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Open research questions in Children's Physical and Motor Development

185 unresolved questions extracted from the limitations and future-work sections of 3,344 Children's Physical and Motor Development papers in our library. Each links back to the study that raised it.

What the literature leaves open

  • Current evidence suggests that PE/curriculum-focused and whole-school interventions are associated with small but potentially meaningful improvements in MVPA, whereas the effects of additional PA opportunities beyond the regular curriculum remain uncertain.

    Comparative effectiveness of school-based physical activity interventions on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in children and adolescents: a systematic review and network meta-analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • Taken together, the current evidence suggests small but potentially meaningful improvements in MVPA with PE/curriculum-focused and whole-school interventions, whereas the effects of additional PA opportunities beyond the regular curriculum remain uncertain.

    Comparative effectiveness of school-based physical activity interventions on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in children and adolescents: a systematic review and network meta-analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • One limitation concerns the considerable between-study heterogeneity observed across the network, which may reflect differences in intervention components, implementation intensity, intervention duration, school context, and MVPA outcome windows across the included studies.

    Comparative effectiveness of school-based physical activity interventions on moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in children and adolescents: a systematic review and network meta-analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • This study advances understanding of CEPA and EFs in preschool children and points out the gaps in the literature and design aws of the existing studies, thereby providing ample evidence on what type of studies could be conducted in the future.

    Does Cognitively Enhanced Physical Activity Improve Executive Functions in Preschool Children? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • The study also lasted only 12 weeks and did not include follow-up testing, so the persistence of the observed psychological and physical changes remains unknown.

    The impact of a mixed exercise intervention on the physical and mental health of left-behind children: a randomized controlled trial combining sports games and ball sports · 2026 · DOI

  • emphasizing the role of cognitive involvement in skill acquisition. For students with intellectual disabilities, such an approach is particularly relevant, as it accommodates limitations in motor planning and attentional control. contemporary motor enhancement Furthermore, significant learning Collectively, these findings reinforce the notion that cognitive and motor development should be addressed simultaneously in adaptive physical education. The Brain Jogging–based learning model effectively bridges this gap integrating brain-based into by thereby education structured physical addressing key limitations identified in existing literature. learning principles instruction, 4.2. Contributions and Limitations of the Study This study contributes meaningfully to the fields of adaptive physical education and brain-based learning by developing and empirically validating a structured instructional model tailored to students with intellectual disabilities. Unlike prior intervention studies that primarily report outcome measures, this research adopts a Research that explicitly and Development operationalizes including learning syntax, social system, reaction principles, and support systems. This comprehensive pedagogical framework strengthens the theoretical rigor and practical applicability of the model. (R&D) approach components, instructional clarity, relevance, instructional The high content validity score (Aiken’s V = 0.87) indicates strong expert consensus regarding the model’s conceptual and developmental appropriateness. Moreover, feasibility testing demonstrated a very high implementation score (90%), while the instructional guidebook achieved a strong practicality rating (82%). These findings confirm that the model is not only theoretically sound but also feasible and teacher-friendly in real classroom contexts, addressing a common challenge in adaptive physical education practice. Despite these strengths, several limitations warrant consideration. First, the study was conducted within a specific cultural and educational context, Indonesian elementary intellectual disabilities which may limit generalizability to other regions or educational systems. Second, the relatively short intervention duration constrains conclusions regarding long-term retention and transfer of creative thinking and motor skills. students with schools for although standardized Additionally, instruments provided reliable quantitative evidence, creative thinking is a complex construct that may not be fully captured through numerical scores alone. Future studies incorporating qualitative measures could offer deeper insight into students’ creative processes.

