Scheduled for Motor Behavior: When Theory and Practice Collide: Motor Learning and Pedagogical Contradictions, Tuesday, April 9, 2002, 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM, San Diego Convention Center: Room 7A


Interaction of Contextual Interference With Different Skill Levels on Learning of Three Field Hockey Skills by Fifth Graders

Murali Nair, Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI and Linda Bunker, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

This study examined the performance of 5th graders learning three field hockey skills (push pass, flick and dribble). Participants classified as “high” or “low” skilled, practiced using blocked, progressive-blocked or random schedules representing 3 levels of Contextual Interference (CI) (from lowest to highest). A 3 x 2 x 4 (CI level x skill level x time) ANOVA with repeated measures on time was performed on each skill (with alpha set at <. 05). For the push pass, there was main effect for time and significant CI x time interaction for distance scores. At the posttest, short-term and long- term retention, the random and progressive-blocked groups had significantly higher scores than the blocked group. A significant time x skill levels interaction for distance scores was obtained. The high skilled group’s performance was superior to that of the low skilled group at all testing times. No significant CI x skill x time interaction was obtained. For the flick there was a main effect for time and significant CI x time interaction for the radial error scores. At the post test there were no significant differences between the three groups. At short-term retention the random and progressive-blocked groups were more accurate than the blocked group. At long-term retention, the progressive- blocked group has significantly less error than the other groups. A significant skill level x time interaction was obtained. The advantage of the high skill group at pretest did not hold true across all testing times. There was no significant CI x skill x time interaction. For the dribble there was main effect for time and significant CI level x time interaction. There were no significant differences between the three groups at post and short-term retention. At long-term retention, the progressive-blocked group demonstrated significantly faster times compared to the random group. A significant skill level x time interaction was obtained. The high skilled group had faster times at all testing times. There were no significant CI x skill x time interactions. The findings of this study clearly demonstrate the CI effect. For the three skills, the progressive-blocked and random groups produced better results than the blocked group. Teachers should take into account the contextual interference effect when planning instruction.

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