Recap

1. Recap • Answer the following questions. • Describe what is meant by the term ‘continuum?’ • Why do we use continua? • Name the six continua used to classify skills. Classify a skill from your practical activities on all six continua and explain your classifications.

2. Answers • 1. Describe what is meant by the term ‘continuum’? • A continuum is an imaginary scale between two extremes which shows a gradual increase/decrease in a number of characteristics. • 2. Why do we use continua? • Because the classification of movement skills is not simple. It is difficult to be specific about the characteristics because many of them can change depending on the situation in which the skill is performed. • 3. Name the six continua used to classify skills. Classify a skill from your practical activities on all six continua and explain your classifications. • Muscular involvement (gross – fine) • Environmental influence (open – closed) • Continuity (discrete – serial – continuous) • Pacing (self paced – externally paced) • Difficulty (simple – complex) • Organisation (low – high)

3. The application of classification to the organisation to the organisation and determination of practiceLesson 2

4. Date Classwork • By the end of today’s you must know and understand and be able to: • Critically evaluate each practice method by knowing the advantages and disadvantages of each method. • The classes of skills they are best suited for. • To give practical examples of the application of each type of practice.

5. To decide on the best method of manipulating the skill they will place the skill on the organisational and difficulty continua. • Referred to as Task analysis. • You need to consider the following Can the skill to be learned: • Be broken down into separate parts? - Low organisational. • Not be broken down into parts? – High organisational. Does the skill to be learned: • Involve many decisions, have lots of subroutines, have to be carried out quickly and accurately? – Complex skill. • Involve few decisions to be made, doesn’t involve great accuracy? – Simple skill.

6. Methods of manipulating skills to facilitate learning and improve performance • Describe methods of manipulating skills practice. • Evaluate critically these methods and their effectiveness.

7. Methods of skill practice The method used depends on: • level of ability of the performer • facilities & time available • size and structure of the group • the task/skill — organisation & information-processing demands

8. Part method • A skill is broken down into its constituent parts (sub-routines). • The parts are taught as separate actions and then put together. • e.g. Front crawl (body position, arm action, leg action, breathing). • Useful for serial skills e.g. triple jump.

9. Part method advantages • Useful if the skill is low in organisation. • Useful if the skill is complex as the learner can cope with small parts before trying the whole. • Useful in learning dangerous skills — danger element can be reduced, giving learner confidence. • Enables focus to be on particular elements. • Success in learning a small part is motivating. • Gives confidence. • Allows learner to gain an initial understanding of the skill.

10. Part method disadvantages • Reduces kinaesthetic awareness. • Flow of the skill is lost. • Transfer of parts into the whole may be difficult. • Time consuming. • Highly organised skills are difficult to break down into parts.

11. Whole method • A skill is taught without breaking it down into sub-routines or parts. • Generally, where possible, it is the best method to use. • It is used if a skill is highly organised (difficult to split into sub-routines). • e.g. Cartwheel.

12. Whole method advantages • Learner experiences the feel of the skill (kinaesthesis). • Learner appreciates the end product. • Learner appreciates the flow & timing of the movement (fluency). • Learner understands the relationship between the sub-routines of the skill. • Learning is quicker because the sub-routines do not have to be put together. • Transfer to the real situation is positive.

13. Whole method disadvantages • Unsuitable for complex skills. • In the early stages of learning the learner may not be able to cope with skills that have high attentional demands. • Some skills may be dangerous to be taught by this method and therefore have to be broken down.

14. Progressive part • This is often referred to as ‘chaining’. Serial skills are broken down into their constituent parts and then learnt as follows: • Learn part 1 — perform part 1 • Learn part 2 — perform parts 1 & 2 • Learn part 3 — perform parts 1, 2 & 3 • Learn part 4 — perform parts 1, 2, 3 & 4 • e.g. Handstand, forward roll, cartwheel, backward roll.

15. Progressive part — advantages & disadvantages • See part method.

16. Whole—part—whole • The learner first tries out the whole skill to get the feel of its performance and to establish the easy and difficult elements. • The teacher then takes out the difficult parts and the performer practises them. • The performer then puts these parts back into the whole performance. • Useful for skills that can be broken down (low in organisation). • e.g. Gymnastics sequence.

17. Whole—part—whole advantages • Allows the teacher to concentrate on each individual’s weak parts. • Learner gets the feel of the movement as in the whole method. • Easier to transfer some parts back into the ‘whole’. • Quicker than the whole method.

18. Whole—part—whole disadvantages • Transfer may be difficult. • Cannot be used for highly organised skills.

19. Task • The model below is an illustration of progressive part practice & assumes that a movement has 3 clear and separate routines. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Teach Teach Teach Teach Teach Part A Part B Part A&B Part C Part ABC Think of a skill that could be taught using the progressive method part method. Explain how you would structure that part practices.

20. Homework • Reading page 130 -134 • Past paper exam questions