Preparing for the Learning Experience

1. Preparing for the Learning Experience Chapter 7

2. Objectives • Discuss the concept of the learning experience • Explain the role of the movement practitioner in defining learning experiences • Describe several learner characteristics of which practitioners should be aware (continued)

3. Objectives (continued) • Explain how movement practitioners can evaluate the progress of learners • Assist someone in developing a blueprint for a motor learning experience

4. Preview In Lewis Carroll’s classic children’s story Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alice and the Cheshire cat have the following exchange: (continued)

5. Preview (continued) Alice: Could you tell me which way I should go from here? Cheshire cat: Well, that depends a good deal on where you want to go. Alice: Oh, I don’t much care where. Cheshire cat: Then it doesn’t matter which way you go. (continued)

6. Preview (continued) • Does it matter which way you go? • Why do you go where you go? • What does it take to get there?

7. Overview • Concept of learning experience and some of the factors that movement practitioners consider when preparing to assist learners • Goal setting • Transfer of learning • Learner characteristics • Performance assessment • Conceptualizing learning using everyday conditions

8. Goal Setting • Set targets for performance improvement • Encourage all learners to set goals • Know what the learners’ goals are • Individualize goals • Make sure people have a vested interest in goal setting (continued)

9. Goal Setting (continued) • Understanding the purpose of specific activities • Challenging, measurable, achievable, realistic, specific, and beneficial goals • Performance-based goals • Sufficient time to accomplish a goal • Proper apparatus

10. Types of Goals • Outcome goals target performance improvements that focus on the result of the activity (winning a tennis match). • Performance goals focus on improving on a previous performance (improving percentage of good first serves). • Process goals target the quality of movement and skill execution (tucking body during forward roll).

11. Targeted Goals • Target skills are the skills a person wants to be able to perform. • Target behaviors are the actions a person needs to be able to produce to accomplish target skills. • Target context is the environment in which the person will produce the target skill.

12. Locus of Control • A person’s perception of who or what controls what happens to him or her • Internal vs. external • Stable vs. unstable

13. Transfer of Learning • The gain or loss of a person’s proficiency on one task as a result of previous experience • What a person learns during practice vs. what he or she can do in the target context (continued)

14. Transfer of Learning (continued) • Generalization is the transfer of learning that occurs from practice to target context (piano recital). • Near transfer is the type of learning that transfers from one task to another under very similar tasks or situations. • Far transfer occurs from one task to another under very different tasks or settings.

15. Motivation • Motivated—practice longer, more dedicated, more conscientious • Not motivated—half-hearted efforts • Achievement motivation—the effort a person uses to reach a goal for mastery, for learning, or to surpass others • Must see the relevance to be motivated to perform specific tasks

16. Past Experience • Tasks that share many similar elements are expected to transfer to a greater extent than those that do not. • Movement elements are motor patterns associated with correct performance. • Perceptual elements are task-related stimuli that people interpret for successful performance. (continued)

17. Past Experience (continued) • Conceptual elements are similar strategies, rules critical to performance. • Specificity of learning holds that the more similar the movement components and environmental conditions to the target skill, the better the learning experience.

18. Stages of Learning • Verbal–cognitive stage • Motor stage • Autonomous stage

19. Verbal–Cognitive Stage • A lot of time talking • A lot of time thinking • Self-talk • Verbal guidance • Large gains • Rapid gains

20. Motor Stage • Solved cognitive problem • Refining skill • More effective movement • More consistency • Strategies • Need precise feedback

21. Autonomous Stage • Some never get here • Little or no attention • Longer motor programs • Higher-order cognition

22. Valid Indicators to Assess Skills • Outcome measures are performance observations that indicate some aspect of the result as it relates to time, distance, frequency, and accuracy. • Process measures indicate something about the quality of movement being produced.

23. Error Measures • Constant error is the measure of a person’s deviation from a target with respect to the amount and direction. • Variable error is the inconsistency of results of several movements with respect to the average constant error of the movement.

24. Observable Products of Learning • Knowledge of concepts • Control and coordination • Muscles used • Movement efficiency • Attention • Error detection and correction