Description

Skill Acquisition

Description - summary of the module content

Module description

You will be introduced to a field of psychology that can be applied to a range of health and performance domains; namely motor skill acquisition. You will cover the key psychological theories and models relating to skill acquisition and develop an understanding of how theoretical knowledge is used to guide applied practice.

Module aims - intentions of the module

In order to apply psychological knowledge to sport and health science you will need a sound understanding of psychological theories and the ability to critically evaluate relevant empirical evidence.

In this module you will be introduced to cutting edge topics in skill acquisition (important for nearly all sports and successful daily living). You will learn how vision guides goal-directed movements and will be introduced to key markers of visuomotor expertise and proficiency. You will discuss the ‘nature versus nurture’ debate of sporting expertise and compare and contrast different pathways to excellence. You will also examine various theoretical accounts and methods that have been proposed to make skill learning more effective and resilient. Example and applications from current research in the department across a wide spectrum of domains (stroke patients, children with coordination difficulties, athletes, etc.) will be discussed.

Graduate attributes. As part of this module you are expected to develop the following skills:

• Team work in the group presentation (and formative homework tasks).
• Strategic thinking and problem solving in the group presentation (and formative homework tasks).
• Application of knowledge in interpreting findings in formative tasks and exam.
• Building confidence as a communicator in presenting in class and in group presentation.
• People skills in communicating with peers and module teaching team.
• Enquiring mind in pursuing further reading on topics covered in the module.
• Data management skills in collecting and recording data and analysing findings during homework tasks.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Describe key models related to skill acquisition
• 2. Illustrate the role that perception and attention play in the learning and performance of sporting skills
• 3. Compare developmental pathways to sporting excellence
• 4. Describe considerations that should be taken into account when providing feedback and instructions to learners
• 5. Describe models of talent identification and development

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Organise and present academic evidence
• 7. Interpret, synthesise and evaluate relevant empirical findings with respect to competing theories and models
• 8. Apply theory to practice

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 9. Undertake independent/self-directed study/learning (including time management) to achieve consistent, proficient and sustained attainment
• 10. Communicate ideas, principles and theories fluently in a manner appropriate to the intended audience

Syllabus plan

Syllabus plan

The module will consist of two 2-hour sessions per week. In principal, the first session will be a lecture to introduce key topics and the second session will provide the opportunity for follow up activities and for you to present independent learning activities. However, I hope to provide opportunities for student engagement in each session and the specific split may be more fluid depending on the topic at hand.

Skill acquisition is the study of our ability to acquire and develop movement skills. This module will provide you with a contemporary theoretical framework for understanding how performers progress from novice performers early in learning with low levels of skill, to expert performers who have mastered their skills. These principles of motor control and skill acquisition also underpin the acquisition of everyday life movement skills and are therefore also applicable to diverse areas in rehabilitation and ergonomics. In this module you will consider how this theory and experimental work can be utilised in terms of applied sports skill acquisition and development.

There are three distinct (but linked) sections to the module which we will delve into after a brief Introduction to “Skill / Motor learning”:

Section 1: Perceptual cognitive expertise

How are experts able to ‘cheat’ human information processing demands to make skilled movements under considerable spatial and temporal constraints? We will cover key skills such as anticipation / decision-making / dealing with deception / visuomotor coordination and introduce concepts such as the quiet eye. We will also briefly consider how competitive pressure might influence these abilities.

Section 2: How can I design practice to make skill acquisition more efficient / effective?

Having examined how experts differ from novices, we now focus on how we can optimise skill acquisition from a micro perspective (i.e. how can we use evidence-based practice to design better training sessions). In this section of the module we will explore issues related to:

• Providing too much verbal information?: Implicit Motor Learning and Reinvestment (Masters and colleagues);
• Where should I focus? The benefits of an external focus of attention: The constrained action hypothesis (Wulf and colleagues).
• Quiet eye training: coordinating vision and movements (Wilson and colleagues).

Section 3: Youth sport: How do we set the environment to develop experts?

Finally, we will explore the macro issues surrounding how we design the sporting environment for children. What issues should we consider when trying to design practice and competition for youth sports?

• Deliberate practice and early specialisation (Ericsson and colleagues).
• Deliberate play and early diversification (Cote and colleagues).
• Talent identification and development.

Learning and teaching

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Assessment

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Re-assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to sit a further examination. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Where you have been referred or deferred for the group presentation, you will have the opportunity to perform an individual presentation (5 minutes plus 5 minutes questions) in the August/September assessment period.

Resources

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Williams, A.M. and Hodges, N.J. (2012). Skill acquisition in sport: Research, theory and practice (2^nd ed). London: Routledge.
• Baker, J. and Farrow, D. (2015). Routledge handbook of sport expertise. London, Routledge.
• Selected reading in key journals and text books (e.g., Psychology of Sport and Exercise, J of Sport and Exercise Psychology, etc.).

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE page: http://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=4738 
• Online journals

Module has an active ELE page

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• Eye-trackers

Key words search

Sport psychology, health psychology, visuomotor control, skill acquisition, expertise