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EnglandPhysical Education

3.2 Skill acquisition

5 dot points across 5 inquiry questions. Click any dot point for a focused answer with worked past exam questions where available.

How do different types of guidance and feedback improve the learning and performance of skills?

The types of guidance (visual, verbal, manual and mechanical) and their advantages and disadvantages, and the types and roles of feedback (positive, negative, intrinsic, extrinsic, knowledge of results and knowledge of performance).
A focused answer to AQA A-Level PE skill acquisition on guidance and feedback, covering visual, verbal, manual and mechanical guidance and the types of feedback including knowledge of results and knowledge of performance.
9 min answer →

How do we receive, process, store and recall information to perform motor skills?

Information processing models (Whiting's model), the multi-store memory model of short-term sensory store, short-term memory and long-term memory, reaction time and Hick's law, and strategies to improve retention and response time.
A focused answer to AQA A-Level PE skill acquisition on memory and information processing, covering Whiting's information processing model, the multi-store memory model, reaction time, Hick's law and the psychological refractory period.
10 min answer →

What theories explain how performers learn and improve motor skills?

Theories of learning including operant conditioning, cognitive (insight) learning, Bandura's observational learning, and the use of reinforcement, the principles of effective practice and the development of schema.
A focused answer to AQA A-Level PE skill acquisition on theories of learning, covering operant conditioning, cognitive (insight) learning, Bandura's observational learning, reinforcement and Schmidt's schema theory.
10 min answer →

How are motor skills classified and how do these classifications guide the way we practise and teach them?

The classification of skills on continua (open and closed, gross and fine, self-paced and externally paced, discrete, serial and continuous, low and high organisation, simple and complex), and the types and methods of practice and the transfer of skills.
A focused answer to AQA A-Level PE skill acquisition on classifying skills, covering the skill continua, types and methods of practice (massed, distributed, fixed, varied, whole and part) and the types of transfer of skills.
9 min answer →

How does performance change as a learner moves through the stages of learning?

Fitts and Posner's three stages of learning (cognitive, associative and autonomous), the characteristics of each stage, and the link to feedback, practice and performance plateaus.
A focused answer to AQA A-Level PE skill acquisition on the stages of learning, covering Fitts and Posner's cognitive, associative and autonomous stages, their characteristics, the feedback and guidance each needs, and the performance plateau.
8 min answer →