Overview and Introduction to Skill Learning from an Ecological Dynamics Perspective

Overview and Introduction to Skill Learning from an Ecological Dynamics Perspective (Chow et al.,2021)

                                                        Photo by Spikeball on Unsplash

🚀 Article in 3 Sentences

1. The role of performer-interactions in how we analyse skill is the first topic of discussion in this chapter and how the CLA will allow the practitioner to capture these interactions in training design
2. The implications of these ideas for practitioners and academics is discussed.
3. How we must capture the non-linearities of learning must be captured in our approach and how we can do this

🤝Impressions

This chapter introduces Non-Linear Pedagogy and Ecological Dynamics is a user friendly way. There are brilliant insights to take whether you have a prior knowledge of NLP or it’s your first time hearing of it. The first edition of the NLP book had a huge impact on my coaching and the few chapters I’ve read of this book haven’t disappointed either

👨‍🏫Who should read this?

I think the NLP book would go into the must read section and this chapter is a very important chapter in the book

🎾How Article will influence my coaching

• Information is always present and the information that is most relevant to an individuals action capabilities/intentions is perceived
• A CLA provides a rationale for understanding why behaviours will emerge at the timescales of development, learning and performance.
• If a person develops their physical literacy they are much more likely to have sustained involvement in physical activity in the future. As the performance environment changes, a person's physical literacy and movement abilities will inevitably change as well.
• Emphasis needs to be on “encouraging an individualised approach to learning, focusing on how each learner is able to satisfy the interacting constraints that are present in particular learning situations”
• Rate limiters are factors that have an impact on an individual's learning processes and may limit their performance in a certain learning situation…Identifying rate limiters allows us to better modify the constraints to engage learners more effectively. Modifying the rate limiters to suit the individual we can engage them better and make the approach more learner centred

📃Takeaways for coaches

• To encourage physical literacy across the lifespan we need to present meaningful opportunities to support the acquisition of functional movement skills.
• The interactions between a performer-environment are crucial in the movement solutions that will self-organise as certain behaviours will emerge due to interactions with the prevailing constraints at that point in time
• We must help learners acquire skills that will enable them to thrive in dynamic performance environments
• We must help learners acquire skills that will enable them to thrive in dynamic performance environments. To do this we need to expose them to different types of performance contexts, give opportunities to do things in different ways, adapt their actions and make connections across different ideas, disciplines and content knowledge
• We must design rich learning environments that take into account the interactions of the ‘confluence’ of constraints (the dynamic interactions that emerge between each learner, the task and the environment)
• The huge differences between people will lead to different solutions emerging based on their action capabilities
• The non-linearity that is present in human movement systems must be captured in the pedagogical approach we use

To cater for the interactive and dynamics nature of the sporting environment we need to have a pedagogical framework that:

-Successfully stimulates competitive performance

-Challengers learners in representative settings

-Offers lots of variability so learners learn to adapt their actions

-Learn to perform without the need for continuous instructions

And it does all this without curtailing their creativity to seek, discover and acquire individualised solutions to resolve performance problems

🥇Top Quotes

💡 a constraints-based approach provides a rationale for understanding exactly how behaviours can emerge at the timescales of development, learning and performance

💡 the development of physical literacy is paramount to support sustained involvement in physical activity over an individual’s lifespan

💡 There are huge individual differences that are inherent in all learning situations which shape the goal-directed movement patterns that emerge or are self-adjusted in the absence of a central deciding ‘master control centre’. 

💡 From an ecological dynamics perspective, the emphasis is on encouraging an individualised approach to learning, focusing on how each learner is able to satisfy the interacting constraints that are present in particular learning situations. 

💡 Rate limiters’ are factors that have an effect on the learning processes of the individual and potentially restrict the performance of an individual in a particular learning context 

💡 When we can identify these rate limiters, we can better modify the relevant constraints to allow the individual learners to be more effectively engaged 

💡 Skilled behaviour can be considered as the coordination of a functional movement solution to achieve an intended task goal and not the rehearsal of a specific movement pattern to be able to perform it identically from trial to trial

Link to detailed notes

https://www.notion.so/mrtenniscoach-researchreview/Overview-and-Introduction-to-Skill-Learning-from-an-Ecological-Dynamics-Perspective-Chow-et-al-202-9a13a726c8cb4317b8aee526ed1c5a2c

Reference

Chow, J. Y., Davids, K., Button, C., & Renshaw, I. (2021). Overview and Introduction to Skill Learning from an Ecological Dynamics Perspective. Nonlinear Pedagogy in Skill Acquisition: An Introduction. Routledge