was an adventure in itself,” Getchell said, “but everywhere we went people were kind, generous and friendly, and the students are motivated to learn.”

“The Chinese do not practice physical education as we do,” Getchell said. “PE classes may have anywhere from 40 to 100 students and often practice in unison.”

The notion of developmental readiness has not caught on in coaching and physical education in China, she said. Getchell cited one example when a coach explained that when teaching children ping-pong, he used the same techniques he used with adults--using an adult paddle and hitting the balls hard--and that he focused his coaching on successful students.

“We tried to point out that not everyone starts out at their peak, such as Michael Jordan, who was not a good basketball player when he was young--an example they all understood,” Getchell said.

Getchell's research involves gross motor development in terms of interlimb coordination and the development of motor control in multilimb tasks. She studies children using a variety of tasks from running, skipping, ball control and clapping and walking at the same time to determine coordination between limbs, comparing task coordination in children with and without learning disabilities. “It is a matter of nature versus nurture, and we evaluate and study the influences of programs and experiences that enhance motor development,” Getchell said.

Getchell is the co-author of Life Span Motor Development, now in its fourth edition. A graduate of Pennsylvania State University, she received her master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin and joined the UD faculty in 2001. She currently is the editor of the “Growth and Motor Development” section of the Research Quarterly in Exercise and Sport. In 2001, she received the Lolas E. Halverson Young Investigators Award in motor development.

Article by Sue Moncure
Photos courtesy of Nancy Getchell