Learning an Unfamiliar Motor Skill in the Absence of Augmented Teacher Feedback

Research on teacher effectiveness including feedback provided to students remains an important area of research on teaching in physical education (Metzler, 2013). Because students in physical education often receive little... [ view full abstract ]

Research on teacher effectiveness including feedback provided to students remains an important area of research on teaching in physical education (Metzler, 2013). Because students in physical education often receive little augmented teacher feedback (ATF), research on how students learn in the absence of ATF warrants further investigation (van der Kamp, et al., 2015).  Although some researchers demonstrate effective learning of motor skills in the absence of ATF (Capio, et al., 2013), this study examined the learning strategies students employ when given no ATF while learning an unfamiliar motor skill.  Ninety-six students were randomly assigned to one of 24 groups, and then each group was independently taught how to perform a lacrosse shot, which was an unfamiliar motor skill for the participants.  Within each group, three students received deliberate ATF while one student received no ATF.  Two independent researchers carefully examined the behaviors of each of the 24 (14 male, 10 female) participants not receiving ATF to determine common learning strategies students employed.  Data analysis revealed students receiving no ATF employed six learning strategies including (1) eavesdropping, (2) peer help-seeking, (3) teacher help-seeking, (4) changing throwing mechanics, (5) close observation, and (6) apathy.  A Discriminate Function Analysis was performed to determine whether the frequency of what, if any, learning strategies predicted male or female learning strategy utilization.  Findings revealed that, of the six strategies used, changing throwing mechanics and close observation learning strategies differentiated males and females.  Although further research is recommended, the findings from this study suggest that as students learn unfamiliar motor skills they likely employ multiple learning strategies and there appears to be some gender variation in how those learning strategies are utilized.  A better understanding of how students learn will facilitate improved teaching methods and influence teacher education practice.