PDFE #13: Feedback Observation and Functional Categorization

Activity Observed:

For this observation activity, I watched one of the Berry College men's basketball practices.  There were about 15 guys at the practice, along with the coach and assistant coaches.

Some examples of feedback:

-watching the ball go through the hoop in a free throw

-looking at the play clock counting down

-having the coach explain what went wrong in a new play

-coach says "good job" at the end of a play

-assistant coach tells players that they need to fully plant their feet before passing

-coach counts the number of free-throws the players make in a row

-coach tells players the correct order of picking and passing in a play-in from the base line

-coach tells the players they need to move the ball faster next time

Categorization:

Intrinsic: Players watch the ball go into the basket as they shoot

             Players watch the play clock to see how much time they have left to shoot

Extrinsic: Players tell each other to "hurry up" in between plays

                Players tell each other "good job" after making a fast break past the defense

KR: Coach counts the number of free throws a player makes in a row

        Coach lists off who came in first during sprints

KP:  Coach tells player when they passed out of order during a play

         Coach tells player he needs to plant his feet before passing or shooting a three-pointer

Descriptive: Coach explains to the players what went wrong on a play where the ball went out

                 Coach explains to the players how to set up in the correct formation

Prescriptive: Coach tells players that they need to move faster next time

                   Coach tells defensive player to keep his hands up the next time the attacker shoots

Discussion:

Motivation: At one point, the coach told the players they would not have to run any sprints if they could go through the whole team with everyone making a free throw in two tries.  This motivated the players because they had a set goal that they were working towards and they had an incentive to try hard.  Also, the players were working together in a group to achieve the goal so they were pumping each other up and getting excited which helped to further motivate the group.

Reinforcement: The coach told the players "good job" after they worked really hard to get the ball past the defense and to shoot a basket. This was reinforcement because the coach did not tell the players they did well after every play, so the players knew they should feel proud when he actually did tell them. This would make them want to work even harder to get the ball into the basket so their coach would think they were working hard and publicly affirm their efforts.

Information: The coach explained to the players how to run different baseline plays. This provided the players with information because they were having trouble getting a basket off the baseline and needed an external source of knowledge. They could trust the coach's information because they have been with him awhile and know that he can see the whole court and the big picture to give them a more accurate understanding of what to do.

Dependence: I did not really see any examples of dependence in the one practice that I watched. However, one hypothetical example that could happen would be if the coach provided information to a player after every free throw about how to improve his form. Although it would help in the short term because the player would know exactly what to do, when it came to a game situation it would be hurtful because the coach could not be there right by the player to tell him what to do. He would be unsure of his actions on his own and might miss the basket.

PDFE #14: Structuring Practices

For this in-class experiment, we paired up with partners to practice learning how to juggle.  My partner was Lindsay Cope. I practiced learning juggling by a part practice method and she tried learning by a whole practice method. Part practice is where you learn one separate discrete task that is only a small part of the overall task. Once you have mastered that part, you add on the next little piece of the task and so on until you are working on the entire skill. This method of part practice is called segmentation.  On the other hand, whole practice is where you just work on the learning the task as a whole and you don't break it down into components.  To do this lab, I first practiced 10 trials (5 practices a trial) of just tossing one ball up and into the other hand while Lindsay graded how well I did and if I had any errors. Then I took a minute break and did 10 trials of tossing two balls, one from left to right and during the peak, the other from right to left.  I took another 1 minute break and then added a third ball  while I threw when the second one peaked for another 10 trials, but I did not have to catch any of the balls. Finally, after another break, I worked on throwing all three balls in a pattern back and forth but this time I only did 10 tries, instead of the usual 50.  After I had finished those tries, I took a 5 minute break and then tested 5 tries to see how well I had retained my juggling skills while Lindsay counted the number of times I caught a ball.  After I did this, Lindsay did 10 tries of practicing the whole skill while I counted her number of catches, then she took a minute break, tried another 10 times, etc. for 4 rotations. After that, she took a 5 minute break and then did 5 tries while I counted the number of times she caught a ball for each try.  For this skill, I did slightly better for my average for the 5 retention tries, but the difference between our average was only a few tenths away from each other.  These results did match my expectations based on the reading.  I think overall, when a person is first learning juggling, part practice helps because it teaches people about how high to throw the ball and how to correctly throw the balls in the right order. However, as practice continues, part practice can actually hinder performance. The book says that "the least likely candidates for effective part practice are rapid, discrete skills or skills that require bimanual coordination." Juggling fits this description because the skills are all rapidly strung together and each hand is doing something different.  Therefore, I think part practice helped me at first but in the end, it did not give me a huge advantage over Lindsay because I had concentrated on the parts so much that I sometimes lost sight of how it all fit in with the big picture.  Some other factors that could have influenced the results are natural hand eye-coordination, space to move around in, who went first while the other person watched, and concentration.