    Developing a Brain Jogging-Based Physical Education Learning Model to Enhance Creative Thinking and Fundamental Movement Skills among Students with Intellectual Disabilities · 2026 · DOI

  • Conflict of Interest The study had several limitations including small sample size limiting subgroup analysis, single-site design affecting generalizability, lack of long-term follow-up to assess benefit retention, intervention specificity to one program type, challenges with assessor blinding, and absence of dietary and outside physical activity monitoring. Additionally, motivation and expectancy effects from the novelty and social interaction may have influenced outcomes beyond specific exercise effects. The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

    The Influence of a Rhythmic Motor-Learning Intervention on Selected Physical and Physiological Variables among Children with Mild Intellectual Disability · 2026 · DOI

  • independent mobility, and restricted participation in daily and social activities [1, 7, 9]. Improving balance ability may therefore contribute to enhanced functional independence and broader partici- pation outcomes, which are critical targets in the rehab- ilitation of adolescents with neurodevelopmental disorders.

    Adaptive exergame-based balance training for adolescents with developmental coordination disorder and autism spectrum disorder: protocol for an assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should explore game-based adaptive learning models, optimal exercise dosage, and the integration of sensorimotor and motivational approaches to improve elementary school students’ GMQ.

    Sex Differences in Gross Motor Quotient among Students: Evidence from TGMD-2 Assessment · 2026 · DOI

  • A key limitation of the existing literature is the predominance of cross-sectional study designs, which constrains the strength of inferences. Cross-sectional findings primarily developmental reflect age-related associations rather than true changes over time and should therefore be interpreted with caution. In contrast, longitudinal studies provide stronger evidence for developmental trajectories by capturing within-individual change. Accordingly, in the present review, we have taken care to distinguish between these designs in our synthesis and interpretation, framing longitudinal findings as evidence of developmental change, while interpreting cross-sectional findings as indicative of age-related differences. An additional challenge in interpreting the current literature is the substantial methodological variability across studies. EEG acquisition systems, electrode densities, sampling rates, preprocessing pipelines, spectral definitions, and analytic approaches varied considerably between studies. Differences in reference schemes, artifact rejection methods, and frequency band definitions can influence estimates of oscillatory power, desynchronization, and connectivity, which may partly explain inconsistencies across findings. Whereas these measures have been shown to be reliable across individuals and EEG setups in a adults during both cognitive and movement-related tasks52,55 lending confidence to our interpretations across studies here, a gap in the literature does exist in that the same reliability studies have not been assessed across early childhood. Similarly, motor outcomes were assessed using a wide range of behavioral tasks and standardized measures, limiting direct comparison across studies. Greater standardization in EEG acquisition protocols, preprocessing pipelines, and behavioral outcome measures would improve reproducibility and facilitate stronger synthesis of findings in future work. Importantly, the mu rhythm may be more appropriately defined functionally by the presence of task-related ERD rather than strictly by a predefined frequency band, which can vary across age and developmental stage. Limited alignment between EEG measures and standardized behavioral assessments also constrained clinical relevance. Future work should use longitudinal designs, standardized EEG acquisition and outcome protocols, and integrate neural and behavioral assessments to advance understanding of neural signatures underlying motor development in both typical and atypical populations.

    EEG signatures of motor development in early childhood: a systematic review · 2026 · DOI

  • This narrative review has several strengths, including the inclusion of studies from all geographic and politi- cal regions of Nigeria. This provided a comprehensive coverage and an overview of studies on the relationship between social and physical environmental factors and multiple health behaviors and outcomes among adoles- cents across diverse settings in an understudied region of the world. Second, given the relative underrepresentation of African-based research in major international data- bases, such as PubMed/Medline and Scopus, we searched several African journals not indexed in these databases through African Journal Online and Google Scholar. Moreover, this is the first review to assess the association of social and physical environmental factors with differ- ent movement behaviors, body weight, and well-being among Nigerian adolescents. Further, the methodological quality of the evidence from the 25 included studies was mostly very good to excellent, suggesting the findings of this review could be used as important correlates to explore when designing future public health research and programs to inform socioenvironmental determinants of adolescents’ health in Nigeria. Yet, this study has some important limitations that should be acknowledged. First, the non-systematic approach to the review precludes rigor in study selec- tion and amplifies the risk of selection bias. We did not account for the total number of articles identified through our search strategies and those excluded after title and abstract screening across all databases. Narra- tive reviews are often not reproducible due to the influ- ence of the authors and setting on screening, sampling, and analysis [36]. Second, the varying focus of interests and main outcomes across the included studies made direct comparisons challenging. Third, the reliance on self-reported data in most surveys may have led to underreporting of outcomes and exposures due to social desirability bias. Fourth, publication bias may have influ- enced the findings, as significant results are more likely to be published, potentially causing an imbalance in this review [72]. Also, we did not report non-significant find- ings from the articles included in our review, complicat- ing the comparisons of inconsistent findings within and across studies. Finally, all included studies were cross- sectional, prohibiting causal conclusions. However, this review makes an important contribution by providing a comprehensive and current understanding of socioenvi- ronmental correlates of movement behaviors and health outcomes among adolescents in Nigeria. The findings highlighted important individual and structural corre- lates that could inform the design of future public health intervention research to address the growing NCD prob- lems in Nigerian populations [5, 6].

