Week 3: Newell's Model of Constraints

Question 1

Describe Newell’s Model of Constraints (6 points)

Answer 1

• Newell felt that movements arise from the interactions between the individual, the environment and also the task that’s being undertaken.
• He also felt that when one of these factors changed, the movement also changed.
• An example could be a toddler taking his first steps. If you compare the movement of a toddler to the movement of an adult who’s been walking for the vast majority of their life, it’s obviously going to be a fairly different moment.
• Furthermore, if you compare that adult to an adult who’s walking on a slippery surface, meaning a change in the environment, that movement again will change.
• Changing individual, environmental and task constraints can shape the movements that occur
• By understanding the developmental factors affecting movement we can create developmentally appropriate tasks and environments

Question 2

Describe Individual Constraints (6 points)

Answer 2

• One of the components of Newell’s Model of Constraints
• Divided into two parts: structure constraints and functional constraints
• Structural constraints relate to the body’s structure, such as height, weight and strength.
• Functional constraints relate to behavioral functions, such as fear, experiences, motivation, attentional focus.
• For example, when observing Bethany Hamilton, a surfer who was attacked by a shark when she was 13 years old, resulting in her losing her arm. This was a massive structural change that she went through and was an impairment that was going to make it very hard for her to surf. This impairment constrained her surfing but she was able to overcome that constraint, learning to surf with just a one arm. One of the challenges she had to overcome was trying to get through a wave. If the wave had broken, she was finding it really hard to dive her board under the wave. Her father came up with the idea of putting a little handle on in the front middle of the board. This allowed her to grab that handle with her one arm and push the front of the board down to help her get under the wave.
• She also would have gone through something functional changes. She may have been experiencing fear the first few times being in the water after her shark attack, which would have made it very difficult for her to concentrate on what she was doing.

Question 3

Describe Environmental Constraints (5 points)

Answer 3

• One of the components of Newell’s Model of Constraints
• Environmental constraints are the constraints caused by the external conditions
• Include both physical environmental constraints and sociocultural environmental constraints
• Some physical constraints are temperature, humidity, playing surfaces, and so on.
• An example of a sociocultural factor is that in the 1950s, it was common for sport to be seen as a boys domain. And as a result, girls were not encouraged to get involved in sport as much as boys were.

Question 4

Describe Task Constraints (6 points)

Answer 4

• One of the components of Newell’s Model of Constraints
• The task constraints are also external to the body
• Tend to include goals of the movement or the activity. For example, in the game of basketball, the goal of the game is to get the ball into the hoop to score points.
• Tasks constrains also include the rules that dictate the type of movement within the activity. For example in the game of basketball, you’re not allowed to run with the ball. So as a result, the movement that occurs is people are required to actually dribble the ball down the court.
• The equipment used is another task constraint. So for example, in a game of basketball, different age groups play with different size balls (size five, six or seven). In addition, the height of the ring may vary between age groups, with young children playing with a lower height.
• The size of the ball and the height of the ring can have a big impact on the basketball players. For example, seven year olds would struggle trying to shoot at a 10 foot ring and they would have to throw the with both hands just to get enough power to reach the ring. However, this means that they are practicing an incorrect form of shooting and their technique will quickly suffer because of this.