PDFE #12: Feedback

There are a couple of types of extrinsic feedback: knowledge of results (KR) and knowledge of performance (KP). KR feedback is when a teacher, coach, or mentor gives verbal feedback to a learner about their successes or failures. KP feedback provides information about how the learner did on performance elements.  In this lab, I was partnered with Lindsay Cope.  I was the partner who received feedback after every trial.  I was blindfolded and tried to estimate the distance from one line to another for 10 trials while Lindsay would tell me by how many millimeters I had missed. After the 10 trials, I took a one minute break, did another 10 trials, another break and then another 10 trials. Then I had a five minute break and did 5 trials, but this time I did not receive any feedback about the distance I had missed by.  Lindsay had the same experimental set-up except that she only received feedback when she asked for it.  She requested feedback on 24 of the 30 trials.  She performed overall better on her retention test so KR feedback worked better if given only when requested.  These results did match the results expected according to the book.  When given feedback every time, I might have learned to depend on the feedback for my next trial so when it was taken away, I could not perform as well. However, Lindsay learned to get a better intuitive grasp for how far the line was away so she could perform more consistently when the feedback was taken away.  I thought one factor that could have influenced the results were outside distractions, if the participant practiced with their eyes open in between trials, and natural spatial abilities.  i also noticed that one person could have had an overall really good average even if their actual scores were not good. For example, if a person had five scores of -15mm, +15mm, -10mm, +10mm, and 1mm, they would have an average of less than 1mm off even though their actual scores were not very good.  Perhaps a better way to calculate the average would have to been to take the absolute values of the scores and then use those to calculate the average distance the person missed by.

PDFE #11: Stages of Learning

For this activity, I observed one of Lorenzo Canalis's badminton classes on November 8th. Before the games began, the class set up the gym by pulling out nets, racquets, and birdies.  This took up some of the class time with management activities. Once the gym was set up, the person hit the birdie around with some of the other people in the group to warm up. Then, Lorenzo called the class over for an instruction period. He passed out a hand-out that included the rules of the game and other guidelines and he explained them to the class. Then everybody went back to their courts and the person began playing an actual game.  The person played the game for most of the rest of the class time, taking occasional breaks as someone got a water break or when the teams rotated in between games.  Near the end of the class, the person finished the game they were playing and then proceeded to sit and watch another team play, because there was not enough time for the group to play another whole game.  This was where most of the waiting time added up.

The specific break down for the person's activities during the class period were:

2520 seconds spent observing:
A=1785/2520=70.83%
I=240/2520=9.52%
M=240/2520=9.52%
W=255/2520=10.12%

I think the activity percentage for this class was a good start, but it could have been higher. Some ways to improve this percentage would be to have somebody set up the room before the class actually started so less time would be spent in management activities.  Another idea would be if the teacher gave his instructions in small pieces with activity breaks in between instead of one longer lecture.  The students would be able to apply the information and remember it more effectively if they received less instructions at one time. One last way to minimize time spent out of activity would be to do other exercises than just games.  If students practiced skills as well as game situations, they wouldn't be as tempted to just sit around when a game was over, but instead could practice their skills. There would be less down time after games.

PDFE #10: Stages of Learning

In this in-class learning activity, we experimented with different methods of throwing bean bags.  After grouping up with my partner, Lindsay, we each selected a practice schedule. Lindsay chose the constant practice schedule, which meant she practiced the same motion over and over again. I chose the varied practice schedule, which meant I practiced different versions of the same motion. To do this, Lindsay threw 15 bean bag tosses towards a hula hoop with a disc in the middle from a distance of five meters.  Each bean bag in the hoop was worth 1 point and each bean bag on the disc was worth 2 points.  After a minute, break Lindsay repeated this set of tosses, took another break, and then repeated the tosses again.  After those, Lindsay took a 5 minute break and then only tossed 5 bean bags to test for retention of the skill.  I performed the same amount of tosses on the same time frame, but instead of tossing every bean bag from 5 meters, I rotated between 4, 5, and 6 meter tosses. At the end, I also took a five minute break and then tossed 5 bean bags from 5 meters to test for retention of the skill. Using this method, Lindsay and I both had a score of 3 on the retention test so it did not seem like one type of practice worked better than the other. However, based on the chapter readings, I would expect the person who did a varied practice to perform better. They are learning the actual skill of looking at a distance and judging what amount of force to use instead of just relying on muscle memory.  I think our results may not have shown this because the final test was done only 5 minutes after learning the skill.  That is not a very long time to have to maintain muscle memory and because Lindsay practiced only at that distance, it was not hard for to keep throwing the same length.  I think if we had done this same test a few hours later or the next day, the results might have been different.  Some other factors that could have influenced the results might have been distractions by other people, natural ability, or how much pressure is felt under stress. It would be very difficult to control for all of these factors though because everyone responds differently under varying conditions.

