Structuring the Learning Experience

1. Structuring the Learning Experience Chapter 9

2. Objectives • Discuss the concept of practice structure and explain its importance to goal achievement and the performance of target skills in the desired target contexts • Describe the difference between blocked- and random-practice schedules for situations in which participants are attempting to learn several tasks (continued)

3. Objectives (continued) • Describe the difference between constant- and varied-practice schedules for situations in which performers are attempting to learn how to adapt a particular movement to a variety of target contexts • Contrast random- and varied-practice schedules and explain how practitioners might combine the two during motor skill learning (continued)

4. Objectives (continued) • Discuss the difference between consistent and varied stimulus-response mapping and explain how practitioners might assist learners in automating their responses for each type of mapping situation • Provide several explanations for the advantages of random-practice schedules in the learning of a number of tasks

5. Preview Skilled practitioners have been supervising volleyball camp for a group of preadolescents. For weeks the campers have practiced a variety of skills in a series of 12 one-hour sessions. During each session, campers practice one skill, rotate to a second skill, and so on. When the campers practice this way, they seem increasingly proficient in performing most skills. However, each time they attempt to play a game of volleyball, the learners fail to demonstrate the level of skill they had previously demonstrated in practice. (continued)

6. Preview (continued) • Why is this happening? • Are the instructors failing to give the campers enough practice? • Should they wait longer before introducing the game situation? • Have they chosen the wrong type of practice schedule? • How else might they structure skill rehearsal to improve the campers’ transition from practice to game conditions?

7. Overview • Structure of practice sessions, showing how people can rehearse two or more tasks together to facilitate learning • How variations of a single task can increase learners’ capability of adapting movements to meet the demands of a new situation • Ways to structure the practice of rapid, open skills that require performers to match their responses to environmental demands

8. Practicing Several Tasks • Blocked practice—a practice sequence in which a significant amount of time is spent on one task, then the next task • Random practice—variation in the order of practice; tasks are intermingled or continuously rotated

9. Blocked Practice • Blocked practice (rehearsal) produces better results in learning, but random produces better performance or retention. • Blocked practice becomes more automatic, does little to promote comparisons of similarities and differences, and does not produce lasting effects or carry-over. • Blocked practice may give performers a false sense of accomplishment (e.g., good on the driving range but horrible on the actual golf course).

10. Contextual Interference • Experimental research comparing the effects of random and blocked practice schedules on the learning of several skills revealed the phenomenon of contextual interference. • Although blocked conditions produce better performance than random conditions during initial practice, when performances are compared on later retention tests, random practice produces more learning than blocked practice does.

11. Why Random Is Effective • Rehearsal is more meaningful. • The elaboration hypothesis is an explanation for contextual interference that states that random practice causes people to appreciate the distinctiveness of different tasks better, whereas blocked practice allows people to bypass such comparisons.

12. Forgetting Hypothesis • The learner forgets task A to do task B and then has to relearn or replan the task next time. • Retrieval practice involves repeatedly retrieving appropriate movements and their parameters from existing motor programs stored in long-term memory. (continued)

13. Forgetting Hypothesis (continued) Desirable difficulties are believed to develop during random practice, which suggests that practice is made difficult and performance decreases. However, requiring the learner to exercise certain processes is beneficial for performing in the target context.

14. Blocked and Random Practice • Repetitiveness in practice is more essential for highly skilled performance but not as effective during practice. • Blocked practice may contribute to consistent performance but may give the learner an artificial or false sense of accomplishment. (continued)

15. Blocked and Random Practice (continued) • During blocked practice, the learner fails to practice the target skill, or the context is different than the context for the goal performance. • Specificity of learning suggests that the best practice schedules are those that bring the learner as close as possible to the actual performance or target skill.

16. Varied Practice: Several Versions of the Same Task Invariant movements are components of a movement that remain the same.

17. Conceptual Model to Explain Generalized Motor Program • Stimulus-identification stage—first stage in the information-processing model; recognizing and identifying the input (distance a ball must be thrown) • Response-selection stage—second stage; deciding which, if any, response to make (what kind of throw is needed) • Response-programming stage—the third stage; organizing the motor system to produce the desired movement (force, trajectory, release of the throw)

18. Constant vs. Varied Practice • Constant practice—similar to blocked practice; people rehearse one variation of a task during a session (throwing a dart) • Varied practice—people practice different versions of the same action; rehearsal matches actual performance (throwing a softball)

19. Varied Practice in Schema Development • Strong, stable rules determine the parameters of the desired action. • A schema changes based on past experience and the desired goal. (continued)

20. Varied Practice in Schema Development (continued) • Varied practice is better for developing schemas than constant practice. Varied practice produces more flexibility, or adaptability of movements. • Research shows that, in some cases, a single skill receiving massive amounts of practice results in the development of a single, specific capability that is different from a more general capability of performing basketball shots (termed especial skill).

21. Random, Blocked, Varied, or Constant Practice • Random practice—practice different tasks that require different generalized motor programs (throwing, kicking, catching); no repetition of a single skill on consecutive trials • Blocked practice—repeat one skill numerous times before switching to the next skill • Varied practice—practice variations of the same task • Constant practice—rehearse a single variation of one task (continued)

22. Random, Blocked, Varied, or Constant Practice (continued) Both random practice and varied practice are beneficial to learners for different reasons: • During random practice the learner performs different tasks that require different generalized motor programs, which leads to forgetting then relearning tasks. • Learners completing varied practice use the same tasks with varied sets of rules or schemas for specific parameters of the same task.

23. Best Practice • A combination of random and varied practice yields the best results. • Engaging learners in a correct combination of random and varied practice may yield better performance gains than having them complete either practice schedule independently.