The Modular Approach (with Strategies) to Learning Motor Skills

Instructors and researches increasingly view the individual as an active participant in the process of learning. That is, rather than responding passively to environmental cues, learners can influence the way knowledge and skills are acquired. Thus, learning should be facilitated if a learner develops appropriate cognitive strategies or particular mental operations. Literature on verbal and psychomotor learning supports this contention. Further, appropriate individualized instruction may provide more efficient learning than conventional group instruction. Self-contained (modular) instructional packages could be designed to teach not only a desired skill but a variety of learning strategies that would aid in acquiring the desired skill and would generalize to aid in acquiring other skills. A set of modules was developed for self-instruction in the complex gross motor skill of juggling; a sample module is presented. Related research has indicated that the group of high school students who were given this modular instruction with learning strategies performed markedly better than students who received conventional classroom instruction without learning strategies.