Week 2: Stages and Transfer of Learning

Question 1

List the models of motor skill learning (2 points)

Answer 1

• When learning motor skills, learners tend to move through distinct stages
• There are two predominant models that have been proposed: Fitts and Posner Model and the Gentile Model.

Question 2

Describe the Fitts and Posner Models (5 points)

Answer 2

• Fitts and Posner model first presented in 1967.
• This highly regarded model is still referred to frequently in textbooks and current day research.
• According to this model, when learning a motor skill learners move through three distinct stages:
  
  • Cognitive (new task/thinking and planning of movement)
  • Associative (cognitive problems are solved)
  • Autonomous (skill becomes automatic)

Question 3

Describe the Cognitive Stage (5 points)

Answer 3

• First stage of Fitts and Posner Model
• This is the stage that learners start out when the skill is completely new to them. At this stage, the learner is trying to determine how to complete the skill properly
• Common for learners to make lots of errors.
• The reason for this is the learner will often feel overwhelmed because their central nervous system has a limited capacity to process new information and is being overloaded. Therefore, it cannot process all the new information.
• At this stage, the learner will understand that they’re doing something wrong but they will often struggle to identify how they’re supposed to rectify the problem.
• This is a result of the learner lacking what is known as error detection and correction capabilities.

Question 4

What is the best instruction to give a learner in the Cognitive Stage? (7 points)

Answer 4

• Important to understand that you need to deliver the appropriate instructions in the appropriate manner.
• The KISS (Keep It Simple and Specific) principle is worth remembering when working with these learners. You need to make sure that you keep the instruction simple and specific. So if it doesn’t need to be said, then don’t say it.
• When the task is completely new to the learner, it is a good option to give them the concept of the skill being learnt. This way, they understand why they’re doing what they’re doing.
• For example, if you’re trying to teach a young tennis player to volley, it would be beneficial for the learner if they understand when and why they would be volleying in a game.
• Because they’re at such an early stage in their learning cognitive learners need to practice in a simplified environment. That means you would not include defenders in the learning task because they’re simply not ready for that additional challenge.
• You also want to give the learners as many chances as possible to attempt the skill set you need to structure the tasks so that there’s scope for plenty of repetition. This is going to mean you want small groups and lots of equipment.
• Before the learners move off and start to practice. you need to make sure that you’ve provided clear and easy to understand explanation of the activities and you want to combine that with a clear demonstration of the task.

Question 5

Describe the Associative Stage (12 points)

Answer 5

• The second stage of the Fitts and Posner model
• Learners at the associative stage will be demonstrating considerable performance improvements.
• At this stage learners will start to associate environmental cues with the movements that are required to achieve the goals or the task or the activity.
• For example, a netballer or footballer at the associative stage will understand that to successfully hit a teammate who was on the move, they will need to kick or throw the ball out in front of that teammate. Otherwise, by the time the ball reaches its destination the moving teammate will no longer be in that area.
• The learner has also solved a number of the cognitive problems and now understand what they need to be doing.
• However, It doesn’t mean that they’ll be able to execute the task correctly at every attempt. So the coach or teacher will still expect to see skill execution errors.
• The coach, teacher or physical therapists aim is to help the learner execute the skills more successfully by helping the learner organize and perform more effective movement patterns.
• Associative learners will start to ignore irrelevant information and their anticipation skills will start to improve
• An example of this may be a tennis player at the associative stage who is playing a game of doubles may start to anticipate opposition player movement.
• Learners at the associative stage start to learn to monitor their own feedback and also start to detect their own errors, using their knowledge of results and knowledge of performance.
• An example that relates to the knowledge of results is a tennis player that hits a forehand that lands beyond his opponent’s baseline will understand the mistake he has made. In relation to the knowledge of performance, an associative learner will understand that the reason the forehand landed long is because he didn’t put enough topspin on the ball.
• Even though the associative learners are starting to detect their own errors, it is still very important that coaches and teachers provide appropriate cues and feedback to help them at this stage of their learning.

