Types And Methods Of Practice

Question 1

Part practice

Answer 1

Skill is split into subroutines and each part is practiced separately.
e.g. practising a tennis serve

Question 2

Part practice (+and-)

Answer 2

advantages:
- good for complex and low organisation skills
- good for cognitive learners as there is less information to process
- good for auto/assoc learners as it helps them fine-tune a skill

Disadvantages:
- Doesn’t develop timing
- Doesn’t improve kinaesthesia

Question 3

Whole practice

Answer 3

Skill is learnt by doing the complete / entire skill. It is not split into subroutines.
e.g. golf swing

Question 4

Whole practice (+and-)

Answer 4

Advantages:
- good for high organisation and simple skills
- good for cognitive, associative and autonomous performers
- learning occurs quicker

Disadvantages:
- failure can be demotivational
- information overload

Question 5

Whole-part-whole

Answer 5

Performing the entire skill, then breaking it down into subroutines, then performing the entire skill again.
e.g. basketball layup

Question 6

Whole-part-whole (+and-)

Answer 6

Advantages:
- identifies weak areas
-starts to develop kinaesthesia

Disadvantages:
- takes a long time to learn the skill, then improve each individual part
- the end movement may not be fluent, once all parts are put together as they were learnt separately

Question 7

Progressive part

Answer 7

The skill is split it into subroutines and learned, and then subroutines are linked / chained together.
e.g. triple jump

Question 8

Progressive part (+and-)

Answer 8

Advantages:
- helps to develop a skill that needs a lot of information
- good for cognitive learners

Disadvantages:
- can take longer to learn then other practice methods
- if an athlete finds one step difficult it can have an impact on the entire skill

Question 9

Massed practice

Answer 9

Continuous practice / no rest intervals
e.g. hitting 5 minutes of tennis forehand shots with no rest periods

Question 10

Massed practice (+and-)

Answer 10

Advantages:
- skill becomes grooved
- motor programmes are developed
- kinaesthesia is developed
- S-R bond strengthened

Disadvantages:
- tedious
- no time for feedback
-fatigue easily

Question 11

Distributed practice

Answer 11

The skill is practiced with short intervals / rest periods.
e.g. hitting 5 minutes of tennis forehand shots with a 30 second rest given after every 3 attempts

Question 12

Distributed practice (+and-)

Answer 12

Advantages:
- time for feedback
- less tedious
-less fatigue

Disadvantages:
- kinaesthesia develops slower
- motor programmes develop slower
- grooving the skill is harder

Question 13

Fixed practice

Answer 13

Practicing a skill when the environment remains constant
e.g. diving in swimming

Question 14

Fixed practice (+and-)

Answer 14

Advantages:
-good for cognitive learners because it is the same every time
- improves consistency of closed and self-paced skills
- can help to reduce pressure on the performer during a competitive situation

Disadvantages:
- can become boring and repetitive for the performer, decreasing levels of motivation.

Question 15

Varied practice

Answer 15

Practising a skill when the environment changes
e.g. catching a ball when playing against an opposition in rugby