Week 1: Introduction to Motor Skill Classification

Question 1

Describe motor skills (3 points)

Answer 1

• Activities or tasks that require voluntary control over movements of the joints and body segments to achieve a goal
• Researchers assume that motor skill performance is influenced by motor skill, performance environment and physical and psychological characteristics of the person performing the skill
• Synonymous with the term action

Question 2

Describe motor learning (3 points)

Answer 2

• The development of motor skills, the performance enhancement of learned or highly experienced motor skills, or the reacquisition of skills that are difficult to perform or cannot be performed because of injury, disease, and the like.
• Of interest are the behavioral and/or neurological changes that occur as a person learns a motor skill and the variables that influence those changes.
• An example of a question that a motor learning researcher may seek to answer is whether or not the feedback an instructor gives to a person learning (or relearning) a motor skill influences how quickly and how effectively the skill will be learned.

Question 3

Describe motor control (3 points)

Answer 3

• They way the body’s neuromuscular system functions to activate and coordinate the muscles and limbs involved in the performance of a motor skill.
• Researchers may investigate this question while a person is learning a new skill or performing a well-learned or highly experienced skill.
• An example of a question that a motor control researcher may seek to answer is if the movements of the arms and legs coordinated in similar or distinct ways when a person walks or runs at various speeds

Question 4

Describe motor development (2 points)

Answer 4

• Human development from infancy to old age with specific interest in issues related to either motor learning or motor control.
• An example of a question that a motor development researcher may seek to answer is determining the differences between the elderly and young adults in regards to how quickly they can decide what they need to do to avoid a collision with another person while walking in a crowded hallway

Question 5

Describe skill (6 points)

Answer 5

• An activity or task that has a specific purpose or goal to achieve
• An indicator of quality of performance, often referred to as “skill level.”
• Three criteria are typically analyzed to determine a person’s skill level
  
  • Degree of consistency: the extent to which the person can regularly achieve the goal of the task
  • Degree of experience: the extent to which the person can achieve the task under a range of different conditions
  • Degree of efficiency: can be seen in the strategies used to solve problems, interpret and process information, ability to focus and in the amount of muscular effort used to complete a task

Question 6

Describe movement (2 points)

Answer 6

• Specific patterns of motion among joints and body segments used to accomplish action goals.
• The component parts of motor skills or the means by which action goals are accomplished

Question 7

Describe neromotor processes (2 points)

Answer 7

• The third level on which motor behaviour is often analyzed
• The mechanisms within the central and peripheral nervous system as well as the muscular system that underlie the control of movements and actions. Therefore, they cannot be observed directly by the naked eye

Question 8

What are Fundamental Motor Skills? (2 points)

Answer 8

• AKA Fundamental movement skills
• The basic building blocks of more specialized movements that are used in everyday life, organized sports and recreational activity

Question 9

What is the Motor Development Perspective? (5 points)

Answer 9

• One of the various methods used to explain, define and categorize FMS
• According to motor development perspective, motor skills can be grouped into three categories
  
  • Locomotor Skills
  • Ballistic Skills
  • Manipulative Skills

Question 10

Define Locomotor Skills (1 point)

Answer 10

Locomotion is the capability to move or the act of moving from place to place

Question 11

List and describe the types of locomotion (16 points)

Answer 11

1. Creeping and crawling
   
   • The first types of locomotion exhibited by infants
2. Walking
   - Described by MDP as an upright, bipedal form of locomotion
3. Running
   - A more advanced motor skill compared to walking
   - Typically occurs 6-7 months after learning how to walking
4. Jumping
   - When individuals propel themselves off the ground with one or both feet and then land on both feet
5. Hopping
   - When individuals propel themselves off the ground on one foot and then lands on the same foot
6. Galloping / sliding / skipping
   - All involve the movements of stepping, hopping or leaping
   - Galloping and sliding involve the mover steps on one foot and then performs a leap step onto the other foot.
   - Galloping is the mover moving forward and sliding is the mover moving backwards.
   - Skipping involves a step and hop on the same foot with alternating feet

Question 12

Define Ballistic Skills (1 point)

Answer 12

Skills where force is applied to an object in order to project it

Question 13

List types of ballistic skills (4 points)

Answer 13

• Overarm throwing
• Kicking
• Punting
• Sidearm striking

Question 14

Define Manipulative Skills ( 1 point)

