Introduction To Motor Skill Learning

CAHPTER 2.1

Learning can be inferred practice observations,

retention test, and transfer test.

Oleh : Fakhrullah,S.Pd,,

Introduction To Motor Skill Learning

Key Term

Performance           transfer test             performance

Learning                   plateau                     variable

Retention test          ceiling effect            learning

                                   Floor effect              variable

Aplication

A typical requirement in any profession involving motor sklii instruction is an assessment to determine whether or not what is taught is learned. Consider the following two examples taken from physical education and rehabilitation settings. Suppose you are a physical aducator teaching a tennis unit. If tou are teaching your student to serve, what will you look for in their service that will help you assess their progress in learning? How can you be certaint that what you are observing is the result of learning and not just luck? Or suppose you are a physical therapist helping a strocke patient to grasp a cup and drink from it. The same question apply here as in the physical aducation teaching situation. That is, what avidence will you look for in  the patient’s performance to assess their progress in  learning this skill? How will you know that the performance characteristics you observe are due to learning and not to other factors, such as luck or your assistance?

These questions relate to an important aspect af learning that must be considered when skill learning is assessed. That is, we must make an inference about learning. We do not directly observe learning. Instead, we directly observe behavior, which in this case is motor performance. It is  from this performance observation that we must determine if the observed behavior reflects learning. Thus, the determination of whether or not a skill has been learned involves a two-part process. Fisrt, there must be observation of performance of the skill under conditions where an appropriate evaluation of learning can take place. Second, there must be a translation of that observation into a meaningful conclusion about learning.

In the discussion that follows, the problem of how to assess learning will be approached from two general directions. First, a difinition of learning will be established. This is a critical step because it is important to know what learning is before attempting to determine how to evaluate whether or not it has taken palce. Then, the focust will shift to considering different ways that the learning inference can be made. The primary cocern will be to establish the appropriate conditions under which performance should be observed. As you will see, when inappropriate conditions are established, inappropriate conclusions about learning usually result. Three learning assessment methodes will be discussed so that you will be able to make confident conclusions about learning.

The importance of making appropriate conclusions about learning can be illustrated in several different ways. For example, if you are a teacher, you will undoubtedly want to base a student’s grade, at least in part, on how well he or she has learned the skill you taught in class. Also, as a teacher you want to know if a particular teaching strategy you use is more effective than an available alternative. The more desirable teaching strategy is the one that leads to more effective learning of the skill being taught. A similar situation exists in physical therapy settings. You would not want to release a patient from therapy without some assurance that the skill you have been learned by the patient to the degree that your assistance is no longer required. And it is important for you to know that the techniques used to help patients learn certaint skill will lead to better learning than other available techniques. Thus, it is essential to keep in mind that anless you are able to confidently assess learning, it is difficult ti derive valid conclusions that are applicable to any of these situations.

Discussion

            Two important terms are important for you to keep distinct in this discussion and throughtout this book: performance and learning. Performance can be thought of most simply as observable behavior. In terms of motor skill, observable behavior are what we see a person do when a skill attempted. Thus, such things as hitting a baseball, running a mile, tracing, throught a maze, drinking from a cup, dancing a waltz, or operating a lathe are examples of observable motor behavior. Each attempt to do any of these skills is a performance. We discussed how we can quantify performances such as these for evaluation purposes in Concept 1.2, where several different motor performance  measures were discribed. Additionally, a performance may include behaviors of greater magnitude than these examples. For example, playing an entire game of basketball may be considered a performance. Again, measures of how a person performed in these situations are available. Thus, the term performance should be thought of as referring to executing a skill at a particular spesific situation.

Learning, on the other hand, is an internal phenomenon that cannot be observed directly; it can only be inferred from the observation of a person’s performance. It is common for us to make  inferences about a person’s internal states based on what we observe them doing. For example, when someone smiles (an observable behavior), we infer that he or she is happy. When someone cries, we infer that he or she is sad, or perhaps very happy. When a person’s face gets red, we believe that person is embarrassed. Notice that in each of these situations, certain characteristics about the individual’s behavior are specifically identified as the basis for making a particular inference about some internal state we cannot directly observe. How ever, because we must make an inference based on observed behavior, it is possible to make an incorrect inference. If a student sitting beside you in class yawns during the lecture, you might infer from that observable behavior that person is bored. However, it may be that he or she is very interested and the yawning is due to being very tired because of lack of sleep the night before. In the same way, then, because we must infer on the basis of observed behavioral characteristics that learning is occurring of has occurred, we must select that most appropriate behavioral characteristics to observe and that observe those characteristic under appropriate circumtances. It is those circumtances that we will consider in this discussion.

Performance Changes during Learning

One of the first question that must be answered in order to assess learning is, What performance characteristics should be identified in order to make an apropriate inference about learning?

Because we expect that performance changes should occur is learning takes place, we can look for key indicators of learning in performance changes. This means that the performance measure, or measures, being observed should show certain distinct changes as the person practices the skill. Two performance characteristic changes are especially important to look for.

First, performance of the skill should show improvement over a period of time. This means that the person can exhibit a greater degree of skill at some later time than at some previous time during which performance of the skill was observed. However, note than  we would expect this improvement should be marked by persistence. That is, the improvement we have observed should last for more than one performance, and should continue over an extended period of time. A person who is judged to have learned something should not only be able to demonstrate the improved performance today, but also tomorrow, next week, and so on. It is important to note that an improvement in performance may not always be directly observable. As will be discussed later, there can be extended periods of time where learning is occurring, but performances of the skill do not show any observable improvement. However, these periods are ussally temporary and should end with noteble improvements in performance. Finally, we must be careful not to limit learning to improvement in performance. There are cases when bad habits result from practice, which in turn result in the observed performance not showing improvement. In fact, performance may actually become worse as practice continues. Because this text is concerned with skill acquisition, though, we will focus on learning as involving improvement in performance.

The second characteristic of learning occurring is that performance becomes increasingly more consistent. This means that trial-to-trial, or attempt-to-attempt performances reveal decreasing variability. Early in practicing a new skill a person is likely to be very inconsistent in performing the skill. On one attempt the measured response may be better than the previous one, whereas on the next attempt it may be worse. Eventually, however, the performance becomes more consistent.

These two characteristic of performance changes during learning both are important in making inferences about learning, and are also closely interrelated. The first characteristic in is concerned with the improvement in performance and the persistence of that improvement, whereas the second characteristic involves how consistent that change in performance becomes. Together, these characteristics emphasize that motor learning is a process in which many physical and psychological changes are taking place..
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......................                                                                                                                   Fakhrullah, S.Pd,,