Chow, Jia Yi

This research programme consists of three main phases of work that aim to examine the effectiveness of a Nonlinear Pedagogy approach at various levels of the human movement system. The three main research objectives of this research programme are as follows: a) To investigate the effectiveness of a Nonlinear Pedagogical approach for learning a sports skill (i.e., tennis forehand stroke); b) To investigate the effectiveness of a Nonlinear Pedagogical approach in learning a modified net/barrier game (modified tennis); c) To investigate the effectiveness of a Nonlinear Pedagogical approach in teaching and learning a unit of modified tennis in a physical education context.

With the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) focus on using ICT in resourceful and innovative ways to improve teaching and learning (MOE, 2014), PE teachers should be trained and equipped with strategies to create environments where students are given more autonomy to decide ‘what’ to learn and ‘how’ to learn, according to students’ ability to use Information Communication and Technologies (ICT). For example, making available e-learning materials related to the lesson before and after the class affords students opportunities to learn more readily on their own than when these materials are absent. Using video recording to provide visual and verbal feedback from the teacher or among peers for skill performance during a lesson is just one of many ways ICT can be used to maximise students’ learning and develop the affective, psychomotor, and cognitive domains set out in the PE syllabus. The advantages of providing students with opportunities to harness ICT can be directly beneficial for skills acquisition and indirectly for honing life skills.

We examined whether the momentary induction of state mindfulness benefited subsequent balance performance, taking into consideration the effects of dispositional mindfulness. We also tested whether our mindfulness induction, grounded in sustaining moment-to-moment attention, influenced the attentional focus strategies that were adopted by the participants during the balancing task. Balance performance was ascertained based on approximate entropy(ApEn) of the center of pressure (COP) data. The study involved 32 males (age: M = 22.8, SD= 1.94) who were randomly assigned to the mindfulness or control group. Using difference in pretest to posttest performance based on the medio-lateral movements as the dependent variable, the test for interaction showed that the mindfulness induction was more effective for participants with higher dispositional mindfulness. Participants who underwent mindfulness induction also reported greater use of external focus strategies than those in the control group. Results suggest that momentary mindful attention could benefit balance performance and affect the use of attentional focus strategies during movement control.

Although previous work in nonlinear dynamics on neurobiological coordination and control has provided valuable insights from studies of single joint movements in humans, researchers have shown increasing interest in coordination of multi-articular actions. Multi-articular movement models have provided valuable insights on neurobiological systems conceptualised as degenerate, adaptive complex systems satisfying the constraints of dynamic environments. In this paper, we overview empirical evidence illustrating the dynamics of adaptive movement behavior in a range of multi-articular actions including kicking, throwing, hitting and balancing. We model the emergence of creativity and the diversity of neurobiological action in the meta-stable region of self organising criticality. We examine the influence on multi-articular actions of decaying and emerging constraints in the context of skill acquisition. We demonstrate how, in this context, transitions between preferred movement patterns exemplify the search for and adaptation of attractor states within the perceptual motor workspace as a function of practice. We conclude by showing how empirical analyses of neurobiological coordination and control have been used to establish a nonlinear pedagogical framework for enhancing acquisition of multi-articular actions.

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.

Objective: This study compared occurrence of falls, cognitive function, and balance profiles across participants in elderly age categories, investigating associations between the 3 aspects in a sample of Singapore’s elderly population. Method: Community dwelling elderly individuals (N=385) were randomly recruited and grouped into “young-old (65-74 years),” “medium-old (75-84 years),” and “oldest-old (above 85 years)” groups. The Fallproof Health and Activity questionnaire, adapted Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Berg Balance Scale (BBS) tests were used to survey information related to falls, cognition, and balance profiles. Results: Findings revealed significant differences in MMSE and BBS scores across the age groups. Participants with mild cognitive impairment (odds ratio [OR] = 1.87, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.08-3.25) and BBS score ≤ 40 (OR = 0.25, 95% CI=0.14-0.46) were at the highest risk of falling. Conclusion: Community-dwelling elderly individuals with subtle cognitive impairment and BBS scores ≤ 40 displayed an increased risk of falling.

This study investigated how motor system degrees of freedom were organized as skilled players performed a soccer chipping task. Using an intra-participant analysis, inter-individual kinematics and performance differences were investigated to determine the features governing coordination of skilled chipping actions. Five skilled participants were studied as they performed 10 soccer chips to one target position and another 15 soccer chips to three positions, all with different specific height and accuracy task constraints. Although a 'global coordination pattern' was identified for skilled soccer chipping, subtle inter-individual differences in coordination, displacement of center of mass (COM), selected kinematic variables for the kicking limb and the role of the non-kicking limb were also observed. It was noted that participants were able to adapt foot velocity to different target positions in successfully meeting the task goal. Results highlighted advantages of examining intra-participant data for understanding how skilled performers re-organize motor system degrees of freedom in achieving functional movement behaviors.