Chow, Jia Yi

A constraints-based perspective has the potential to provide physical educators with a framework for understanding how performer, task and environmental constraints shape each individual’s physical education. Understanding the underlying neurobiological processes present in a constraints-led perspective to skill acquisition and game play can raise awareness of physical educators that teaching is a dynamic ‘art’ interwoven with the ‘science’ of motor learning theories.

Investigations into the relative effectiveness of either focusing on movement form (Internal Focus) or movement effects (External Focus) have tended to dominate research on instructional constraints. However, rather than adopting a comparative approach to determine which focus of attention is more effective, analysis of the relative efficacy of each specific instruction focus during motor learning could be more relevant for both researchers and practitioners. Theoretical advances in the motor learning literature from a nonlinear dynamics perspective might explain the processes that underlie the effect of different attentional focus instructions. Referencing ideas and concepts from a current motor-learning model, differential effects of either Internal or External focus of instructions are examined. This paper also highlights some deficiencies in extant theory and research design on focus of attention which require further investigations.

Nonlinear Pedagogy is an exploratory approach to teaching and learning Physical Education that can be potentially effective to help children acquire relevant 21st century competencies. Underpinned by Ecological Dynamics, the focus of Nonlinear Pedagogy is on the learner and includes the provision of less prescriptive instructions, and guided discovery which serve to develop greater autonomy, competency and relatedness in the learning process. This paper describes a study that examines the factors that contributed to motivation, enjoyment and the development of 21st century competencies in Primary School Children. 133 children were taught over 7-weeks to play a modified tennis game either with a Nonlinear Pedagogy or Linear Pedagogy (i.e., more teacher-centred) approach in a Singapore school. While findings from the IMI questionnaire showed that there was no difference for the subscales measured, student and teacher interviews indicated that the Nonlinear Pedagogy approach created a learning environment that facilitated perceived competence, autonomy and relatedness, thus potentially enhancing intrinsic motivation and enjoyment during practice. Nonlinear Pedagogy encourages teachers to create representative learning designs through the inclusion of a variety of modified games, the freedom to choose, an emphasis on exploration and problem-solving and can be relevant to develop 21st century competencies.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using the nonlinear pedagogy (NP) in the teaching of fundamental movement skills (FMS) in children. In the first phase, a total of 26 Primary 2 students went through 7 intervention lessons consisting of activities related to catching and overhand throwing. The Test of Gross Motor Skills – 2nd edition (TGMD-2) and a checklist of 3 developmental stages were used as the assessment tools in the second phase, which involved the students being assessed on 6 object control skills that included catching and overhand throwing. Results for the group’s total average raw score of catching and overhand throwing increased by 28.57% from pre- to post-intervention. Positive impacts of NP approach were seen with the students performing better in the post-intervention, as well as the achievement of successful outcomes without conformity of the TGMD-2 criteria.

The ability to pick-up task relevant visual information during movement control is crucial in successful sport performance. Quiet eye (QE), the final fixation prior to final movement onset, has been shown to be characteristic of the visual search strategies exhibited by skilled athletes in self-paced aiming tasks. Longer QE durations were previously associated with skill and successful performance outcomes. In this study, gaze behaviour data of six expert (E) and six novice (N) ten-pin bowlers were measured using a mobile eye tracker as they completed 20 trials of two single-pin conditions each (Easy: 1-pin; Hard: 10-pin). Expert bowlers exhibited significantly longer QE durations in both conditions as compared to their less skilled counterparts. However, QE duration was not found to be significantly different as a function of accuracy nor task condition. Further detailed analysis revealed considerable variance in QE characteristics between individuals, warranting the need to explore individualized interventions centered on the development of perceptual-motor control during selfpaced aiming tasks. Moreover, this study raised an important methodological issue relating to the analysis of trials with the absence of QE.