Question 6

What is the best instruction to give a learner in the Associative Stage? (5 points)

Answer 6

• It is important to understand the types of instructions that are needed when guiding an associative learner. You are essentially aiming to refine or improve the learner’s skills.
• It’s important to understand that not everyone is going to progress past this stage of learning. And for those that do move past this level, it may take years for this to actually occur.
• To help a learner improve within this level and ultimately move past this level, coaches and teachers need to slowly increase the amount of information that they are providing the learner because they don’t want to overwhelm this learner with too much information.
• When designing lessons and sessions it is most beneficial for these learners to complete specific task practice. This means that these learners should be playing small sighted games, game sense type activities, or drills that will allow them to practice game scenarios.
• It’s also important for teachers and coaches to use teachable moments to help clarify important information.

Question 7

Describe Autonomous Stage (5 points)

Answer 7

• The third and final stage of the Fitts and Posner model
• Often referred to as the automatic stage
• Not everyone is going to make it to this stage of learning. Those that do make it to this stage are going to be very competent and consistent in their performances.
• Performers at this level will be able to complete the skills automatically or habitually. So much so they will not need to consciously think about the performance and require minimal attention/time to execute the skill
• Coaches teaches and also learners need to understand that a lack of practice or form slumps may actually result in the learner dropping back to the associative stage of learning

Question 8

What is the best instruction to give a learner in the Autonomous Stage? (3 points)

Answer 8

• Improvements at this level will be relatively slow. Understanding this will help with expectations because improvements will not be as profound as they were in the earliest stages of learning.
• Learners or performers at this level are capable of detecting and correcting their own errors.
• Because of this feedback provided to these learners should focus on strategy more so than it does on technique.

Question 9

Describe Gentile’s Model (5 points)

Answer 9

• Another well known and influential model of motor learning
• First presented in 1972, then further researched in 1987 and 2000
• According to this model, learners move through to identifiable stages:
  
  • Beginners start at the initial stage, where they get the idea of movement
  • Learners then move into the later stage, where the aim is to increase adaptability, consistency and economy of movement.

Question 10

Describe the Initial Stage (5 points)

Answer 10

• First stage of the Gentile’s Model
• The initial stage is when learners are getting the idea of the movement.
• This is achieved through two goals. The first learning goal is to acquire the basic movement patterns, and the second is learning to distinguish between environmental features.
• Learners start to identify the important regulatory conditions that influence the execution of skills. They understand how factors such as the size and weight of the ball, the wind and playing surface affects their performance.
• They also start to understand the non regulatory conditions that are somewhat irrelevant and don’t influence the movement goal, such as the color of their opponents uniforms is an example of non regulatory conditions.

Question 11

What is the best instruction to give a learner in the Initial Stage? (3 points)

Answer 11

• Instruction for learners at this stage need to help the learner focus on the goal of the task.
• The aim is to help these learners develop the appropriate movement patterns.
• This can be achieved through effective demonstrations, appropriate verbal instructions and feedback.

Question 12

Describe the Later Stage (10 points)

Answer 12

• The second and final stage of the Genteel model
• Learners at this stage are aiming to:
  
  • increase the adaptability of their movements so that they can adjust to the different situations they find themselves in.
  • increase the consistency of their movements
  • and increase their efficiency of the movement
• At this stage, depending on the skill being learnt, fixation and diversification are the learning goals.
• For closed skills, fixation is the learning goal for the performer. The learners goal is to refine the movement patterns they learned in the first stage so that the goals can be achieved more consistently.
• An example would be someone learning to play darts. This close skill occurs in an unchanging environment. The learner needs to fixate on improving his or her movement patterns to consistently hit the target being aimed for.
• With open skills, on the other hand, the learner’s aim is diversification. They want to be able to react and adapt to the changing environment and scenarios that they’re going to find themselves in.
• Batting in cricket will be an example of an open skill where the learner in this later stage needs to be experiencing training all the types of deliveries that they may face in a game.

