BUILDING A MASTERY

LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
Building strong fundamentals

Abstract
Creating Mastery motivational climate is important when working with youngsters
to maximize the benefits from the learning environment. Learning environment
should not only focus on physical development but also Cognitive and socio-
emotional development

Manjunath Shivaram
[email protected]
TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.Introduc6on---------------------------------------------------------------------2

2.Regula6ons and policies to build training methods------------------4

3.Evalua6on of Motor skill development Journey----------------------6

4.Discussion on building a mastery learning environment-----------9

5.Conclusion----------------------------------------------------------------------10

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1.Introduc6on
When movement behavior was studied in 95 children who were of age 3 to 5. It was found.
that composi>on of movement behaviors was significantly associated with three physical
development outcomes. (i.e. locomotor skills, object skills and total motor skills) and two
cogni>ve development outcomes (working memory and vocabulary)

The movement behaviors considered in the study were sleep, sedentary behavior, physical
ac>vity. The development can be classified into three different domains physical (growth,
physical health, motor skills) cogni>ve (execu>ve func>ons, vocabulary) socio-emo>onal
(emo>onal intelligence, rela>onship building).

When Moderate to vigorous Physical ac>vity of 30 minutes was subs>tuted for Light physical
ac>vity, there was a posi>ve effect on locomotory and object motor skills. When sta>onary
>me was reallocated with Moderate to vigorous Physical Ac>vity posi>ve rela>onships were
seen for Locomotor and total motor skills. There was a posi>ve effect on cogni>ve skills when
sta>onary behavior was relocated with sleep. If any of the other behavior was subs>tuted
with 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical ac>vity, it showed a posi>ve effect for socio-
emo>onal development and cogni>ve self-regula>on. (Nicholas Kuzik, 2020)

Inac>vity or lack of physical ac>vity in the childhood can result in a failure to develop
fundamental movement skills during preschools and primary school years and cause for
failure in learning specialized movement skills. (Payne V, 2007) (Akbari H, 2009). The level of
locomotory skills of children is posi>vely correlated with the levels of par>cipa>on in physical
ac>vi>es in adulthood. (Williams HG, 2008 )

All natural forms of movement can be divided according to their u>lity into the following
group according to POLYGON method (Frane Zuvela, 2011)

1. Space covering skills: It Includes different kinds of rolling, looping, crawling, walking,
and running that cover distances.

2. Surmoun2ng obstacle skills: Crawling through narrow space, climbing, landing, and
jumping that help us overcome different kinds of ver>cal, diagonal, and horizontal
obstacles.

3. Resistance overcoming skills: Pushing, pulling, holding, and carrying.

4. Object control skills: Throwing, catching, targe>ng, shoo>ng that enable us to operate
simple and complex opera>ons of handling the objects that differ in number, shape
and volume in a par>cular space and >me.

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Mastering of fundamental movement skills is a prerequisite for a successful introduc>on of
Specific sports ac>vity. (Gallahue DL, 2005) (Karabournio>s D, 2002) (Okely AD, 2004 )

There are two major mo>va>onal climates.

1. Mastery or task involving
2. Performance or Ego-involving

In mastery climate, Success is defined in terms of skill mastery and individual improvement.
They are task involving environment that emphasize the process of skill development effort
and personal improvement. This type of climate promotes mastery-oriented individuals that
try hard even when facing difficul>es, showing intrinsic interest in performing ac>ons and
persist over >me. (Roberts, 1992). Those type of individuals have been linked with
confidence and enjoyment in physical ac>vity sedng.

In performance climates, success and failure are defined in norma>ve terms, with an
emphasis on outperforming teammates and opponents. They are ego-involving
environments that focus on the outcomes and doing beeer than others. They promote
performance-oriented individuals that are worried about being judged as beeer than their
partners. They are linked with anxiety and boredom. (Braithwaite, 2011).

Understanding the significance of achievement influences the ac>ons and behaviors.

Parents, Peers, and coaches are the important people to be considered to construct
mo>va>onal climate to learn motor skill, placing competence at the core of achievement.
(Braithwaite, 2011)
So, crea>ng Mastery mo>va>onal climate is important when working with youngsters to
maximize the benefits from the learning environment. Epstein iden>fied 6 dimensions as
fundamental in any learning environment (Epstein, 1988) (Epstein, 1989).
1. Task (Design of ac>vi>es)
2. Authority (Loca>on of decision making)
3. Recogni>on (Use of rewards)
4. Grouping (Selec>on of working groups)
5. Evalua>on (Assessment Criteria)
6. Time (pace of instruc>on and learning)

TASK AUTHORITY RECOGNITION GROUPING EVALUATION TIME

Ac>vi>es to Athletes are We are It is not just Evalua>on is We have
be performed not given rewarding only based on not considered
are not choices. in swimming but skill levels organized it.
designed They are to create or age
forced to mastery wise.
follow the environment
instruc>on the
improvement
should be
rewarded for
skill
development

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2.Regula6ons and Policies to build a training method.
It is all about crea>ng a playful environment rather than being a predominantly instruc>onal
based coaching environment. Important considera>on to make here, is the fact that children
do not always understand what the coach wants to communicate. Children’s percep>on about
an ac>on is different from the coach’s percep>on very oken.

