Transcript Practical Skill Acquisition Methods of Practice 1. Learning Objective: To understand the advantages of each type of practice.

Practical Skill Acquisition
Methods of Practice
1.
Learning Objective:
To understand the advantages of each type of
practice.
Advantages and Disadvantages
 With a partner list as many advantages and
disadvantages you can think of for practicing a skill as
a whole or breaking it down into parts.
 Think about learning a number of different skills (e.g.
basketball lay-up, tennis serve, badminton smash).
Which type of practice would you use? What factors
influence your decision?
Whole Method
 Performer appreciates the flow, sequence and feel
for the end product or movement.
 Performer is able to develop their own schema for
the movement.
 Must be used for skills that are high in organisation,
hard to break down or have to be performed quickly.
 Easier to transfer the skill from practice to game.
 Prevents boredom (ensures performer doesn’t lose
sight of the whole skill).
Part Method
 Allows complex tasks or routines to be learnt more
easily.
 Performer can work on specific, identified
weaknesses.
 Allows performer to build experience and confidence
in complex skills.
 Can eliminate some areas of danger (e.g. gymnastics)
 Allows for staged success and so can build
motivation.
Factors which determine which type
of practice to use
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The nature of the skill.
The stage of learning of the performer.
The maturity and experience of the performer.
Any safety considerations?
Often it is a mix of types of practice that is most
effective when learning/practicing a skill.
Exam Question
 In swimming the front crawl can be practiced using
either the whole or part methods. What are the
advantages of using:
a) The whole method (3)
b) The part method (3)
Answer (mark your own work out of
6)
Whole Method
 Swimmer can easily understand how leg, arm, and breathing actions link together.
 Swimmer able to develop a schema for how the movements are performed.
 Skill can easily be transferred to a competitive or ‘real life’ situation.
 More interesting than practicing only leg or arm action.
Part Method
 Arm and leg actions can easily be broken down and practiced individually to build
confidence.
 Swimmer can focus on a weakness of their stroke.
 Ensures safety as pupils can use float or hold on to side whilst practicing one specific
area.
 Helps with motivation as swimmer can see improvements in each aspect of their
stroke.
Extended Learning
To revise everything on practical skill acquisition. This
includes:
 Teaching styles (command, reciprocal, discovery, and
problem solving).
 Methods of practice (whole, part, whole-part-whole,
progressive part).
 Types of practice (massed, distributed, variable and mental
practice).
 Methods of guidance (verbal, visual, manual and
mechanical).
 Feedback (types of feedback, KR, KP, terminal, concurrent,
delayed, positive, negative, intrinsic, extrinsic).
Structuring Practice Time
 There are two main ways in which practice time can
be structured:
Distributed Practice
When the time available is broken down into smaller time
blocks, with rest periods.
 Better for beginners being introduced to the skill.
 Better for less fit performers.
 Can maintain interest and motivation.
 Good for continuous skills, or gross motor skills.
 Better for complex skills which require a high level of
concentration.
 Breaks can be used for mental rehearsal or to give feedback.
 Useful when the skill has a danger element.
Massed Practice
When the performer practices for the whole of the time available,
with no breaks.
 Useful for older and more experienced performers.
 Good when the skill or task is simple.
 Good for discrete skills, or when the skill is performed very
quickly.
 Used with highly motivated performers.
 Useful when time is limited.
Mental Practice
The mental or cognitive rehearsal of a movement or skill,
with no actual physical movement taking place.
 Important for moving up the stages of learning (cognitive,
associative, autonomous).
 Can help control arousal and anxiety (e.g. rugby
conversion).
 Highly effective when combined with physical practice.
 Think of sporting examples of mental practice.