Question 13

What is the best instruction to give a learner in the Later Stage? (3 points)

Answer 13

• Coaches and teachers can assist learners in this stage by providing both closed (fixation) and open (diversification) experiences during training and practice.
• For closed skills, like basketball free throws, the height and distance of the ring wouldn’t change in a game. So you shouldn’t change this during practice. But you can adjust the player’s level of fatigue by practicing foul shots at different stages of training. You can also split the team into two teams and have foul shot camps where opponents are allowed to distract their opposition
• For open skills, like kicking in Australian rules football, drills can be set up so the players practice kicking under a variety of conditions. For example, kicking over different distances, having shots at goal from different angles, and also kicking while being placed under pressure by an opponent trying to tackle or smother the ball. Altering conditions for open skills during practice will help them develop the capacity to modify the movements as required in a game.

Question 14

Describe Transfer of Learning (2 points)

Answer 14

• Transfer of learning is defined as the influence of previous experiences on performing a skill in a new context or on learning a new skill.
• Transfer of learning is important to coaches, teachers and physical therapists because it influences how the skills are presented to their athletes, students or clients and how practice sessions are structured.

Question 15

Where can transfer be used? (4 points)

Answer 15

• Practice allows learners to transfer the learning of a skill to other situations and environments.
• Examples of where transfer can be used include physical therapists helping someone who’s had a stroke relearn how to walk in a rehab clinic so that that stroke patient can walk again to the shops or around the house.
• Coaches teaching their players skills on the training track so that they can transfer these skills into a game day situation.
• And PE teachers want their students to learn fundamental motor skills in the gym, or on the school oval so that they can get involved and stay involved in sports and exercise throughout the rest of their lives.

Question 16

Describe the effect that previous experiences may have on the transfer of learning (4 points)

Answer 16

• Previous experiences can facilitate the learning of other skills. It should be noted that previous experiences can also hinder the learning of other skills, and that previous experiences can also have no effect on the learning or performance of other skills.
• Previous experience that facilitates the learning of other skills is known as positive transfer.
• Experience that hinders the learning of other skills is known as negative transfer
• Experience that has no effect on the learning of other skills is known as zero transfer.

Question 17

Describe positive transfer (4 points)

Answer 17

• Learning of one skill facilitates learning of another
• An example of positive transfer is someone who has had previous experience as a fast bowler in cricket may experience positive transfer when trying to learn how to throw a javelin because the approach to the bowling crease is very similar to the last few strides when throwing a javelin.
• Another example would be someone who is able to perform a layup in basketball may be able to to learn how to execute the high jump efficiently because the last three steps of a layup are very similar to the last three strides in the high jump.
• For positive transfer to occur, the coach or teacher needs to highlight the similarities between the two skills.

Question 18

Describe negative transfer (4 points)

Answer 18

• Learning of one skill interferes with learning another
• Example of negative transfer might be someone who has grown up playing squash may find that when they’re trying to learn how to perform a tennis forehand, their squash background may actually hinder the learning of the forehand in tennis. The reason for this is the forehand technique in squash is a very risky movement and there’s no real benefit or reason to put spin on the ball. This risky movement that sees no topspin on the ball doesn’t suit a tennis forehand and the squash player may experience a lot of their flat forehand leaning well beyond the baseline of the tennis court.
• Another example of negative transfer might be experienced by people who use two or more computers that have different keyboards. If these people get used to using their laptop they may find that this experience will result in them typing with lots of errors if they then go and use a different keyboard on say their home PC. The changes in key positions will be the cause of these mistakes.
• This negative transfer is only temporary and will eventually disappear

Question 19

Describe zero transfer (3 points)

Answer 19

• No effect
• Example of zero transfer would be the previous experiences of learning how to shoot an arrow in archery will have zero effects on the learner learning how to kick a set shot for gold in Australian rules football.
• The easiest way to determine what type of transfer will occur is identifying the similarities between the previous skill and the skill being learnt. The more similar the tasks, the greater the positive transfer.

Question 20

Why does positive transfer of learning occur? (6 points)

Answer 20

• There are two theories that have been proposed.
• One of those views proposes that the transfer of learning occurs due to the fact that the components of the skill and or the context in which the skills are performed a similar
• Thorndike’s (1914) identical elements theory could be used to explain why Australian rules footballers is like Ben Graham are able to code hop and punt successfully in the NFL. The similarities in the punting technique used in both sports allows positive transfer.
• Another theory to explain positive transfer relates to the similarities of the cognitive processes required to perform the two skills
• Bransford’s (1979) theory suggests that when strategies or decision making used in two different sports is similar, (for example, soccer and hockey) positive transfer can occur between those sports.
• Reviews have found that there is merit in both of these theories. In fact, it has been suggested by McGill, that the similarity of processing views is an extension of the component view. The greater the similarities, whether that be similarities in components or cognitive processing required, the greater the positive transfer.

