TYPES and METHODS of PRACTICE

PART

  • low in organisation: can be split up into sub-routines
  • complex skill: allows the performer to make sense of the skill and to achieve initial success with basic movements before progressing to the more complex movement

  • serial skills: performer can gain confidence by learning each element of the skill separately and bring the parts together and have better idea of the technique involved

WHOLE

  • taught without breaking it down into sub-routines
  • more employed because the player experiences the true 'feel' for the skill and transfer from practice to the real situation
  • player is more likely to execute the skill fluently and can appreciate the relationship between each part of the movement
  • rapid action: components of the skill interact closely with one another

WHOLE PART WHOLE

  • performer firstly attempt the whole skill
  • then practice the skill in parts
  • then putting them together again to practise as a whole
  • suited to serial skills or those with low-organisation when sub-routines have distinct features
  • help recognise the strengths and weaknesses in the performance and the to construct separate practices that either errors or reinforce the correct moements

performer get some of the 'feel' or fluency of the skill to start with to appreciate the kinesthesis involved

PROGRESSIVE PART

  • a serial skill is often broken down into its sub-routines that can be seen as links of a chain
  • perforrmer can learn one link at a time and then further links, until the links can be practised together as a whole
  • use a mixture of part and whole method to allow the performer to get the idea of the complete movement and understand the relationships between the variation components and sub-routines
  • helps the performer to remember the links between sub-routines of skills

MASSED and DISTRIBUTED

Massed

  • involves very short, or no, rest intervals within the practice session
  • is a continuous practice period

Distributed

  • involves relatively long rests between trials
  • the rest intervals could involve tasks that are unrelated to the main practice activity - should not involve activities which could lead to negative transfer
  • intervals between activities can be used to practise mental rehersal

FIXED and VARIED

Fixed

Varied

  • involves a stable and predictable practice environment, with practice conditions remaining unchanging or 'fixed'
  • predominantly suitable for closed-type skills where the environment does not affect the skill execution very much
  • enable habitual movements to be learned effectively with few other irrelevant stimuli interfering with the performer's skill production
  • practice needs to be varied so the performer can come into contact with a range of experiences
  • relevant experiences are stored in the long-term memory and can be used to modify motor programmes in the future

  • closed skill: stimulithat are irrelevant should be varied but those that are relevant should not be varied, practice condition closely resemble the 'true life situation

open skill: each situation will be different from the last, not constant, practice should involve many different situations so the performer can draw from the strategies in long-term memory that has learnt from previous practice