Skill acquisition and motor learning (SACE Stage 2 Physical Education)

What this dot point is asking

You must explain the stages of learning, how skills are classified, and how practice design and feedback influence the acquisition of motor skills.

Stages of learning (Fitts and Posner)

• Cognitive stage. The learner is working out what to do. Performance is inconsistent, errors are large and frequent, and the learner needs a clear mental picture (demonstration, simple cues). They cannot detect their own errors, so feedback must come from the coach.
• Associative stage. The basic pattern is grasped and the learner refines it. Errors are smaller and less frequent, consistency improves, and the learner begins to detect some of their own errors. Practice is the dominant feature of this longest stage.
• Autonomous stage. The skill is largely automatic, freeing attention for tactics, opponents and the environment. Performance is consistent and fluent, and the performer can detect and correct their own errors. Not all performers reach this stage for every skill.

Classifying skills

Classifying a skill tells a coach how to practise it.

• Open vs closed. Open skills are performed in a changing, unpredictable environment (a pass in netball); closed skills happen in a stable, predictable environment (a gymnastics vault, a free throw).
• Gross vs fine. Gross skills use large muscle groups (running, jumping); fine skills use small, precise movements (a dart throw, a golf putt).
• Discrete, serial, continuous. Discrete skills have a clear start and end (a kick); serial skills link several discrete skills (a triple jump); continuous skills have no clear end point (cycling, swimming).
• Self-paced vs externally paced. The performer controls the timing (a serve) versus the environment controls it (returning that serve).

Practice

How practice is structured depends on the skill and the learner's stage.

• Massed vs distributed. Massed practice has little rest between attempts (suits fit, motivated learners and simple/discrete skills); distributed practice spaces attempts with rest (better for fatiguing, dangerous or complex skills and for beginners).
• Whole vs part. Whole practice teaches the skill in one piece (suits highly organised, fast skills like a golf swing); part practice breaks it into segments (suits low-organisation serial skills like a swimming stroke).
• Blocked vs random. Blocked practice repeats one skill before moving on (good early learning); random practice mixes skills, which is harder but produces better retention and transfer to games.

Feedback

Feedback is information about a performance and is essential for learning.

• Intrinsic feedback comes from the performer's own senses (how the shot felt). Extrinsic (augmented) feedback is added by a coach, video or scoreboard.
• Knowledge of results (KR) tells the performer the outcome (the ball went out). Knowledge of performance (KP) describes the movement quality (your elbow dropped).
• Beginners rely heavily on frequent, simple extrinsic feedback because their intrinsic feedback is unreliable. As learners advance, feedback should become less frequent and more about performance, so they develop their own error detection.