PDFE #9: Importance of Early Grade Physical Education

In elementary school, I attended a private school in Maitland, Florida.  I had PE about three times a week for an hour at a time. The class of about 30 kids was taught by a PE teacher and it was a very traditional approach. We played a lot of formal games such as soccer, basketball, flag football, etc.  Most of the classes were held outside on the fields because we did not have a gym.  I really enjoyed my PE class because it gave me an excuse to get out of the classroom and let some of my pent up energy out.  As I grew older, my middle school and high school still required gym class at least 2-3 times per week (we had either health or gym every day on a rotating basis).  The format was a little different because we had a gym and there were a much wider variety of activities we could choose from (we got to choose from a list what games/skills we wanted to learn once we were in gym).  Although I enjoyed the class, it was pretty boring at times because we had to do a lot of fitness testing, which meant there was a lot of time spent sitting and waiting while others tested. In terms of other physical activities, I spent a lot of time playing sports outside of school. In early elementary, I did gymnastics. Then, from elementary to high school I played soccer and from middle school to high school, I also played lacrosse.
I do not think elementary, middle, and high-schoolers are receiving enough PE in Georgia.  Middle school does not require PE and high school only requires one semester so kids are not learning the physical activity skills that are important for motor development throughout a lifetime.  Kids also spend all their time cooped up in a classroom so cognitively, they will have a harder time keeping their energy up and focusing on the material.  Also, they are not learning the health topics that promote healthy lifestyle choices so obesity and teen pregnancy are becoming more prevalent.  I think there should be at least 4 days of one hour PE from elementary to high school ages.  Classes should emphasize constant movement and teaching relevant skills to children. The ideal class would only have about 20-25 people, it would have adequate equipment, the teacher would be specializedin PE topics, and the kids would enjoy going to the class because they would be learning skills that they enjoyed and believed they would actually use.
PE and PA are very important for children.  They help teach skills healthy habits at a young age and help give them a positive attitude towards exercise for life. It also can improve fitness which can help improve self esteem in kids of all ages.  Lastly, it promotes teamwork and good sportsmanship which are important social factors for children to learn so they can better maintain friendships in life.   I think the skill theme emphasis is the best approach to PE. It teaches the skills that children will use for the rest of their lives in physical activity instead of just the rules to the game. In the traditional approach, children can "get lost in the game" and not really participate, but in a skill themes approach, everybody learns the skills without anyone feeling embarrassed or put on the spot.

PDFE #8: Stages of Learning

In this motor activity, we practiced learning how to tie a bowline's knot in a string.  The knot was complicated so there were different stages of learning the process.  On my first few tries, I had to refer often to the instructions and I talked myself through the process step-by-step.  The knots that I tied often fell apart when pulled or they did not look like the bowline's knot.  I was in the verbal-cognitive stage because I was still getting a general idea of what to do and needed a lot of guidance. I spent about two or three tries at this stage.  Gradually, I progressed into being able to tie the knot without having to look at the instructions as much.  However, my knots did not have good quality right away but instead would be too big or too small around my wrist.  At this point, I was in the motor stage because my movements were quicker and I did not need as much guidance, but I still had some errors.  To correct these errors, I would try to think about what caused them retrospectively, and then I would try not to repeat that movement on the next try. I was in this stage for about 3 tries.  After a few more tries, my movements became a lot quicker. I tied the correct size knots and I could perform the skill in under 10 seconds.  At this point, I had reached the autonomous stage and my movements were pretty much automatic. Neither my partner, Lindsay, or I needed the full 40 turns to progress through these stages. Instead, we moved through the stages quickly, taking only about 10 turns before the skill had become automatic.
When we switched the knot around so the long side was facing us and we had to tie it backwards, I reverted back to the verbal-cognitive stage where I had to talk myself through the process again. However, subsequently, I moved through all of the stages a lot quicker and with fewer overall errors because I already had the general movement pattern in my head and a better sense of what to do.  Lindsay also followed this same general pattern of moving through the stages of learning.  She provided good feedback on how to improve the skill by helping me talk through the process if I had any questions or could not remember what to do next in the early stages.