Children have the capability to use informa>on available in the environment. The
effec>veness of performing an ac>on is dependent on the ability of the child to perceive the
ac>on. (Le Runigo, 2005). Audio cues is one of the ways to perceive informa>on and
demonstra>on of the ac>on is another. Instruc>ons should not be the only way of
communica>on. Understanding the purpose or reason behind a specific behavior becomes
important. Crea>ng an environment which s>mulates movement behavior is essen>al.
If we look at the hopscotch game. It has self-explanatory boxes which describes the ac>on to
be performed through pictures. The kids who walk into the playing space, should be able to
perceive ac>ons looking at others who are already performing it and through the pictures.

Designing tasks to emphasize Func2onality of behavior during training.

For example: If we consider Shoo>ng basketball as an ac>on to be mastered, ideal task

constraints can look like making 10 baskets out of 20 shots. The coach can add a constraint to
increase the difficulty. That is by introducing >me constraint. By doing it the task looks like
making 10 baskets out of 20 shots in 2 minutes. The task constraint that creates an
environment which is very close to the func>onality of behavior experienced by an athlete
during compe>>on is arguably having more chances to induce a posi>ve s>mulus.

Designing a 2-minute circuit for a boxer which teaches him to sustain his threshold power for
the period of a boxing bout considering the dura>on of rest >me same as a boxing bout.

Every >me an athlete performs an ac>on which he /she has prac>ced many >mes, they will
not be able to replicate the ac>on due to the changing situa>onal constraints every >me the
ac>on is performed.

Authority: Athletes must ac>vely par>cipate in decision making process during the different
training sessions. To accomplish this goal, coaches can use induc>ve instruc>onal methods,
mainly guided discovery and problem solving. IF athletes were provided choices regarding
tasks to increase self-referenced percep>ons.

Recogni2on: Individual progress was recognized and rewarded by the coaches in private
to provide self-reference percep>ons. Coaches treated all students equally and held similar.
expecta>ons for all, independently of their ini>al level.

Grouping: Small coopera>ve training groups were established. They were formed in a
flexible, heterogeneous way. Coopera>ve learning and teamwork were encouraged, trying
to promote a working climate where the athletes could help each other learn tasks and
abili>es. Coaches tried to avoid rivalries among them.

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Evalua2on: Progress toward individual goals, personal improvement and par>cipa>on was
evaluated privately and self-referenced. To accomplish it, task skilfulness and personal
progress criteria were used. These criteria were based on systema>c observa>ons of the
conducts displayed by the par>cipants.

Time: Athletes were allowed to take part in the decision-making process related to the pace
of instruc>on and the >me assigned to complete each task. With this >me flexibility,
individual differences in motor learning were considered.

Designing tasks to include different fundamental movement skills.

Task Constraints
Motor co-ordina>on Jump Swimming
Motor Control Forward Hand eye co-ordina>on Movement
movement Responses
Balance Backward Throwing and catching Kicking
movement
Stability Sideward Dribbling Visual
movement an>cipa>on

Example of a Task Design

(Panggung Sutapa, 2021)

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3.How do we evaluate the motor skill development journey?
There are two ways of evalua>ng.
1)Process Oriented tools focuses on evalua>ng quality of motor skill based on selected criteria
(E.g.: Arm leg coordina>on during running. Swimming). TGDM-3 is process oriented.

According to TGDM-3

The locomotory tasks involved are.

RUN GALLOP HOP
Arms move in opposi2on to Arms Fixed: Swinging Bent Knee swing forward
legs: elbow bent forward
Brief period where both feet Step forward with lead Foot remains behind back
are off the surface foot
Land on heels or toes, not flat Back foot landing Arms flexed swinging forward
footed besides behind front
Narrow foot placement Brief period both feet Hop 4 2mes a day
are off the surface
Non-Support Leg bent 90 4 Consecu2ve Gallops
Degrees: close to buZocks

SKIP HORIZONTAL JUMP SLIDE

Step forward Knees Flex: Arms extend Body turned sideways;
back shoulders aligned with a
line on floor
Followed by a hop on the Arms extend forward and A step sideways
same foot upward at take off
Arms flex: swinging forward Feet come off floor and land Followed by a slide
together
4 con2nuous rhythmic skips Arms forced downward Brief Period where both the
during landing feet off the surface
4 con2nuous slides to both
sides

