PRACTICING ALONG THE CONTEXTUAL INTERFERENCE CONTINUUM: A COMPARISON OF THREE PRACTICE SCHEDULES IN AN ELEMENTARY PHYSICAL EDUCATION SETTING

摘要

Few studies have explored the contextual interference effect with children. The findings from these investigations have produced inconsistent results. The purpose of this study was to investigate further how the contextual interference effect influenced children learning a fundamental motor skill in a physical education class. Elementary students (N=36) practiced overarm throwing following traditional blocked or random scheduling. They were compared to a third group of participants practicing the same tasks following aschedule with systematic increases in contextual interference. Analysis revealed that all three groups improved during practice. Post-test results revealed performance differences in favor of the group that practiced with systematic increases in contextual interference. The findings reported here extend the results of previous studies by demonstrating that children can learn a motor skill by practicing with systematic increases in contextual interference. Theoretical considerations are discussed, as well as the relevance of the findingsfor practitioners and avenues for future research.