Bewegte Kinder = Gesündere Kinder (BeKiGeKi)

Project team

• Dr Toni Wöhrl
• Florian Becker

As a result of a decree issued by the Thuringian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports, all primary school pupils in Thuringia have been required to undergo an annual fitness check since 2022. The University of Erfurt is scientifically responsible for these checks as part of the ‘BeKiGeKi’ programme on behalf of the Ministry. The children's physical fitness is first measured and evaluated using sports motor skills tests. Afterwards, the parents receive feedback – including an individual recommendation for action.
The research objective is therefore to find out what the current physical fitness of children is and what trends and influencing factors there are. The focus here is also on the nationwide development of children's state of health and the influence of gender-specific body constitution, geographical and socio-economic factors. The motor skills tests conducted are a scientifically based routine procedure in which the person being tested is asked to achieve the best possible result (‘maximum performance’) in the context of a manifest motor act. Based on the results (distances, heights, times, etc.), conclusions are to be drawn about objective – systematised – motor skills. The physical fitness is tested using the so-called EMOTIKON test battery. These six tests measure cardiorespiratory endurance (6-minute walk test), coordination (star run test), speed (20-metre linear sprint test), lower limb strength (standing long jump test), upper limb strength (medicine ball throw test) and static balance (one-legged standing test with eyes closed).

The "German Kids Fitness Lab"(https://www.researchgate.net/lab/German-Kids-Fitness-Lab-Reinhold-Kliegl) publishes international results from the Thuringian project (BeKiGeKi, University of Erfurt) and the Brandenburg project (EMOTIKON, University of Potsdam). The aim is to realise a transnational transfer of research.

Further information

• https://bekigeki.github.io (Results)
• https://www.bekigeki.de (Infopage)