Question 21

List the methods professional should use when assisting in positive transfer of learning? (6 points)

Answer 21

• It is important that teachers coaches and therapists understand what they can do to assist positive transfer. These practitioners should:
  
  • analyze the fundamental movements in the skill
  • Get to know the learner
  • Use cues and analogies
  • Maximize similarities between practice and performance
  • Consider the skill level of the learners

Question 22

Explain “analyzing a skill” (6 points)

Answer 22

• Studying the fundamental movement patterns in the skill
• For example, a basketball can experience positive transfer and learn the high jump more effectively if the coach or teacher identifies the last two steps that are layup are the same as the last two steps of a high jump.
• When sports have similar strategic aspects, the coach needs to identify this to his players.
• For example a netball player who understands the “give and go” can be reminded that this passing and moving to space technique will work just as well in a game of basketball.
• Perceptual elements can also be used to the learners advantage.
• For example, a surfer who knows how to read the waves and get out the back efficiently could use this knowledge in a surf lifesaving scenario. For example, using the rips or finding a path that helps them avoid the broken waves can help them get through the waves and around the boys as quickly as possible.

Question 23

Explain “getting to know the learner” (4 points)

Answer 23

• Coaches and teachers need to get to know their plays and their students.
• They need to find out what experiences they have had and what sports they have played and use these previous experiences to help them
• For example, if a cricket coach has a new player come along to play and the coach finds out that that player had a background as a baseball pitcher, it can be safely assumed that the pitcher is going to have a strong throw.
• This experience and throwing ability would make that pitcher very useful in the outfield in a game of cricket. With a bit of luck, he may be able to use his strong throw to cause a run out or two

Question 24

Explain the use of cues and analogies (2 points)

Answer 24

• Transfer learning can be assisted if teachers and coaches explain new concepts by relating them to familiar things through the use of cues or analogies.
• For example, when trying to teach a beginner how to either surf or volley the appropriate grip, known as the continental grip, can be easily remembered by referring to it as the hammer grip. This is because the grip used to serve and volley is very similar to the grip that will be used to hammer in a nail

Question 25

Explain the method “maximize similarities between practice and performance” (3 points)

Answer 25

• To help transfer what has been learned to training into a game, it is necessary to replicate game situations into training activities.
• As long as players are developmentally ready and are up for the challenge, the inclusion of defenders and defensive pressure into passing drills can be a good option.
• Game scenarios can also be simulated. For example, when practicing goalkeeping or shooting, a coach should include defensive pressure of an opponent who is trying to put them off or distract them.

Question 26

Explain the method “consider skill level of the learners” (2 points)

Answer 26

• While it is important to simulate game scenarios, you need to make sure that you pitch your activities to the ability level of your players
• Only add defenders if your players are up to the challenge and have achieved a reasonable level in the necessary skills.

Question 27

Describe Bilateral Transfer (5 points)

Answer 27

• Bilateral transfer is the transfer of learning from one limb to the limb on the opposite side of the body.
• Performing skills well on both sides of the body is essential in sports like Aussie rules, soccer or basketball.
• According to bilateral transfer, extensive practice with one limb may facilitate the rate of skill acquisition of the other limb. When someone learns a skill well on one side of their body, this learning will transfer and help them learn the same skill on the other side of their body more efficiently.
• It is important to ensure the learner has an intermediate skill/ associative learning on their preferred side before progressing to their non preferred side. Understanding bilateral transfer would mean that you wouldn’t teach a complete beginner learning how to kick in Aussie rules to use the opposite foot every second kick when he’s just starting out. You would make sure that the learner progresses to the point that they are having a reasonable amount of success on their dominant side and then you would get them to start practicing on their opposite side.
• Generally, you would get the learner to practice on their dominant side first. The success they have tends to help motivate them to stick at their practice.