Children who learn how to swim at a young age have better visual-motor
skills and mathematical abilities, says a new study.
Children who learn how to swim at
a young age have better visual-motor skills and mathematical abilities, says a
new study.
Researchers from the Griffith
Institute for Educational Research surveyed parents of 7,000 under-fives from
Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. over three years. The study is a joint
project between Griffith University, Kids Alive Swim Program, and Swim
Australia.
Lead researcher Professor Robyn
Jorgensen says the study shows young children who participate in early-years
swimming achieve a wide range of skills earlier than the normal population.
“Many of these skills are those
that help young children into the transition into formal learning contexts such
as pre-school or school,” said Jorgensen.
The researchers found significant
differences between the swimming cohort and non-swimmers regardless of
socio-economic background. While the two higher socio-economic groups performed
better than the lower two in testing, the four swimming groups all performed
better than the normal population.
The researchers also found there
were no gender differences between the research cohort and the normal
population.
As well as achieving physical
milestones faster, children also scored significantly better in visual-motor
skills such as cutting paper, coloring in, and drawing lines and shapes, and
many mathematically-related tasks. Their oral expression was also better as
well as in the general areas of literacy and numeracy.
“Many of these skills are highly
valuable in other learning environments and will be of considerable benefit for
young children as they transition into pre-schools and school,” he said.
A further 180 children aged 3, 4,
and 5 years have been involved in intensive testing, making it the world’s most
comprehensive study into early-years swimming.
Source: Griffith
University.
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