GROUP 3

BPED 1B (PEM
6)

MEMBER’S:
Banate, Diana Jane N.
Buton, Ainel Mhar M.
Sapanza, Aldrich A.
Bantolo, Hairon Steve
Ydo, Ederlyn Ann S.
Maximizing Motor Skill Learning Outcomes Based on Individual Differences

OBJECTIVES

 Understand how individual difference affects motor learning process.

 Illustrate what types of individual differences need to be paid attention to during motor learning process.

 Distinguish the concepts of motor skill, technique, motor ability, and capability.

 Understand what types of human abilities exist.

 Define what is the underlined ability and its relationships to potential motor performance.

 Define what is the underlined ability and its relationships to potential motor performance.

 Understand how to identify underlined abilities.

 Understand various theories of motor ability.

 Understand specific variables of individual differences and its relationships to motor performance.

 Understand the learners' characteristics in relation to motor learning process.

INTRODUCTION

The motor learning process is an imperative part of any sport skill training endeavor. One goal of training

could be for recreational play, and another goal could be for high-level competition. Many athletes start

training at a very young age in hopes they can compete at elite levels when they grow up. Olympic

developmental teams are intentionally designed for such a purpose.

In fact, an individual's potential to learn a motor skill is determined by various factors such as genetic

ability, the effect of the training regimen designed by the coach or instructor, learner's motivation,

effort, cognitive ability, and many other elements.

 For example learners' individual differences can be seen in many aspects, such as body size, muscle type,

physiological make-up, age, gender, cultural background, attitude, motivation, learning style, personality,

cognitive ability, athletic experience, etc.

 Therefore, individual differences are important and should be taken into account when teaching motor

skills.

 For example, age difference should be taken into consideration when developing a teaching strategy

because younger learners have a much shorter attention span, and less muscular strength and

intellectual ability than older ones (Payne & Isaacs, 2008).

LEARNERS ARE DIFFERENT IN AGE, EXPERIENCES, GENDER, AND RACE.

Motor learning process takes place in a variety of settings from physical education classes to athletic

arenas, from recreational activities to military training, or from martial arts training to dancing practice.

Obviously, the students in the different learning environments have varied training objectives,

expectations, and training requirements.

Individual differences can be attributed either to nature (genetic) or to nurture (training).

 Genetic differences consist of an individual's unique, stable traits that change very little with training.

 Non-genetic individual differences can be changed with training and experience.

AGE

 a period of human life, measured by years from birth.

Motor performance increases from childhood (7–9) to young adulthood (19–25) and decreases from

young adulthood (19–25) to old age (66–80).

EXPERIENCE

 Experience is time you spend doing or learning something .

 knowledge or skill in a particular job or activity that you have gained because you have done that job or

activity for a long time.

(“a trial, proof, experiment, experimental knowledge, experience”).

GENDER

 The male sex or the female sex.

 To determine a person's gender, e.g., male or female, based on his or her biometric cues.
 The characteristic that describes a person's sexual identification as per natural distinction in physical

form such as masculine, feminine, neuter or common.

RACE

 is usually associated with biology and linked with physical characteristics such as skin color or hair texture.

 refers to a category of people who share certain inherited physical characteristics, such as skin color, facial

features, and stature.

five minimum categories (White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian,

and Filipino) for race.

THE CONCEPT OF MOTOR SKILLS, TECHNIQUE, MOTOR ABILITY, AND CAPABILITY

Motor skill refers to the all for which the primary determinant of success is the quality

of the movement that the performer produces two elements are required to

perform motor skills at the highest level:

(1) the requisite genetic ability, and (2) the proper execution of the skill.

Technique is a kinematic format, process, or body posture while motor skill is the end

result, namely achieving the desired motor performance (Hall, 1999), Generally

speaking good techniques usually produce positive motor performance.

Motor ability is a learner’s genetic trait, upon which training or practice has little or no

effect.

A genetically defined personal characteristic or trait, such as manual dexterity

and reaction time which contributes to proficiency in a number of motor skills.

Motor abilities cannot be easily modified by practice or experience (compare

motor skill).
Capability refers to an individual's potential to perform a motor skill through practice

and training (Wrisberg, 2007). In other words, capability is related to how much an

athlete can improve through practice and training.

Ability and capability are two different and interrelated elements.

Ability refers to one's genetic, determined, stable traits, while capability indicates

the portion of an individual's talent that changes with training.

TABLE 3.1. Concept of technique, ability, skill, and capability.