    Social and physical environmental correlates of movement behaviors, body weight status, and well-being among adolescents in Nigeria: a youth-centered participatory action project narrative review · 2026 · DOI

  • This is the first scoping review emphasising the substantive validation processes of AI-related technologies produced to assess motor skills in preschool children. The databases consulted during the identification and selection of studies were specialised and extensive; thus, there was a limited loss of relevant information. Also, although this review was based on COSMIN standards to assess the psychometric quality of AI-related technologies, due to the heterogeneity observed in the included studies, no specific adjustments were made to control for possible confounding variables. Therefore, the conclusions need to be interpreted with caution. It is recommended that future research address these factors and use control methods to provide more generalizable conclusions. Furthermore, feasibility and usability were extracted only if the reviewed studies explicitly reported having done so in their analysis of AI-related technologies. Therefore, further studies should evaluate these analyses using a standardized framework. This review did not aim to analyze associations between variables; however, variability in sample sizes, age ranges, and types of AI-based technologies used across studies may affect the comparability and generalizability of the findings. These differences should be considered when interpreting the results and highlight the need for more standardized approaches in future research. The literature search was conducted up to January 30, 2023. Given the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence and computer vision, more recent studies may not have been captured. Therefore, the findings should be interpreted as reflecting the evidence available up to that date rather than the most current state of the field.

    Desarrollo, validación y uso de tecnologías relacionadas con la inteligencia artificial para evaluar las habilidades motoras básicas en niños: una revisión exploratoria · 2026 · DOI

  • Policy implementation, monitoring, and evaluation mechanisms for movement and physical development priorities identified in UK nations' frameworks (particularly Wales 2026 manifesto and Scotland's policies) lack specification of concrete accountability measures and success metrics.

    Movement behaviour and active play space standards: a review of early childhood education frameworks in the United Kingdom · 2026 · DOI

  • Non-government guidance such as Birth to 5 Matters from the Early Years Coalition exists alongside statutory frameworks, but the relative implementation uptake, alignment, and effectiveness of government-issued versus alternative guidance for supporting healthy movement behaviours in UK ECE settings has not been compared.

    Movement behaviour and active play space standards: a review of early childhood education frameworks in the United Kingdom · 2026 · DOI

  • Government-issued UK early childhood education framework documents lack transparent documentation of contributor lists and stakeholder voices involved in their creation, making it unclear whether early years providers, educators, and organizations representing all populations are adequately represented.

    Movement behaviour and active play space standards: a review of early childhood education frameworks in the United Kingdom · 2026 · DOI

  • UK early childhood education frameworks currently lack public health standards regarding sleep and rest periods as components of a healthy 24-hour daily cycle; research is needed to establish evidence-informed sleep guidelines and environmental recommendations for ECE settings.

    Movement behaviour and active play space standards: a review of early childhood education frameworks in the United Kingdom · 2026 · DOI

  • The incorporation of physical activity, sleep, and healthy movement practices into educator training, professional courses, and continuous professional development across UK early childhood education settings has not been systematically assessed, despite variable educator qualifications.

