Lecture 16b, Challenge Point Framework

Question 1

Embracing discomfort for learning

Answer 1

• want to be outside of comfort zone (little opportunity for learning - can gain confidence and motivation but you are doing the same thing over and over) where growth occurs
• in order to learn you want to shake up things - uncertainty, new information
• maintenance zone (lot of time spent here), growth zone (create challenge points for learning to a certain point), punishing zone (too challenging)

Question 2

Performance does not always equate to leaning & can mislead about what is acquired

Answer 2

performance: now measure (single practice) - what you see in practice is not a good representation of learning

learning/improvement: later measure of what has been acquired (across sessions/seasons)
game transfer: later measure of skill transfer (from practice to game)

Question 3

What you see in practice ≠ What is being learnt or retained

Answer 3

1) faster gains can indicate learning, but they don’t have to. they may indicate that practice is too easy and learning will be compromised

2) we need to measure performance across multiple time points, after periods of rest, to get true measures of learning. create a culture where “errors” in performance are okay (there are in practice zone designed for learning where errors are ok as you are maximizing learning)

Question 4

4 Key points for challenge-point framework

Answer 4

challenge is…
1. individualized: based on the individual, interacting with the task/skill (functional task difficulty)
- for one person a task can be very difficult but can be easy for someone else so challenge is relative to your own capabilities
2. information-based: can be thought of as amount of novel “information” available (uncertainty)
- when things are not going to plan you need to seek information
3. dynamic/changing: “optimal” zone promotes long- term learning but it is continually shifting
4. specific to conditions of transfer/ competition
- always considering in relation to transfer / match transfer conditions

Question 5

But conditions that keep performance high (low in error) in short-term often impair it in the long-term

Answer 5

• if difficulty = too low, there is nothing new to learn (point 1)
• if difficulty = too high, performer overwhelmed & learning is impaired (point 2)
• optimal difficulty for an individual is at the peak of this inverted-U (cross)
• at the point where something is too easy there is little learning and then there is is optimal learning when functional difficulty is moderate, however when it is too high there will not be too much learning either
• the point when performance is best is different to when learning is best (have to sacrifice performance - out of comfort zone into growth zone)