Many skills require that we adjust performance to meet varying environmental demands. One example of this is how we adjust the speed at which we walk. We can walk slowly so as to enjoy the scenery or a conversation during a casual stroll, or we can walk briskly as we might when walking through an airport. Both of these actions—strolling and walking briskly—share the common features that place them in the same class of movements (i.e., they use the same generalized motor program), but they have different movement outcomes—speed of travel—that result from the adjustments we make to meet different environmental goals (i.e., parameter adjustments).
Chapter 10 of your textbook discusses the common features that describe a class of movements. These features include a common relative timing structure as well as adjustable parameters that allow us to produce different movement outcomes. Effective training for a class of movements will help a person learn to vary movement outcomes by adjusting parameter values of the generalized motor program that governs the class of movements.
Often during practice, you (or your instructors) would like to practice more than one skill in a training session. In this activity, you will consider factors to help you choose the most appropriate way to organize the practice of multiple skills in a single training session. Complete the activity as follows:
- Choose and name a movement activity that includes several motor skills that could be incorporated into a practice session. Describe three of the skills completed in the activity and describe the goal of each skill and the basic movements it requires.
- Describe the learner who is likely to participate in the practice you design for the movement activity.
- Design a practice session. Describe in detail the type of practice schedule (blocked vs random; constant vs variable; mass vs distributed) you would include in the practice session. Explain how and why you organized the practice session and selected the type of practice for each skill.
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