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Ball Skills

TWO HAND STRIKE ONE HAND FOREHAND DRIBBLE

STRIKE
Preferred hand grips bat Backswing when ball is Contact ball with one hand
above non preferred dropped about waist level
Non preferred hip shoulder Step with non-preferred Pushes ball with finger2ps
faces straight ahead foot (not slap)
Hip and shoulder rotate and Strikes ball toward wall Maintains control for 4
derotate bounces
Step with non-preferred Follow through toward non-
foot preferred shoulder
Hits ball sending it straight
ahead

CATCH KICK OVERHAND THROW

Hands in front: Elbows Rapid con2nuous approach Windup ini2ated downward
flexed
Arms extend while reachingElongated step or leap prior Rotate hip and shoulder to
for ball to ball contact where non -throwing side
faces wall
Ball is caught with hands Non kicking foot close to Steps with opposite foot
only ball toward wall
Uses instep or inside of Throwing hand follows
preferred foot (not toe) through toward hip of non-
preferred side

UNDERHAND THROW
Hand swings down and
back, behind trunk
Steps with foot opposite
throwing hand
Ball tossed forward
Hits wall without bouncing
Hand Follow through to
chest Level

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2)Product Oriented tool evaluates the outcome of motor tasks (E.g., number of sideways
jumps in a limited >me) KTK and MOT 4-6 tools are product-oriented tools.

MOT(4-6) Tool

(Farid Bardid, 2016)

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4.Discussion on building a mastery learning environment.

A. Basic psychological needs in exercise/ Sport

• Autonomy:2,5,11
• Relatedness:4,10,7
• Competence:1,3,6,8,9

We are trying to understand the reason for drop out. It is important to figure out the problem
kids are experiencing in the learning environment. Are the kids able to do what they want to
do? Are they able build rela>onship within the group of other children who are training with
them? Are they feeling competent enough aker training for certain number of sessions. It
becomes essen>al for an academy to iden>fy this aspect to help children get associated with
sports and con>nue the learning process.

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 B. Mo2va2on

• Intrinsic Mo>va>on: Because it is fun.

• Iden>fied Regula>on: Because I want to learn sports skills.
• Introjected Regula>on: Because I want my coach to think I am a good athlete.
• External Regula>on: So that the coach does not reprimand me.
• Amo>va>onal: But I really feel I am was>ng my >me.

SDI=Self Determina2on Index: 20 ques>ons must be rated according to Likert scale.

The scores associated with respec>ve pointers are related to either one of the above types of
mo>va>on. Accordingly, the values are subs>tuted in the below formula.

SDI = [(2*Intrinsic M) +Iden2fied R] – [(((Introjected R+ External R)/2) + (2* Amo2va2on)]

More than teaching kids/coaches about mo>va>on, it is important to recognize why are kids
mo>vated. Every individual gets mo>vated for a different reason. Some of them get mo>vated
because they have fun performing that task. Some individuals enjoy learning a par>cular skill.
Some people want the coach and the world think that they are good in performing a certain
task. Some people perform the task due to the fear of punishment. Finally, there will be people
who are least interested.

C. Socio Contextual factors: The learning environment

We need to ask a few ques>ons to the athletes who undergo training.

And understand the present learning environment. It’s possible to accomplish it using the
Perceived Mo>va>onal Climate in Sport-2. It involves 33 ques>onnaires.

The subscales are.

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• Improvement
• Coopera>ve Learning
• Decision/ Elec>on

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 D. Consequences Items

Boredom: In Sport, I oken daydream instead of thinking what I am doing

When playing sport, I am usually bored.
When playing Sport, I usually wish the game would end quickly.

Persistence
• When I have trouble performing some skills, I go back and prac>ce.
• Regardless of whether I like the ac>vi>es, I work my hardest to do them.
• When something that I am prac>cing is difficult, I spend extra >me and effort trying
to do it right.
• I try to learn and do well even if an ac>vity is boring.

Effort
• I put a lot of effort into preparing for skills tests.
• I work very hard to prepare for our skills tests.
• I work hard to do well even if I don’t like what we are doing.
• I always pay aeen>on to my teacher.

It is important to sense if the kids are bored and iden>fy kids who are willing to be persistent
and put effort. Kids must learn accep>ng failures. They need to be taught that extra >me needs
to be spent on skills that are difficult to master. It will get difficult some>mes but adhering
them to the process and helping them con>nue to peruse mastery is an important skill set.
Ins>lling Belief in the process keeps the athlete mo>vated to give their fullest effort.

5.CONCLUSION
It’s essen>al that kids are taught motor skills before introducing them to sports specific
environment. This can serve as a regula>on and policy guide to design a training module to
help kids develop basic motor skill. As an academy we need to emphasize building a mastery
learning environment which considers the basic psychological needs, socio-contextual
aspects, mo>va>on, and consequences of learning motor skills.

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