Technique Ability Skill Capability

Form Height of body Result Potential

of
Posture Speed of running Performance
action
of training
Kinematics Body shape

Process Motor perceptual

How to do Hand-eye

coordination
 THEORIES OF ABILITY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTITIONERS

The role of motor ability as it relates to motor performance has been extensively

studied Motor learning researchers and practitioners are always interested in

finding the correlations between certain types of motor ability and specific motor

performance (Bloomfield Polman, O'Donoghue & McNaughton, 2007; Hrysomallis,

2011). To explain such relation ships, several theories have been developed in the

past, and we will discuss these theories in the next few sections.

1. Theory of Singular Global Ability

The theory of singular global ability states that an individual's motor ability can be

applied to any sports skill (McCloy, 1934), According to this theory, if athletes have

outstanding motor ability, they will be able to engage in many different sports.

A premise of the singular global ability theory is that all sports share similar ability

requirements for peak performance (McCloy, 1934). In reality, some athletes at

high schools do play several sports at a superior level of performance; they are

perceived as universal athletes as they have the talents for many different sports.

However, in contrast, some athletes are only good at one particular sport.

2. Theory of Many Specific Abilities

The second theory, proposed by Henry (1958), states that playing each particular

sport requires specific abilities, which cannot be shared with other sports.

From the perspective of the specific ability theory, there is no universal ability

which can be shared by different motor skills. In fact, some situations indicate that
 this theory is correct while in other situations it is controversial. Generally

speaking, at the elite level of sports, the specific ability theory makes much more

sense because the great majority of Olympic athletes only compete in one sport

since they require very specialized abilities that cannot be shared by other sports.

3. Theory of Groupings of Abilities

The third theory is the grouping theory (Fleishman, 1964, 1965, Fleishman &

Bartlett, 1969), which states that certain motor abilities can be shared by particular

groups of motor skills with similar characteristics.

People often wonder why there are so many differences In the performances of

athletes trained by the same coach and under the same conditions. From the

motor learning perspective, these differences are largely caused by the individual

differences of the athletes, such as age, background, experience, motor ability,

psychological well-being, physical make-up, emotional characteristics, etc.

In every sport, athletes need to have the specific abilities that match the skill

required for that sport in order, with right training, to reach the highest level of

performance.

For example, a race-car driver requires extremely fast reactions to maneuver the

car in order to avoid the opponents' vehicles he/she also needs rapid eye-hand

coordination to quickly and continuously turn the steering wheel to the right

position.
VALIDITY OF TESTS FOR MEASURING MOTOR ABILITY

Since a learner's performance potential depends to a great extent on his/her

underlying ability, practitioners make great effort when recruiting to identify

athletes with the requisite abilities to attain peak performance.

 For example, when baseball coaches are looking for young people who could be

trained to become elite baseball batters or pitchers, they need to know what type

of testing is required to identify their underlying abilities.

 For example,

A boxing coach is interested in knowing what battery of tests to use in order to

find potentially successful boxing athletes.

Similarly, a soccer coach may develop his/her own evaluation system for

recruiting talented young athletes for each position in the hopes that they might be

Olympic stars in the future.

ABILITY CAN BE CHANGED OVER TIME

Many athletes start their sports career at a very young age.

For example, the Chinese government sponsors sport schools that recruit young

children, often as young as three years old, to play sports.

One great challenge is that even though, from a theoretical perspective, ability is

a stable factor which is difficult to change, human ability can be changed with age.

 For instance, a child might be shorter than average at the age of seven, but when

he reaches 17, he might be much taller than most of his peers. Also, just because a
 child does not have much muscular strength at a young age, this does not

necessarily mean that he/ she will be physically weak as an adolescent

FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO MOTOR PERFORMANCE BASED ON INDIVIDUAL

DIFFERENCES

The ultimate goal of motor learning is to enhance motor performance through

appropriate motor learning processes (see Table 3.2). There are many variables

contributing to motor performance such as learners' characteristics, partially

illustrated as follows:

1) Physical genetic makeup such as muscle type, body shape, and body structure,

coordination, speed, motor perception, physical conditioning, etc.

2) Intellectual and cognitive ability for understanding teachers' instructions and

decision-making skills.

3) Personality and psychological states such as their motivation, attitude, discipline,

communication skills, control of anxiety, and attention style.

4) Age, gender, personal experiences, etc.

Motor learning outcomes are influenced by physical, psychological, and

personal characteristics.

