<![CDATA[This study examined the effectiveness of differential learning in improving motor coordination, agility, static balance, passing accuracy, and shooting accuracy in futsal among fourth-grade preparatory school students. A randomized, pretest-posttest, two-group experimental design was used. Sixty-four students were selected from a population of 97 and assigned by intact-class lottery to an experimental group (n = 32) and a control group (n = 32); a separate pilot sample included 15 students. The six-week intervention comprised 12 instructional units, two 45-minute units per week. The experimental group practiced futsal tasks with systematic variations in distance, speed, direction, rhythm, starting position, and execution conditions, whereas the control group followed the teacher’s conventional explanation-demonstration-repetition method. Paired-samples tests showed significant pre-post improvement in all five outcomes in both groups (p ≤ .001). The experimental group recorded large standardized pre-post effects (Cohen’s dz = 1.37-2.70). In the posttest comparison, the experimental group outperformed the control group in coordination, agility, balance, passing, and shooting (all p < .001), with large between-group effects (|d| = 0.87-2.24). The findings indicate that structured movement variability can improve students’ adaptation and futsal skill performance beyond conventional instruction. Differential learning should therefore be integrated into school physical education while future studies use larger multisite samples and retention tests.]]>
Copyrights © 2026
