Classification of motor skills
Gross motor skill is the type of skill that is learned during the early childhood of a human being. These skills include not such precise movements of large muscles leading into walking and arm movements. Gross motor skills are classified according to the environmental predictability as closed and open skills. When one is placed in an environment that is predictable, such as routinely gym practices and lifting of heavyweight objects, they get to perform a closed motor skill. Conditions in the background are very stable and predictable. The other type is the open gross motor skill. It is said to have been performed when one is placed in a volatile and unpredictable environment such as a playing football, wrestling, or when they are boxing. They are forced to respond to dynamic changes in the background. When selecting a learning strategy of a learner, it is essential to take into account the environment the learner is in because it directly impacts how the learners will develop motor.
Motor planning skills help one move an arm to reach out for a cup of water and then direct it to the mouth. The next stage involves the lips sucking the water from the container and gulping it down. It is an example of a task organization in which the hands don’t extend to the mouth without taking the glass. Fine motor skills are ones that are involved in ordering how grasping the glass of juice is done or hand washing. It is an important thing to take into consideration the motor skills and fine motor skills when choosing the learning strategies to avoid overstraining the learner.
The motor is an essential aspect in the overall development of a child as it dictates how fast they can be able to use their bodies in athletics, walking and holding things thus boosting their esteem and confidence of self-worth. They are also crucial in cognitive skills, which dictate how the learners identify and recognize the world around them. Fine motor skills enable learners to apply cognitive skills in learning what is around them.
Question 2: Development of variable skill training
I want to teach the skill of long jump.
Long jump practice activity scheduled for three weeks.
DAY
WEEK 1
WEEK 2
WEEK 3
MONDAY
Practice in early in the morning
Practice at an altitude 3000m above sea level.
Practice by competing with different teams.
WEDNESDAY
Practice at noon with the presence of the sun
Practice at an altitude plain region 0m above sea level.
Practice jumping over the standard length 6m and above.
SATURDAY
Practice while it is raining.
Practice indoors
Practice outdoors
Motor schema is a memory representation of movements. It is obtained by learning then stored in the memory and retrieved when needed. Schema can be constructed by practice. Practice variability is the changing of the conditions in which one is passed through when learning a particular skill. Variability makes it possible for one to collect and generalize schema, which results in better performance in the profession.
In this skill of long jump, I hope that my learners can have a memory representation of the movements used in performing long jump the different conditions outlaid above. Since the changes are not the same in the different environments, the learners will find it necessary to generalize the schemata from the different situations and this will see them improving their long jump skills in the long run.
Question 3: teaching dilemma of speed versus accuracy
Sometimes we are compelled to have particular action done within a short time. In such a case, we trade-off our accuracy for speed. For example, when we have to open a door very fast, we take the key very quickly into the keyhole, and most of the time, we end up missing the keyhole completely. Other times, we trade-off our speed for accuracy when the target is to have the action done instead of the rate at which it will be done. The best skill to handle these tasks is always to ensure your gear is at the highest level that it does not impact accuracy.
It essential to know what to trade-off during any task done may be performing. For example, it is of no benefit to kick a golf ball with high speed when you know it will never hit the target. In this case, it is wise to take into consideration what one needs. One can either choose to have a particular task done or better still to have it done within a concise time limit. The nature of the job and its requirement is the primary consideration to take before choosing what to sacrifice for the other.
In a learning setting, a teacher should, for example, trade-off the time is taken teaching a particular skill to increase time for practicing or teaching another skill. It is subject to how the learner is taking their lessons, and if they have mastered one skill, it is necessary to allocate the time to other skills they have not learned. These trade-offs can be referred to as the time factor. On the other hand, learners trade-off some skills or the time allocated for them to either make more time for their preferred ability or the power they have not mastered. These trade-offs can be sacrificial to the core values and expectations of the learning institutions. An example of this concept is when a teacher is trying to teach learners excellent motor skills in piano playing. When a learner has mastered the flow of a music tune but is deficient in coordinating the soundtracks, the teacher can trade off time for learning the music tone and dedicate it to soundtrack coordination.
Trading-off is an excellent operational strategy when it comes to teaching and learning. In this setting, one should consider taking trade-offs where necessary to better oneself in those areas they are weak. It is, however not recommended to trade-off one’s time for non-beneficial things.
Question 4: Stages of learning
Posner describes the learning process and explains it into three stages. In the first stage, which is called the cognitive stage of education, the learner is a beginner and tries to familiarize themselves with the conditions surrounding them such as how should one hold the racket when playing badminton, and why it is wrong to cross a particular line with ball in handball. This stage can be seen to be matching with the gross motor skill of walking. When a baby is born, it takes time for them to familiarize with what legs are for, and how to make the first step. If they try the first step, they usually fall very fast. Fewer mistakes characterize the second stage and they can perform the skill better to achieve a specific goal. The baby here can take a few steps but will again fall after some distance. Here the baby has been slightly used to the walking process. This skill is known as the associative stage of learning. In the third stage, the power is now part of the performer, and they do it almost automatically. It is called autonomous stage. The baby in this stage walks automatically without any difficulties. In schema theory, the brain organizes information in blocks to quickly process what we encounter; the same is applied when organizing learned motor skills in that the movements are stored in mind as a block. In the case of actions from different environments, the brain generalizes the schemata into one block and processes it as one.
The body has several degrees of freedom, which can be varied by the use of our muscles. It is done by changing the force with which we perform skills, speed, and the direction to which we direct the action. This concept can well lie in Posner’s stages of learning in that, in the beginning, one may not be able to control their degrees of freedom due to not being well conversant with the way a skill is performed. For example, a baby may throw a piece of paper in the opposite direction of the litter bin. However, with more practice, they will be able to aim at the container by controlling their degrees of freedom.