The Effectiveness of Exergaming in Improving Locomotor Skills in Kindergarten Learners

Physical education is a part of the K to 12 school curriculum in the Philippines, which involves the compulsory teaching and learning of physical education. This action research examined the effectiveness of exergaming in improving locomotor skills among kindergarten learners at Carmen Elementary School in Davao Oriental. This research aims to bridge this gap by investigating how exergaming can enhance physical education and promote better motor skill development among kindergarten learners, particularly during the critical ages of three to five years when locomotor and object-control skills emerge and develop. Grounded in Fitts and Posner's Cognitive Theory of Motor Learning, which delineates the cognitive, associative, and autonomous stages of skill development, the study aimed to evaluate how digital, game-based movement activities enhanced fundamental locomotor movements such as walking, running, hopping, skipping, and jumping. This study employed an experimental research design. A total of 15 kindergarten learners from Carmen Elementary School participated in the intervention, which was conducted through tutorial classes over five sessions. Employing a one-group pre-test–post-test experimental design involving 15 kindergarten learners, the intervention consisted of five structured exergaming sessions. Learners' locomotor performances were assessed using a validated, researcher-developed rubric, and quantitative data were analysed using means, paired t-tests, and Cohen's d to measure effect size. Results revealed a significant increase in post-test mean scores (M = 12.45, SD = 0.75) compared to pre-test scores (M = 7.56, SD = 0.61), with the paired t-test yielding a statistically significant difference (t = 20.344, p = 0.001) and a Cohen's d value of 5.253 indicating a very large effect size. These findings confirmed that exergaming has a powerful impact on the development of locomotor skills in early learners, supporting its use as a highly engaging and developmentally appropriate strategy for enhancing physical education in kindergarten. Future studies with larger sample sizes and extended intervention periods may help determine the sustained impact of exergaming across various early grade levels.