Summary A Level OCR PE Skill Acquisition revision notes

3 types of skill

Answer: Cognitive – thinking skills such as decision making. Psychomotor – using the brain to control movements. Perceptual – interpreting information gathered by the senses.

Environmental contiuum

Answer: how much the environment e.g. wind affects a skill. Closed or open

Difficulty contiuum

Answer: How much decision making is involved. Split into simple and complex skills

Continuity continuum

Answer: refers to how well defined a skill’s start and finish are. Split into discrete, serial and continuous skills.

Muscular involvement continuum

Answer: refers to the different muscle groups involved in a skill. Can be gross or fine skills

Factors influencing the correct choice of practice

Answer: 1. Type of skill. 2. Complexity of skill. 3. Environment. 4. Performer ability. 5. Performer motivation.

Types of practice

Answer: 1. Whole 2. Part 3. Whole-part-whole 4. Progressive part

Methods of practice

Answer: 1. Massed 2. Distributed 3. Fixed 4. Varied

Part practice

Answer: Skill is broken down into subroutines and practiced seperately. Low organised and complex skills e.g. Tennis serve.

Whole practice

Answer: Skill is not broken down into subroutines and is practiced as one. High organisation and simple skills e.g. Basketball dribble.

Types of transfer

Answer: 1. Positive transfer 2. Negative transfer 3. Bilateral transfer 4. Proactive transfer 5. Retroactive transfer 6. Zero transfer

Positive transfer

Answer: The learning of one skill aids the learning of another skill e.g. a Tennis serve aids the learning of throwing a baseball.

Negative transfer

Answer: learning of one skill hinders the learning of another skill e.g. a straight arm cricket bowl hinders the learning of a flexed arm throw of a tennis ball.

Proactive transfer

Answer: previously learned skill affects the learning of a new skill e.g. previously learned Tennis serve aids the learning of a new Volleyball spike.

Retroactive transfer

Answer: learning of a new skill affects the learning of an old skill e.g. new Rugby conversion kick skill learned aids the learning of a new goalkick in Football.

Theories of learning

Answer: 1. Operant conditioning - Skinner 2. Cognitive theory of learning - Gestaltists 3. Social learning theory - Bandura

Operant conditioning

Answer: 1.associationist/connectionist theory 2. behaviour is shaped through trial and error learning 3. behaviour is then reinforced either positively, negatively or by punishment. 4. Positive reinforcement is given when the desired response is given to a stimuli e.g. praise for the correct Tennis serve decision, 5. negative reinforcement is when the undesired stimulus is withdrawn after correct response e.g. Coach stops shouting after a goal in Football. 6. Punishment e.g. red card in Football, is when a stimulus is given to prevent a response from happening. 7. Positive and negative reinforcement strengthen SR bonds and punishment weakens SR bonds. 8. How fully strengthened or weakened these SR bonds are depends on Thorndikes laws’

Thorndike\'s laws\'

Answer: 1) Law of exercise – regular practice strengthens SR bonds, 2) Law of effect – previous successes of the skill can strengthen SR bonds more and 3) Law of readiness – Performer must be physically and mentally prepared to strengthen SR bonds.

Cognitive theory of learning

Answer: The cognitive theory of learning is a Gestaltist theory which is also referred to as insight learning, it is problem solving to gain understanding of a skill.

Insight learning

Answer: problem solving + memory to solve a challenge e.g. A tennis coach explaining why it is a good idea to approach the net on a short ball.

3 stages of learning

Answer: 1. Cognitive stage 2. Associative stage 3. Autonomous stage

Cognitive stage of learning

Answer: 1. The cognitive stage of learning is the first stage of learning, 2. in this stage movements are very jerky and 3. the performer relies on extrinsic feedback therefore must be given lots of reinforcement. 4. An example is a novice Tennis player who has a basic level of understanding of how to perform a basic tennis serve.

Associative stage of learning

Answer: 1. The associative stage of learning is the second stage of learning, 2. in this stage the movements are less jerky 3. but mistakes are still common. 4. The performer is more aware of complex skills but still requires some extrinsic feedback alongside using intrinsic feedback. 5. E.g. a Tennis player serving can do it but first serve percentage is not very high at all and double faults are still common.

Autonomous stage of learning

Answer: 1. The autonomous stage of learning is the third stage stage of learning, 2. in this stage the movements are automatic and intrinsic feedback is used on it’s own. 3. Tactics and strategies are used effectively and mistakes are very uncommon 4. e.g. A tennis player’s ball striking and footwork are very clean and efficient, groundstrokes are very consistently hit with depth and accuracy.

Strategies to move from cognitive to associative stage

Answer: 1. Use extrinsic feedback especially Knowledge of Results. 2. Use positive reinforcement to encourage performers. 3. Set realistic goals. 4. Make activity fun. 5. Use the correct practice method or type to maximise improvement.

Memory models

Answer: 1. Atkinson and Shiffrin\'s multi store model 2. Craik and Lockhart\'s levels of processing model

Atkinson and Shiffrin\'s multi store model

Answer: 1. Sensory short term memory 2. Short term memory 3. Long term memory

Short term memory

Answer: decision making happens here, capacity is 5-9 items and the duration is usually up to 30 seconds.

Sensory short term memory

Answer: selective attention occurs here, it has a large capacity and a duration of 0.25-1 second.

Long term memory

Answer: 1. Limitless capacity for long periods of time, info that is rehearsed and has meaning is more likely to be stored here. 2. The information is encoded into the LTM and can be decoded back to STM. 3. Motor programmes are usually compared here as well e.g. Spinning Tennis ball direction considered by the Tennis player, spin direction of the ball is then remembered, the direction of the ball spin is then compared to previous ball directions. 4. Therefore, the player can interpret the bounce direction of the ball and track the ball.