Bewegte Kinder = Gesündere Kinder (BeKiGeKi)

Project team

research employees:

• Dr Toni Wöhrl
• Dr Paula Teich

research assistants:

• Florian Becker
• Nele Nardini

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.

Publications

Bähr, F., Wöhrl, T., Teich, P., Puta, C. & Kliegl, R. (2025). Impact of age, sex, body constitution, and the COVID-19 pandemic on the physical fitness of 38,084 German primary school children. Sci Rep 15, 11300. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-95461-5 

Teich, P., Arntz, F., Wöhrl, T., Bähr, F., Golle, K., & Kliegl, R. (2025). Association of School Social Status with COVID-19 Pandemic-Related Changes and Post-Pandemic Rebounds of Children's Physical Fitness. Sports medicine – open, 11(1), 41. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-025-00838-5

Teich P., Fühner T., Bähr F., Puta C., Granacher U., & Kliegl R. (2023). Covid Pandemic Effects on the Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Results of the German EMOTIKON Project. Sports Med Open. 2023 Aug 14;9(1):77. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40798-023-00624-1

conference papers:

Kliegl, R., Teich, P., Voigt, M., Vogel, M., Wöhrl, T., Golle, K., Bähr, F. (2025). Entwicklung der motorischen Fitness von Thüringer und Brandenburger DrittklässlerInnen nach der Corona-Pandemie (2022–2024). Beitrag zum Symposium "Repräsentative Daten zu Bewegung, Spiel und Sport und deren Potenziale für gesundes Aufwachsen im Kindes- und Jugendalter" auf dem 27. dvs-Hochschultag 2025 in Münster am 17.09.2025. lecture

Voigt, M., Teich, P., Kliegl, R., Wöhrl, T., Vogel, M., Bähr, F., Golle, K. (2025). Freiwillige Elternberichte der Körperkonstitution von Grundschulkindern im Kontext motorischer Fitnesstests: Verzerrungen und Chancen. Beitrag zum Symposium "Repräsentative Daten zu Bewegung, Spiel und Sport und deren Potenziale für gesundes Aufwachsen im Kindes- und Jugendalter" auf dem 27. dvs-Hochschultag 2025 in Münster am 17.09.2025. lecture

Teich, P., Arntz, F., Bähr, F., Wöhrl, T., Golle K., & Kliegl, R. (2024). Physical fitness of school children: Association with the Covid-19 pandemic and school social status. Beitrag zum Symposium "Physical Fitness of Primary School Children: Integration of Large-Scale Projects" auf dem DGPs-Kongress 2024 in Wien am 16.09.2024. lecture

Bähr, F., Kliegl, R., & Puta, C. (2022). Impact of body mass index on physical fitness components of third-graders. 54. Jahrestagung der Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Sportpsychologie (asp 2022) in Münster am 16.06.2022. lecture

Further information

• https://bekigeki.github.io (project website)
• https://www.bekigeki.de (landingpage)
• e-mail: projekt.bewegungs-check@uni-erfurt.de