Positive - when the learning of a skill is made easier by the knowledge of another skill. For example a tennis player may find the learning of squash is made easier because they already have well developed hand-eye co-ordination and understand the importance of timing and producing a smooth swing with the racket.
Bilateral - sometimes called lateralisation, is the transfer of learning that occurs between limbs. This may be from hand to hand or leg to leg. Transfer will usually occur between the dominant and non-dominant limb. For example when we break a bone in a dominant limb we try to play sport and produce a skill using our non-dominant limb. When the broken bone is healed we sometimes find that we have transferred the learning of the skill to our non-dominant limb. Also if a basketball coach tries to develop their player’s weaker dribbling hand by relating it to an earlier learned skill with the strong hand, then they are involved in bilateral transfer.
Pro-active - when a skill presently being learned has an effect on future skills. A teacher aiming to teach basketball may start off by introducing beginners to throwing, catching, passing, moving, dribbling - building up skills to be transferred into future game situations. Simplified forms of more complex activities are introduced.
Retro-active - when a skill presently being learned has an effect on previously learned skills.
However, not all transfer of learning will enhance the learning of a new skill. Sometimes transfer of learning can be:
Negative - when learning of a skill is made harder by the knowledge of another. For example a squash player may find it hard to hit a tennis ball over the net, because squash demands that the ball is kept low. In order to overcome or limit the effects of negative transfer, teachers and coaches should be aware of areas that may cause initial confusion and ensure players are aware of possible difficulties they may experience.
Zero - when one skill has no effect on the performance of another. For example Formula 1 driving on swimming - zero transfer is said to occur.
But how do we actually learn skills and gain knowledge? There are many different learning theories that try to explain this:
Associationalist/Connectionist Theories
This theory states that learning occurs as a result of the association or connection between a stimulus and a result. The stimulus-response connection is called the S-R bond. The connection between the S-R bond is due to conditioning and the learning involves a change of behaviour. This theory can be split into classical conditioning and operant conditioning.
In classical conditioning an existing S-R connection is replaced by a new bonding and is concerned with modifying the stimulus. The most famous example of classical conditioning is the work of Pavlov. Pavlov noticed that his dog salivated when he saw the bowl that the dog food was going to be served in. the dog had been conditioned to associate the sight of his bowl with food. Pavlov decided to see whether he could condition the dog to associate a different stimulus with food. In order to do this Pavlov rang a bell at the same time as presenting the food. The dog salivated because of the food but was unknowingly connecting the arrival of food with the sound of the bell ringing. When the bell was rung again later the dog still salivated even of no food was presented. The dogs natural behaviour had now been changed through manipulation of the stimulus – their response became conditioned.
This theory can be applied to many sporting situations by examining how athlete’s behaviour can be conditioned by a coach. The coach can teach an athlete to produce a certain response on the presentation of a certain stimulus, either visual or auditory. For example in football training a coach can get the players to produce a certain pass by the command of a repeated word. Through practice the players will produce a conditioned response to the stimulus. The S-R bond will be strengthened by reinforcement and can be carried over to a game situation.
“The main points of Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning are:
- Existing behaviour is known as unconditioned response
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Behaviour can be conditioned by teaching a response to a specific stimulus” (Stafford-Brown J, et al, 2003)
Operant conditioning – this theory is proposed by B F Skinner. He said “behaviour is shaped and maintained by is consequences”. Rather than behaviour being the outcome of a response to the stimulus, Skinner sees behaviour as being the result of the action and its consequences. Skinner’s theory is concerned with modifying behaviour and response, which is based on trial and error, with the correct response being reinforced. Skinner promotes learning from a demonstration that teaches the skill and then reinforced after the performer has performed the skill successfully. Reinforcement is the key element to Skinner’s theory. He described a re-inforcer as anything that strengthens the desired response. This could be verbal praise, a good mark or grade or positive feelings of satisfaction.
Example: A rugby player kicks the ball when he should have passed it, by using praise every time the player passes the ball, gradually the player learns to pass the ball. This is known as player modification.
However the disadvantage with this is that the player may not know why the response is correct only that he will be rewarded. “The main points of Skinner’s operant conditioning are:
- Learning is not the result of an association between a stimulus and a response, rather the result of an action and its outcome
- Behaviour that is reinforced positively will reoccur
- Behaviour which is not positively reinforced will eventually disappear
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Learning can be produced through shaping an individuals behaviour” (Stafford-Brown J, et al, 2003)
Cognitive Theory – this theory is concerned with understanding and insight. The work of Getaltists showed the importance of perceiving a problem in its whole. Intervening variables are the factors which come between the stimulus occurring and a response being selected. The learner is involved in the process by absorbing information from various sources to understand the whole picture. The learner has to know when, where and why to use the skill, not just how to perform it. They must also be able to draw on past experiences and knowledge.
The cognitive view lends support to ‘whole practice’ teaching, rather than part practice – playing the game, so participants understand what is required. According to the cognitive approach it is more effective than learning skills separately. Giving young children lots of sporting experience may also help with their future learning and motor development because the child can draw back on their experiences to understand a problem and then solve it – gaining insight into the learning process.