Teaching strategies should focus on cognitive understanding, entertainment,

and motivation. Individually-based learning is most effective for achieving training

objectives, especially at collegiate or elite levels.

TABLE 3.2. Three components contributing to motor performance.

Learner’s Instructor’s Learning

characteristics competence environment and
condition

e.g. ,age, e.g. ,knowledg e.g., non-distracting

gender, e of sport learning
experience, science, environment, facility
cognitive athletes and equipment,
ability, genetic experience, sports flied and
traits, and knowledge of settings, and
psychological the sport, organization of
characteristics. administration training.
and
communication
skill, and
human
relations skills.

Teachers coaches play a crucial role in enhancing motor learning by fostering a

positive learning environment. Their competence in teaching and coaching,

particularly process-oriented motor skill learning, significantly impacts students'

learning processes. However, the learning environment can also affect learners'

motivation and engagement. Williams & Reilly et al. emphasize the importance of a

comprehensive perspective when recruiting athletes, as some laboratory testing

may not accurately reflect the real world. Therefore, teachers coaches must be
 skilled in identifying learners' potential and creating a conducive learning

environment for optimal motor learning outcomes.

HOW PRACTITIONERS ENGAGE IN MOTOR LEARNING BASED ON INDIVIDUAL

DIFFERENCES

 Motor Learning Process Based on Age Differences

Motor learning takes place in various settings such as elementary and high

schools, or at collegiate levels, and the particular characteristics of students of

different ages can have an impact on the learning process.

Younger students usually have a short attention span and are unable to pay

attention to instructors' verbal instructions for very long (Heller && Bach, 2007).

Also, younger students often get bored easily and quickly during practice, so

instructors should regularly structure variety into practice to retain their attention.

Older students are physically and cognitively more mature, so not only do they

have better comprehensive ability, but they also have independent self-evaluation

and self-improvement abilities, they can find the errors or problems in their

learning and make their own revisions towards the designated goals . Motor

Learning Process Based on Students' Skill Levels

 Motor Learning Process Based on Students' Skill Levels

 Students' motor skill levels vary from one individual to another according to

their different backgrounds and experience.

For example, some learners might have received great technical training in the past

while many others might have received very little skill levels could range from

elementary school to Olympic levels.

Thus, based on learners skill levels, the motor learning process can be divided into

three different phases:

(1) cognitive phase, (2) motor phase (associate phase), and (3) autonomous phase,

each of which has its own unique characteristics (Fitts & Posner, 1967).

1. Cognitive phase the purpose of learning is to establish a proper image of how to

correctly execute the particular motor skill; if the student mentally establishes a

faulty image of the motor skill an incorrect motor program will be formed.

2. Motor phase, the teaching objective should focus on eliminating incorrect or

unwanted movements and developing more refined movement structures.

3. Autonomous phase, athletes have a well-established motor program and know

what to do in practice and competition. their movement patterns are executed

automatically, requiring limited attention.

Depending on the level of the students being taught, instructors must view previous

movement experience as a critical factor when designing training to fit specific groups

of students.

 Motor Learning Process Based on Physical Ability

The different motor skills require learners to exert various kinds of physical effort

in order so complete the skills successfully and without injury. In some sports the

risk of injury can be quite high, some examples being freestyle aero-jump skiing,

figure skating, gymnastics. ice hockey, football, boxing, soccer, or other combat

sports. If they do not have sufficient physical ability, athletes can easily get injured

(Starkey & Johnson, 2006).

 Motor Learning Process Based on Psychological Make-up

Students' learning behavior is also reflected in their psychological make-up such

as the psychological traits of anxiety, motivation, personal characteristics,

personality, attitude, self-confidence, communication skills, etc., all of which can

affect the learning process (Jarvis, 2006; Hankemeier, 2009). Interestingly, all

learners have their own unique psychological characteristics.

 Motor Learning Process Based on Learning Styles

 Learners are different in many ways, one of which is their learning style.

For example, some students can learn better by doing, while others like to have a

full understanding of the skill before trying it.

 Motor Learning Process Based on

Social and Cultural Backgrounds

Students in U.S. are very diverse in terms of their culture, ethnicity, language,

tradition, customs, value system, belief, etc. and these individual differences could

influence processes.

 Motor Learning Process Based on Students’ Specific Need

There are many differences among learners and some may have certain learning

deficiencies that require specific attention, such as learning disabilities caused by

injury, psychological barriers, abnormal personality, mental or physical challenges,

or phobias.

Thank You!