Essential of Motor Performance Among 7-Year-Old Students in Terengganu: A Comparison Against Gender and BMI Using Machine Learning

Abstract

This research is designed to make a comparison against gender and BMI in motor skill component among 7 years old student in Terengganu using Machine Learning. The motor skills can be further divided into two subgroups which are locomotive skills such as running, jumping, sliding and swimming and object-control skills such as tossing, catching and kicking. Typically, children develop certain motor skills at specific ages but not every child will reach milestone precisely at the same time because of the BMI. The objective of this study is to i) To identify the differences of leg muscle power, speed and coordination against gender and BMI and ii) To predict BMI group classification based on gender. A total of 4698 students were randomly chosen from primary schools in Terengganu with the mean weight (±22.49), height (±118.96), and BMI (±15.75). The total comprise students comprise of 2270 female students and 2427 female students. The independent variables for this study are gender and BMI meanwhile for dependent variables are power, coordination and speed. The study sample were tested by using MANOVA and machine learning. Result for MANOVA shows that only one variable shows the significant difference p<0.05 which is power. From the machine learning researcher can predict BMI group misclassification based on gender. From this study, we can help the parents to monitor their children nutrition and number of children’s physical activities that will affect their motor performance.