Cognitive theories are concerned with thinking and understanding rather than connecting certain stimuli to certain responses. Trial and error has no place in cognitive theory, it is sometimes known as insight learning. Example: a cricketer who learns to swing the ball when bowling by understanding the basic mechanics of this movement is using cognitive theory, although they may not even know it. Another example: a basketball player who has the benefits of the zone defence explained to her and therefore understands when it is necessary to play this tactic.
“The main points of Gesalt theory are as follows:
- ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’ meaning we should experience the whole skill and understand how each part contributes to the whole skill
- learning needs to consider how the individual will experience events differently depending upon their past experiences
- learning is often insightful in that it will suddenly all come together rather than happen slowly and steadily
- learning needs to create understanding and give meaning to situations so that the concepts can be applied to new situations, using transposition learning is dangerous and misguided
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meaningful learning promotes clear understanding and will leave the strongest influences on our behaviour. Learning is only useful if it changes or influences our behaviour” (Stafford-Brown J, et al, 2003)
SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY
THORNDIKES LAW OF LEARNING
MOTOR PROGRAMME – PG 135
Methods
There are many different methods and styles that coaches and teaches can use to teach new learners. The difficult part is understanding how people learn new skills and information in order to consider which is the best way to present and organize practices. There are four stages to actually presenting a new skill to a group of learners:
“Stage 1 – introduce the skill and explain why it is important that the learner learns the skill
Stage 2 – present the skill through demonstration and explanation of the points of the technique
Stage 3 – Practice: learners will go through a period of practicing the skill
Stage 4 – Feedback: information will be provided to the learners and errors corrected” (Stafford-Brown J, et al, 2003)
The most important stages for a learner in terms of actually trying to learn the new skill are stages 2 and 3. as said before there are different methods that teachers and coaches can use to present this.
Whole versus Part Learning – whole learning is when a skill is taught and learnt in its entirety, whereas part learning is when a skill is split into smaller sections and learnt separately before being put together and learnt as a whole skill. Whole learning is the ideal way in which skills should be taught and learnt, however if a skill is complex and difficult to learn then part learning would be the better method to use. In order to decide which method would be better to use, teachers and coaches should ask themselves the following questions:
- How many parts are there in the skill?
- How much information do I need to put across to the learners?
- How mentally challenging is the task?
- How difficult are the techniques involved?
The answers to the above questions will give the teacher or coach an idea of how complex the task is. They can then ask themselves the following 2 questions:
- How easily can the skill be broken down into parts?
- Will these smaller parts still be meaningful?
For example the highly organized skill of cycling would have to be taught as a whole movement because of the difficulty of splitting it into sub-routines. However a complex trampoline routine may compromise of front drop, seat drop, pike, back drop and front somersault. The individual components could be taught separately and then joined together.
Whole – Part – Whole Learning – This method involves the skill being presented as a whole, then broken down into sub-routines and then back as a whole skill. For example hitting a ball in cricket could be presented using whole-part-whole method:
- skill is demonstrated as a whole
- forward movement of the foot is presented
- back swing of the bat is presented
- forward swing and follow through is presented
- skill is demonstrated as whole again
This whole-part-whole method is probably most beneficial to the learner, as opposed to whole or part method, as it gives the learner the chance to experience the whole movement, then to practice each component separately and enabling them to pay more attention to parts they found most difficult before finally putting the parts back together again. When the parts are put back together the learner will have a better understanding if what the skill demands. This skill relies on the transfer of learning between the individual components and the whole skill.
The above methods can be used to present the skill, to organize the practice there are other methods:
Massed versus distributed practice
(Table 5.1, Stafford-Brown J, et al, 2003)
Massed practice occurs when there is no time allocation for rest, while distributed practice occurs when there are rest periods between practices. Research has suggested that distributed practice is more effective than massed practice. This is because motivation and concentration levels are hard to maintain for long periods of time. The rest period in distributed practice enables learners to refresh and enhance their concentration and motivation levels.
Fixed versus Variable practice – fixed practice is when some skills are practiced in the same conditions or situation. Variable practice is when skills are practiced in an ever-changing environment or situation.
These techniques can be applied to closed and open skills. Open skills need different conditions of practice and the greater the variety, the more beneficial the practice. Therefore open skills are more effectively taught with variable practice. Closed skills will be most effectively practiced through fixed practice as this replicates the game situation.
Example: for a penalty in football it is clear that the actual conditions of a penalty should be held fixed in practice. Stimuli that will vary in the game situation such as crowd noise, fatigue and different pressures regarding the score, must be varied.
Conclusion
Every individual is different and therefore everyone learns in different ways. There are many theories to suggest how we learn and which is the best way for teachers and coaches to present this information to new learners. However teachers and coaches do not have to stick to one theory to be most effective. If this was the case then the teacher or coach would not satisfy the whole learning group, as it is very unlikely that a group of 20 new learners would all learn most effectively from the same theory. Our learning can be affected by many factors such as our innate ability to response, our previous experiences and our ability to transfer our learning.
Bibliography and Reference
- Lecture Notes, Skill Acquisition, Chris Manley, 2005
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Stafford-Brown J, et al, 2000, B-TEC National Diploma in Sports and Exercise Science, Hodder & Staughton, London
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Honeybourne J, et al, 1996, Advanced Physical Education and Sport, Stanley Thornes Ltd
