Christine Blais

CONCEPT MAPPING OF MOVEMENT-RELATED KNOWLEDGE '

Concept mapping was developed by Novak and Gowin in 1984 as a technique to examine an individuals knowledge-base in a given domain. In the motor domain, however, with a heavy emphasis on automated and tacit knowledge there may not be a base of information which can be verbally reported. 52 subjects with similar academic backgrounds were asked to explain all they knew about the concept of movement, and these reports were transcribed and assessed by four judges. Subjects also completed a pattern-recognition task related to procedural knowledge for movement. Over-all, the judges were able to identify a clear hierarchy in the levels of movement-related knowledge, suggesting that this technique may be useful in research on movement. However, this declarative knowledge appeared to be distinct from associated procedural knowledge, supporting Andersons (1982) theory and the need for several tools to provide a more complete reflection of the knowledge base in a particular domain.

Motor and Verbal Learning of Movements

When teaching any skill there is always the implication that the learner can translate verbal instructions and corrections into movements and express verbally problems with their own movements. The complexity (in terms of the number of variables) of most motor skills requires the learner to handle several bits of information. Children were tested for verbal recall or recall by demonstration (motor) of a sequence of movements previously presented by either method. Analysis suggested that subjects who were required to translate the information between modes evidenced better retention.

What is a Valid Context: Sport is Sport?

The term context has been used in a large number of research articles, but context does not, as yet, have a universally accepted definition. Sport is also a term subject to multiple definitions. Therefore, there is a need for caution when trying to identify unfamiliar and familiar research contexts in sport.