    Movement behaviour and active play space standards: a review of early childhood education frameworks in the United Kingdom · 2026 · DOI

  • Digital technology and screen use in early childhood education settings present conflicting evidence regarding harms versus necessity in modern contexts; this requires targeted research to establish clear, consistent standards that balance developmental concerns with digital competency development in UK ECE frameworks.

    Movement behaviour and active play space standards: a review of early childhood education frameworks in the United Kingdom · 2026 · DOI

  • The relationship between outdoor play space size and portable play equipment availability with young children's physical activity levels requires empirical investigation in UK early childhood education settings. Current frameworks lack specific quantitative guidance on these infrastructure dimensions, necessitating research to establish evidence-based standards for activity opportunities.

    Movement behaviour and active play space standards: a review of early childhood education frameworks in the United Kingdom · 2026 · DOI

  • Exploring DCD traits and pDCD to understand the risks for insufficient levels of physical activity and elevated sedentary behaviour in adults is a significant strength of this study, given that the literature on DCD in adults is still limited. Dividing the DCD traits into three periods was crucial for identifying its role on physical activity and sedentary behaviour persistently. However, the lack of objective measures for physical activity and sedentary behaviour represents a limitation of this study. Future research should consider employing of self-reported and objectively measured assessments of physical activity and sedentary behaviours. Further research is also necessary to determine whether sedentary behaviour continues to pose a greater burden than physical inactivity in this population. Additionally, the absence of reliability and validity studies of the ADC checklist for the Brazilian population should indeed be acknowledged as a limitation of this study. However, the ADC checklist is the most widely used instrument to screen for DCD traits in adults and is, to date, essentially the only option available in the literature for assessing DCD in this age range. The original English questions were translated into Brazilian Portuguese, and a panel of the research team was convened to at least ensure the instrument was understandable for Brazilian participants. We anticipate that a proper cultural adaptation of the instrument will be conducted soon to minimize potential bias in future studies. Finally, self-report measurements cand introduce bias in this study and affect the validity of the reported associations. Objective measurements should be included in future studies.

    Developmental coordination disorder traits persistently affect physical activity and sedentary behavior in adults · 2026 · DOI

  • However, despite the growing interest in VR-based exercise, the long-term effects of combining virtual exergaming with structured sport training on reaction-related performance in children remain insufficiently explored.

    Effects of Six Months of Virtual Reality Exergaming Combined With Basketball Training on Visuomotor Stepping Reaction Time in Children Aged 10–12 Years: A Quasi-Experimental Study · 2025 · DOI

  • Findings suggest indoor and outdoor home spaces may play unique roles in supporting PA and MS among parent–child dyads and should be investigated in more rigorous studies.

    Physical Activity and Motor Skills in Parent–Child Dyads: Associations With Indoor and Outdoor Home Space · 2024 · DOI

  • Given the limited research on pedagogical practices pertaining to physical activities in Hong Kong kindergartens, the current study analyzes the content concerning this learning area in the QR reports.

    Physical activities in Hong Kong kindergartens: A content analysis of the Quality Review reports · 2023 · DOI

  • Background: While socioeconomic status (SES) has been shown to be an important determinant of sedentary behaviour (SB) and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) in typically developing children, similar data on those with intellectual disability (ID) are lacking.

    The association of socioeconomic status with sedentary behaviour and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity among children with intellectual disability · 2022 · DOI

  • Despite the research exploring the benefits of using cooperative learning in secondary physical education, several research gaps still remain, namely, limited research on its effects on prosocial behaviours, the impact on adolescents as they grow up, and the lack of assessment of differently structured cooperative learning frameworks.

    High- versus low-structured cooperative learning in secondary physical education: Impact on prosocial behaviours at different ages · 2022 · DOI

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185 open questions have been extracted from the limitations and future-work passages of 3,344 Children's Physical and Motor Development papers in our library. Each one below links back to the study that raised it, so you can read the original claim in context.

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