Whole and Part Practice (L19)

Question 1

what is whole practice?

Answer 1

A practice strategy that involves practicing a skill in its entirety (i.e.as a whole)

Question 2

what is part practice?

Answer 2

*A practice strategy that involves practicing parts of a skill before
practicing the whole skill (break down skill into smaller parts)
*The ultimate test of whether part practice is effective, is the amount
of transfer from practice of parts to performance of the whole task

Question 3

How do you decide when to implement part
versus whole practice?

analyze 2 characteristics of skills first

Answer 3

1. complexity
   *the number of parts or components and degree of information processing
   that characterizes a skill
   *more complex skills have more parts
   *in general, discrete skills are less complex
   than serial or continuous skills
2. organization
   *the relationship among the components of a skill
   *do the components interact (spatially and/or temporally), or are they
   independent (not related)?
   *discrete skills are typically low complexity (‘one’ part) but high organization

Question 4

discrete skills-which is better: whole or part practice?

Answer 4

*Whole practice may be more effective with quick, single-
programmed actions
*Low complexity (single component); high organization (components
interact, are related)
*Example of golf swing: backswing and downswing are inter-related.

Question 5

serial skills-which is better: whole or part practice?

Answer 5

*High complexity (many components); low or high organization
*If no component interaction (low organization), part practice on
each element or the difficult elements may be efficient (e.g. baking)

*If components interact (high organization), whole practice may be
more effective
*Spatial and temporal parameters of one part may depend on the
part performed just before
*Could consider starting with part, then progress to whole practice
(“segmentation”) to facilitate transfer

Question 6

continuous skills-which is better: whole or part practice?

Answer 6

*High complexity (many components)
*Involve coordination – > components interact (high organization) = >
whole practice
oWhile parts can be isolated, they occur at the same time as other
parts
oSwimming: coordinate breathing, arm strokes and kicking – part of
learning how to swim is to learn how to coordinate these parts
*But…might be possible to do fractionization or segmentation; ultimately,
still need to engage in whole practice at the end.

Question 7

what is the part-training approach of fractionization?

Answer 7

*Asymmetric and simultaneous coordination of limbs (e.g. tennis serve, playing piano)

*Perform each arm/leg separately (e.g. left, then right), then put together

Question 8

what is the part-training approach of segmentation?

Answer 8

*Separate skill into parts, then perform together (“progressive part”)
*Allows you to first focus on specific aspects of skill (reduce attention
demands)

Question 9

what is the part-training approach of simplification?

Answer 9

Reducing difficulty or parts of features of skill
1. Reduce object difficulty (e.g.
larger objects to manipulate)
2. Reduce attention demands by
providing physical assistance (e.g. walking in parallel bars, with body weight support)
3. Reduce speed
4. Add auditory cues (i.e. people with Parkinson’s walking with marching band or metronome ticking)
5. Sequence skill progression (hit baseballs from tee, from pitching machine, from pitcher)
6. Use simulators and virtual reality (augment practice, practice safely, cost-effective)