Distribution of Practice in Motor Skill Acquisition: Different Effects for Discrete and Continuous Tasks

Abstract

Research on the benefits of distributed practice for the acquisition and retention of motor skills has a long history. The majority of this research has involved skill acquisition of continuous tasks. However, there is some evidence to suggest that distribution of practice effects are quite different for discrete tasks than for continuous tasks. In the present study, we used a single task, formed discrete and continuous versions of the task, and examined how acquisition and retention were affected by the length of inter-trial interval. The basic task was a movement timing task that involved either one timing estimate per trial (the “discrete” version) or twenty successive estimates per trial (the “continuous” version). Separate groups of subjects learned one version of the task under either distributed (25 s inter-trial intervals) or massed (0.5 s inter-trial intervals) practice conditions. Both massed and distributed retention trials were performed on the same version of the task according to a double transfer design. The results confirmed the apparent disparity: Acquisition and retention were facilitated by distributed practice on the continuous task, but by massed practice on the discrete task. These results were discussed in terms of the role of the inter-trial interval in discrete and continuous tasks.     

一种关于“个人发展”的隐性知识结构

一个人成功与否，与机遇、智力、知识、性格、价值观、人生观等许多因素都相关。然而，有哪些自身的因素与个人成功直接相关呢?研究表明，IQ只是影响个人发展的一个方面。那么，如何更为全面地描述影响个人发展的因素呢?该从个人知识与“经验”的视野分析认为：隐性知识是描述影响个人发展的因素的重要途径。然后，结合斯腾伯格的成功智力理论与波兰尼的隐性知识理论，作提出了一种关于个人发展的隐性知识结构框架。     

Influence of using challenging tasks in biology classrooms on students’ cognitive knowledge structure: an empirical video study

Empirical analysis of secondary biology classrooms revealed that, on average, 68% of teaching time in Germany revolved around processing tasks. Quality of instruction can thus be assessed by analyzing the quality of tasks used in classroom discourse. This quasi-experimental study analyzed how teachers used tasks in 38 videotaped biology lessons pertaining to the topic ‘blood and circulatory system’. Two fundamental characteristics used to analyze tasks include: (1) required cognitive level of processing (e.g. low level information processing: repetiition, summary, define, classify and high level information processing: interpret-analyze data, formulate hypothesis, etc.) and (2) complexity of task content (e.g. if tasks require use of factual, linking or concept level content). Additionally, students’ cognitive knowledge structure about the topic ‘blood and circulatory system’ was measured using student-drawn concept maps (N?=?970 students). Finally, linear multilevel models were created with high-level cognitive processing tasks and higher content complexity tasks as class-level predictors and students’ prior knowledge, students’ interest in biology, and students’ interest in biology activities as control covariates. Results showed a positive influence of high-level cognitive processing tasks (β?=?0.07; p?.01) on students’ cognitive knowledge structure. However, there was no observed effect of higher content complexity tasks on students’ cognitive knowledge structure. Presented findings encourage the use of high-level cognitive processing tasks in biology instruction.     

分层次任务教学在大学英语课堂内的运用

大学英语教学,基于学生的水平差异,在无法实施分班教学的情况下,必须进行课堂内的分层次任务教学,培养学生学习英语的兴趣,为有效的英语学习创造必要条件。     

通过"交际任务"学习单词的方法探讨

在“以任务为中心的教学法“中,学生在完成交际任务时,会碰到生词.遇到这种情况处理的方法.可分为三个阶段:任务前阶段、任务中阶段和任务后阶段.学习者能在没有教师帮助的情况下,理解、掌握生词并使用它们来完成交际任务.     

游学英语的实施意义及其策略

在中国语境下,通过旅游为媒介,让大学生参加游学英语,能更好地提高他们综合运用英语的能力,尤其是听和说的能力。同时,通过开放式的教学形式,以真实语言学习理论为指导,可以激发和培养大学生学习英语的兴趣,建立多维的师生关系,丰富他们的人生经历。     

“You have to know the past to (blog) the present:” Using an Educational Blog to Engage Students in U.S. History

In this study the authors investigate whether a whole-class educational blog could facilitate culturally relevant instruction and authentic intellectual work in U.S. history. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed that included student comments posted to an educational blog, classroom observations, and follow-up interviews. Based on the analysis, the authors determined four major findings: (a) Students were able to engage in historical analysis while working in the blog environment when it was focused on a single source and included a hard scaffold; (b) when students situated the activities in relevant cultural experiences, they were able to better use their prior knowledge;(c) a variety of affordances related to blogging encouraged and supported students as they completed their work; and (d) the blogging activities were constrained by the limits of students’ literacy and historical skills, and the limits of technology.     

Portfolio assessment: direct from the classroom

Portfolios have been regarded as a means of personal self‐expression. This study reports on student real‐life experiences with portfolio assessment. The focus group comprised 150 freshmen (100 females) from a small campus of a tertiary educational institution. For two semesters (approximately 30 weeks), students engaged in numerous activities selected to encourage deep learning and understanding of mathematical concepts. Because students were not involved in the experiment, ecological validity was maximised, and observations may be regarded as fairly authentic and worthy of analysis. Generally, students reported learning much from portfolio assessment and felt an integral part of the assessment process. Portfolio assessment appeared to empower students and provide them with the self‐respect they desired. Future research could compare results from everyday observations with those from experiments.     

Teacher performance assessment in teacher education: an example in Malaysia

As part of a cross-cultural collaboration, a teacher performance assessment (TPA) was implemented during 2009 in three Malaysian institutes of teacher education. This paper reports on the TPA for graduating primary teachers in Malaysia. The investigation focused on the pre-service teachers’ perceptions about whether the TPA provided them with an opportunity to document successfully their professional learning and professional practice. Successful completion of the Malaysian TPA was closely aligned to successful relationships, support and collaboration between Malaysian lecturers and pre-service teachers, and between pre-service teachers and their classroom teachers. Overall, the TPA did provide pre-service teachers with an opportunity to focus on the connection between theory and professional learning during field-work, and to become reflective evidence-based practitioners. Recommendations for improving the assessment of pre-service teachers are discussed.     

Contemporary Development in English Listening Instruction

Listening is an essential communication skill which occupies a significant position in most language tests in China which are intended for EFL(English as foreign language) learners,from children to adults.Consequently,how to make people in ESL(English as a second language) or EFL context be active learners especially for the language beginners is not always an easy work.This paper is an attempt at introducing a new development in listening instruction along with evaluating whether this new approach can be applied in daily teaching in China.