Motor Skill Development

1. Motor Skill Development

2. Patterns in Motor Skill Development • Dev. of motor skill is individual & wide variation occurs within children of the same chronological age; • Psychomotor skills– voluntary actions initiated by impulses in higher brain centres (vs. reflex actions from lower brain centres during early development); • Sequence is much the same & appears to progress in an orderly fashion.

3. Motor Readiness • Child is ready & capable to learn, in an environment conducive to such learning;-Prepared to attempt & succeed at motor skills.

4. Factors influencing readiness • Maturity level • Previous practice • Prerequisite skills • Body management skills • State of physical fitness • Interest

5. Perceptual Development • Sensory perception– ability to use input received through the sense organs to make judgements about one’s environment.

6. Perceptual Development • 3 major development trends in sensory perceptual maturation • Shift in dominance of the sensory system (tactile-kinesthetic to visual); • Increased ability to use various sensory input from a single sense organ; • Increased ability to use input from several sense organs at the same time

7. Perceptual Development • Ability to track a moving object depends on object’s speed, direction (trajectory), and predictability; can improve with training (occurs dramatically in elementary school years). • Body awareness & kinesthetic perception of the position of body parts & the body’s orientation in space undergo varying rates of development during early school years.

8. Motor Skill at Different Phases of Development • Reflexive-reaction type movement • Rudimentary-simple gross movements skills common to any healthy children • Fundamental-fundamental skills that are common and become more automatic • Specific Movement(Sport Related)-specialized skills, dependant of practice, talent, motivation, as well as success and failure

9. Practice Practice Practice • Whole vs Part Learning • Whole = learning the entire skill or activity in one dose. • Part = learning parts of the activity separately until all parts are learned then combining parts to form a unified whole • Provide examples • Which will produce the best result?

10. Practice Practice Practice • Blocked vs Random Practice • Blocked = taking all trials under the same conditions • Random = taking all trials under varying conditions • Which will produce the best result?

11. Practice Practice Practice • Massed vs Distributed Practice • Massed = taking trials at once • Distributed = a significant time interval between trials • Which will produce the best result?