1. Physical Education Achievement Standard 2.4
Examine skill learning principles and psychological skills in relation to physical activity
Credits: 2

2. Key Words in this standard
Skill
Skill Learning Principle
Psychological Skills
Physical activity

3. 1. What is a (motor) Skill?
Activity – in pairs compare an unskilled golfer to a skilled golfer.
Write down what are the main features of each?
What do they look like?
Unskilled – top the ball, miss the ball, hit the ground, slice it, hook it, can’t grip clubs properly, ungainly ugly performance, trying too hard
Skilled – economy of effort, relaxed, smooth, effortless, can direct where the ball goes, selects the right club for the shot, coordinated

4. Definition of a Motor Skill
A learned, coordinated activity that achieves a set goal

5. Classification of Skills
Three ways to classify skills
Fine or Gross
What do you think this means?
A Fine motor skills involves small muscle groups.
Examples?
A Gross motor skill involves large muscle groups and/or the whole body
Fine Examples – handwriting, darts, marbles
Gross examples – swimming, cartwheels, kickboxing

6. Note! Many motor skills include both Fine and Gross Movements
Examples?
Examples – Routine on a beam. Fine movements to maintain balance and look good

7. 2. Discrete, Continuous or Serial
Discrete – involves a distinct start and end point
Examples?
2. Continuous – no distinct beginning or end
3. Serial – involves a series of discrete skills performed in order to create what looks like a continuous skill
Discrete – Throwing, punching, kicking, jumping
Continuous – running, skiing, dribbling a basketball
Serial – tennis serve, gymnastics vault, starting a car

8. 3. Closed or Open
Closed – the performer is in complete control of the sequence and timing of the skill
It is internally paced
Examples?
2. Open – The timing depends on factors the performer cannot control
It is externally paced
Closed – archery, golf swing, handstand
Open – Tackling in rugby, hitting a cricket or tennis ball, boxing

9. Revision Questions
Which of the following groups consist of only open skills?
Gym routine, long jump, wind surfing
Golf drive, 100m sprint, vault
Boxing, batting, surfing
Archery, netball shooting, softball pitch
Answer - c

10. 2. Which of the following is not a characteristic of a skilled performance?
It is goal directed
Consists of a complex sequenced activity
The skilled player must attend to everything very carefully
Movement patterns must be sequenced and timed correctly
Answer - c

11. 3. Skills based on the external environment are classified as?
Open or closed
Serial or continuous
Fine or gross
Discrete or continuous
Answer - a

12. 4. Which of the following is not a continuous activity?
Skiing down hill
Starting a car
Dribbling a basketball
Riding a bicycle
Answer - b

13. 5. Which of the following activities cannot clearly be classified as fine or gross?
Sewing
Handwriting
Holding a headstand
Rowing a boat
Answer - c

14. 6. Place the following skills on a continuum from the most closed to the most open
Teeing off in golf
Running a 100m race
Batting in cricket
Sailing a boat

15. 7. Driving is a continuous skill while starting a car is serial. Why?

16. 8. A Netball goal shooter who has to shoot for a goal in overtime with the scores tied (with both defenders standing down) and the whole stadium going crazy is still performing a closed skill. Why?

17. Stages of Learning
We all go through three main stages as we learn new skills. Some go faster than others but we all go through them all!
Remember them as the three P’s
Planning
Practice
Perfection

18. Planning Also known as the Cognitive phase.
1. What do these names tell us about what is going on during this stage?
2. In order to move through this stage what will learners need?
There are many errors made during this phase of learning. Instruction and modelling by a coach or other skilled performer is very helpful to move on to the next stage…
Finding out about the skill, planning the sequencing and timing, performer having to think a lot
Immediate, detailed feedback about their performance, feedforward about what they need to do to improve, examples of ideal performance, knowledge about the ideal performnce

19. Practice Also known as the associative phase
Amount of time here in this stage is dependent on:
Motivation of the performer
People to practice with
Resources
Time
Money
Coaches
Equipment
Transport
How complicated the skill is

20. Perfection Also known as the automatic or autonomous stage
Skill is performed without thinking and with few errors.
Characteristics of this stage of learning:
Less likely to be distracted
More mental energy available to focus on strategy etc
Speed and efficiency improved
Skill appears effortless, smooth and controlled
Must keep practising to stay here

21. Instruction and Practice
4 main instruction and practice techniques:
Massed and distributed
Whole and part learning
Drill and problem solving
Mental and physical practice

22. 1. Massed and Distributed Practice
Massed practice is when we perform the skill over and over without rest
What type of person does this suit:
Fit people or highly motivated people
Low energy tasks
Distributed practice is when we perform the skill in sessions, with rests in between
Best situations:
High intensity activities
Early stages of learning
Complex skills
Unmotivated learners or boring tasks

23. 2. Whole and Part Practice
Whole is when the skill in taught in its entirety
Advantages: good for simple skills
Part is when the skill is broken down into smaller parts or sub-routines
Advantages: skill can be broken down into it’s sub-routines

24. Drill and Problem Solving practice
Drill is learning a skill through repetition
Suits what type of skill? Best suits closed skills
Problem solving is learning through investigation, experience or discovery
Best suits what type of skill? Best suits open skills

25. Mental and Physical practice
Physical is what we all know – the skill is practiced by doing it!
Mental practice involves performing the skill in your mind without movement.
Which type of practice could you use this with?
Would work well with distributed practice – in the rest sessions

26. Factors affecting Learning
1. Arousal!
This is a measure of how mentally and physically excited, hyped up and activated you are.
Everyone has an optimal level of arousal
At this optimal level of arousal they are most likely to find their optimal performance
The Inverted U graph

27. Continued… How can we influences someone’s level of arousal?
Alter the skill
Too hard = over aroused
Too easy = under aroused
Alter the environment
Alter the individual = psychological skills (more on this later)

28. Feedback/Feedforward
Feedback is vital to move through the stages of learning
Where can we receive feedback from?
Coach, teamates, parents, diary, reflect, senses

29. Purpose of feedback/feedforward
Reinforce learning
Alter performance
Increase motivation

30. Types of feedback Internal External Continuous Terminal
Knowledge of results
Knowledge of performance
Positive
Negative

31. Reaction time
Two types of reaction time
Simple
Choice

32. Speed vs. Accuracy
Experiment…
Graph…
Implications…

33. Transfer of learning
Positive transfer
Negative transfer

34. Psychological Skills Goal setting Mental imagery - handout
SMARTER goals
Mental imagery - handout