Answer 14

A skill in which a performer handles an object with hands, feet or other body parts

Question 15

List types of manipulative skills (4 points)

Answer 15

• Reaching and grasping
• Bimanual reaching and manipulation
• Rapid admin movements
• Catching

Question 16

What is the educational perspective of FMS importance? (3 points)

Answer 16

• Common motor activities with specific observable patterns
• FMS development vital for future sport participation
• Most sport skills are advanced FMS

Question 17

List the four essential skill categories and which of the eleven most essential skills belong to them (15 points)

Answer 17

1. Propulsion skills
   - Overhand throw
   - Continuous bounce
   - Kick
   - Punt
2. Receiving skills
   - Catch
3. Striking skills
   - One hand strike (horizontal)
   - Two hand strike (horizontal and vertical)
4. Traveling skills
   - Run
   - Vertical jump (taking off and landing on both feet)
   - Leap (taking off on one feet and landing on the other)
   - Dodge (change of direction)

Question 18

What is the importance of classifying skills? (2 points)

Answer 18

• To understand the nature of the skill
• To make effective recommendations in learning and instruction settings to help learners improve their motor skills

Question 19

Describe One Dimensional Classification Schemes (7 points)

Answer 19

• Motor skills can be classified by determining which skill characteristics are similar to those of other skills
• Most common approach has been to categorize skills according to one common characteristic, which is then divided into two categories that represents the extreme ends of a continuum. This is known as the one dimensional classification scheme or system.
• This allows a skill to be classified in terms of which a category the skill characteristic is more like, rather than requiring said characteristic to fit one category exclusively
• There are three motor skill classification system which use the one dimensional approach to categorize skills. They are:
  
  • Precision of the Movement
  • Organization of the Skill
  • Stability of the Environment

Question 20

Describe Precision of the Movement (16 points)

Answer 20

• Classifies skills on a continuum based on the size of the primary muscle groups required
• Gross motor skills are a motor skill that require large muscle groups and less precise movements to achieve its goal, such as:
  
  • Waling
  • Hopping
  • Jumping
  • Running
  • Throwing
• Fine motor skills are motor skills that require control of small muscles to achieve the goal of the skill, typically needing a high degree of precise movements, accuracy, hand-eye coordination and control.
• Although large muscles may be involved in performing fine motor skills, the small muscles are the primary muscles involved in achieving the goal of the skill.
  
  • Sewing
  • Writing
  • Typing
• Other examples that require the use of both large and small muscles, therefore falling somewhere in-between gross and fine motor skills are:
  
  • Pitching a baseball
  • Shooting an arrow
  • Putting a golf ball

Question 21

Describe Organization of the Skill (19 points)

Answer 21

• Classifies skills on a continuum based on the beginning and end points of the skill, specifically how distinct or pronounced the beginning and end points are
• Discrete skills have clear beginning and end points of the skill. They have one distinct movement and tend to be short in duration.
  
  • Throwing a dart
  • Catching a ball
  • Kicking a ball
  • Flipping a light switch
  • Hitting a piano key
  • Depressing the clutch pedal in a car
• Serial skills tend to sit in between discrete and continuous skills. They are a continuous series of discrete movements.
  
  • Gymnastics routine
  • Triple jump
  • Playing a piece on a piano
  • Typing a sentence on a computer keyboard
  • Shifting gears in a standard shift car
• Continuous skills are repetitive movements that tend to not have a beginning or end point
  
  • Cycling
  • Swimming
  • Walking/Running
  • Steering a car

Question 22

Describe Stability of the Environment (14 points)

Answer 22

• Classifies skills based on the stability of the environment context, or the supporting surface, objects, and/or other people or animals involved in the environment in which a skill is performed.
• Closed skills occur in a stable, predictable and stationary environment, where the performer determines when to begin the action. These tend to be the same from one skill to the next and do not change.
  
  • Darts
  • Weight lifting
  • Free throw in basketball
  • Picking up a cup
  • Buttoning a shirt
• Open skills occur in an unpredictable, changing and moving environment, where the feature of the environmental context in motion determines when to begin the action. When performing open skills, the performer must react to the changing environment.
  
  • Tackling
  • Batting
  • Table tennis
  • Driving a car
  • Catching a thrown ball
  • Walking on a crowded sidewalk