| Movement education involves an awareness of one's body, an understanding of the basic principles which control bodily movements, and competence in expressive movements involving flow, force, space and time. By mastering these movements, children can more likely springboard into lifetime sports and recreational activities (Blackmarr, Owens & Rockett 1974).;Several studies have been conducted investigating motor creativity with special populations (Boswell, 1982; Chin, 1984; Jay, 1991: Reber & Sherrill, 1981) which indicate that motor creativity can be increased for students with special needs of all ages. Additional research suggests that motor creativity can be influenced by early experiences in dance and movement education (Hanson, 1992; Lubin, 1978; Sherrill, 1986). To this end, Laban's (1960) effort actions are a good foundation for designing effective lesson plans. Yet, there is a need to continue studying the relationship between creativity and special populations. In this light, it is important to find suitable programs for the early development of preschoolers with and without developmental delays.;The purpose of this study was to investigate any effects of participation in the Every Child a Winner Preschool (ECWP) Program (Rockett & Owens, 1995) and free play on the motor creativity of preschoolers, with and without developmental delays, in inclusive and general physical education settings. The research process included: (a) subject selection from four intact inclusive and general physical education classes of preschoolers; (b) administration of the ECWP Program over 20 sessions with a comparison group receiving supervised free play, (c) a pretest-post test measurement done individually, using the Thinking Creatively in Action and Movement (TCAM) Test (Torrance, 1981), and (d) data analysis using a two-way ANOVA and Tukey Pairwise Comparison, plus the Kolmogorov-Smirnov 2-Sample Test.;Among the key findings, there was significant improvement in total scores on the TCAM (... |