Extreme climbing where participants perform while knowing that a simple mistake could result in death requires a skill set normally acquired in non-extreme environments. In the ecological dynamics approach to perception and action, skill acquisition involves a process where the existing repertoire of behavioral capabilities (or coordination repertoire) of a learner are destabilized and re-organized through practice—this process can expand the individuals affordance boundaries allowing the individual to explore new environments. Change in coordination repertoire has been observed in bi-manual coordination and postural regulation tasks, where individuals begin practice using one mode of coordination before transitioning to another, more effective, coordination mode during practice. However, individuals may also improve through practice without qualitatively reorganizing movement system components—they do not find a new mode of coordination. To explain these individual differences during learning (i.e., whether or not a new action is discovered), a key candidate is the existing coordination repertoire present prior to practice. In this study, the learning dynamics of body configuration patterns organized with respect to an indoor climbing surface were observed and the existing repertoire of coordination evaluated prior to and after practice. Specifically, performance outcomes and movement patterns of eight beginners were observed across 42 trials of practice over a 7-week period. A pre- and post-test scanning procedure was used to determine existing patterns of movement coordination and the emergence of new movement patterns after the practice period. Data suggested the presence of different learning dynamics by examining trial-to-trial performance in terms of jerk (an indicator of climbing fluency), at the individual level of analysis. The different learning dynamics (identified qualitatively) included: continuous improvement, sudden improvement, and no improvement. Individuals showing sudden improvement appeared to develop a new movement pattern of coordination in terms of their capability to climb using new body-wall orientations, whereas those showing continuous improvement did not, they simply improved performance. The individual who did not improve in terms of jerk, improved in terms of distance climbed. We discuss implications for determining and predicting how individual differences can shape learning dynamics and interact with metastable learning design.

This paper provides a brief overview of the framework of Nonlinear Pedagogy and evidence emanating from motor learning literature that underpins a nonlinear pedagogical approach. In addition, challenges for Nonlinear Pedagogy and a discussion on how Nonlinear Pedagogy support the work of Physical Education (PE) teachers will be shared. Evidence from the increasing volume of work on nonlinear learning from motor learning literature is used to suggest how acquisition of movement skills is supported by nonlinearity. The emergence of goal-directed behaviors is a consequence of the performer, environmental and task constraints. With a nonlinear pedagogy approach, the focus is on the individual learner where opportunities for meaningful actions can be learnt. Design principles based on representativeness, focus of attention, functional variability, manipulation of constraints and ensuring relevant information-movement couplings can be delivered via pedagogical channels of instructions, practices and feedback to the learners. Importantly, this focus on the individual sets the foundation for a developing nonlinear pedagogy framework to enhance teaching in PE although the challenges are non-trivial.

There is some apparent confusion regarding similarities and differences between two popular physical education pedagogical (PE) approaches, i.e., the Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) and Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU). Our aim in this commentary is to detail important theoretical and pedagogical concepts that distinguish the approaches, as well as to recognise where commonalities exist. In particular we note that TGfU emerged in the 1960s in the absence of a substantial theoretical framework, although several attempts to scaffold theories around TGfU have occurred subsequently. TGfU is a learner-centred approach to PE in which teachers are encouraged to design modified games to develop the learner’s understanding of tactical concepts. In contrast, CLA has arisen more recently from the umbrella of Nonlinear Pedagogy based on powerful empirically-verified theoretical frameworks of ecological psychology and dynamical systems theory. CLA creates a ‘learner-environment’ centred approach in which practitioners are encouraged to identify and modify interacting constraints to facilitate emergence of perceptionaction couplings. CLA is a broader approach which has been adapted for the design of (re)learning environments in physical education, sport and movement therapy. Other key distinctions between the approaches include: the overall goals; the way in which the learner and the learning process are modelled; the use of questioning as a pedagogical tool; the focus on individual differences versus generic concepts; and how progressions and skill interjections are planned and implemented. Despite such distinctions the two approaches are somewhat harmonious and key similarities include: their holistic perspective; the proposed role of the teacher; and the learning tasks that are designed by each. Both TGfU and CLA have a powerful central focus on the nature of learning activities undertaken by each individual learner. This clarification of TGFU and CLA is intended to act as a catalyst for more empirical work into the complementarity of these juxtaposed pedagogical approaches to learning design.