Motor Development and Motor Learning for Children

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Chapter 2

• Motor Development and Motor Learning for Children

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Chapter 2 objectives

• Describe the normal process of motor
  development-ages 3 through 12.
• Discuss the concepts of motor learning that
  influence skill acquisition.
• Identify developmentally appropriate teaching
  practices for motor skills.
• Comprehend how regular physical activity benefits
  growth and development.

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Gender Similarities

• Physical differences between boys and girls
  during early and later childhood are minimal
• They have similar amounts of muscle and bone mass
  during preschool and early primary grades
• The onset of preadolescence sees greater limb
  growth than trunk growth

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Developmental readiness

• Movement educators must consider whether a
  designed movement task matches the abilities of
  each child
• Developmentally appropriate activity meets each
  childs abilities based on fitness and skill
  level, body size, age and readiness

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Accounting for readiness

• Consider whether students demonstrate less
  complex skills
• How does a child look when performing motor
  skills of lower or like complexity?
• Is a child capable of manipulating equipment or
  does the equipment control the child?

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Size of musculature required

• Gross motor skills require large muscles to
  perform such skills as running, jumping,
  throwing, or kicking
• Fine motor skills require more precise movements,
  typically of the hand and fingers

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Gross motor skills

• There is a critical period from ages 3 to 8 in
  which children should demonstrate mastery of the
  control and coordination of large muscle groups
• When children fail to develop mature skills
  during this period, they may experience
  difficulty coordinating more complex skills
  required in sport and recreational activities

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Stages of learning

• Beginner the learner is getting the idea of the
  movement and how to coordinate the body
• Intermediate the learner is beginning to refine
  the movement and make fewer errors
• Advanced the learner is automatic in performance
  of a skill and thinks little about the execution
  of the skill

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Styles of Teaching

• Decisions comprise all teaching-learning
  interactions
• Three categories of decisions are
• Pre-impact made during preparation and planning
  time
• Impact made during the execution of the lesson
• Post-impact made during the evaluation of the
  lesson

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Styles of teaching

• Common styles for elementary children
• Command
• Task
• Reciprocal
• Self-check
• Inclusion
• Exploratory (convergent and divergent)

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Command Style

• The teacher makes all decisions throughout all
  three phases of pre-impact, impact, and
  post-impact
• Instruction is uniform for all children, however
  individual differences of children are not taken
  into account
• The style is effective when time is limited
• Explain the objective, demonstrate, let students
  practice

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Task Style

• The teacher makes decisions in the pre-impact and
  post-impact category
• Children make decisions during the execution of
  the lesson, often times using task sheets or in
  learning stations
• Children participate at their own pace, and the
  teacher is free to provide feedback and
  individual instruction

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Reciprocal style

• The teacher makes decisions in pre-impact, helps
  organize students into pairs and facilitates good
  communication between the student pair in impact
• Task sheets often are used
• The students make decisions during impact as they
  teach each other the tasks prepared by the
  teacher
• Children engage in critical thinking and provide
  feedback to the partner on his or her performance

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Self-check Style

• The movement educator makes decisions during
  pre-impact as the lesson is prepared and
  organized
• Task sheets with critical cues are often used
• Children make decisions during impact and will do
  post-impact assessment based on the criteria
  established by the teacher on the task sheet

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Inclusion Style

• The teacher makes decisions about the movement
  content in the pre-impact phase
• Tasks are of various levels of difficulty so that
  children may select tasks that are challenging to
  them
• For example students may select from
• 5 forward rope jumps, 10 forward rope jumps, 15
  forward rope jumps, 20 or more forward rope jumps

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Exploratory Style

• The exploratory style encourages children to
  create or discover learning through movement
  rather than replicate movement
• Individual differences in responses are expected
  as children move to prompts about the tasks and
  challenges

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Which style to use?

• No one style is better than another
• The decision on which style to use should be
  based on the learning goal and which style best
  fits that goal
• Movement educators should feel comfortable with
  as many styles as possible to meet the goals of
  instruction and needs of children

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Learning Styles

• Ways that children process information presented
  to them
• Listener
• Thinker
• Kinesthetic
• Visual
• Try to accommodate as many styles as possible in
  the lesson delivery

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Whole Skill

• When the parts of the skill are highly related
  and of low complexity, teaching the whole skill
  is beneficial
• Whole skill gives the beginner a better sense of
  the coordination of the skill
• More advanced learners may do well in whole
  practice as they are able to remember longer
  sequences

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Part Skill

• When the parts of the skill are not highly
  related and the skill is fairly complex, children
  may benefit from practicing parts of the skill
  before the whole skill
• Part practice reduces the cognitive processing so
  children should not become overwhelmed

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Appropriate Opportunities

• Children are not mini-adults
• Children should not be expected to specialize in
  adult sports
• Practice of a wide variety of skills is
  recommended
• Some inappropriate activities are in the Hall of
  Shame

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Elements of the Hall of Shame

• Absence of educational learning objectives
• Potential embarrassment of children
• Elimination of children from activity
• Overemphasis on fun rather than learning
• Lack of emphasis on skill acquisition
• Low participation time
• Likelihood of danger or risk of injury

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Most children.

• Love to move and play in elementary school. To
  keep this alive, plan activities that emphasize
  self improvement, participation, and cooperation.

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TEACHING development-Graham

• 3 styles of teaching development
• 1st style-Induction-this is your student
  teaching and 1st year of teaching.
• This is your most difficult time, new situations
  and lots of new stuff to do. We learn about
  content, how long to spend on tasks, and
  effective discipline.

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Styles continued

• The second style is-
• Consolidation-how to accommodate varying skill
  levels. Our knowledge of teaching content
  develops.
• The third style is-
• Mastery-your lessons are more enjoyable and
  goals clearer. Children are interested,
  challenged, and successful.