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Assessment of Random and Blocked Practice Schedules on Motor Skills’ Acquisition, Retention and Transfer Among Selected Senior High School Students

Received: 21 February 2019    Accepted: 2 April 2019    Published: 9 May 2019
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Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of blocked and random practice schedules on acquisition, retention and transfer after teaching basketball skills among novice Senior High School students. Using a quasi-experimental design, a combination of simple random and purposive sampling procedures were used to select 60 novice participants who were equally assigned to a Blocked Practice Group (BPG [N= 30]) and Random Practice Group (RPG [N= 30]) respectively. After 9 sessions of teaching and learning of chest pass, overhead pass and sidearm pass, results for skill acquisition indicated that the BPG scored higher means than the RPG in all the three motor skills. For retention, improved performance for the RPG than the BPG in all 3 skills was noted. Similar results were obtained for the transfer phase. ANOVA test for retention produced significant mean differences between the three motor skills. However, the RPG recorded more superior values for between group analyses than the BPG. Independent sample t-test also revealed significant difference between random and blocked practices in terms of overall learned skills. Based on these findings, Physical education tutors and perhaps coaches should consider adopting blocked practice approach during isolated skill learning. Additionally, random practice scheduling should be used when the main objective is based on retention and transfer of knowledge regarding motor skills, especially during competitive milieu or other analogous related activities.

Published in American Journal of Sports Science (Volume 7, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ajss.20190701.15
Page(s) 26-33
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Blocked, Random, Practice, Contextual Interference, Acquisition, Retention, Transfer

References
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Srem-Sai Medina, Hagan Jr John Elvis, Jatong Ahmed Baba, Schack Thomas. (2019). Assessment of Random and Blocked Practice Schedules on Motor Skills’ Acquisition, Retention and Transfer Among Selected Senior High School Students. American Journal of Sports Science, 7(1), 26-33. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajss.20190701.15

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    ACS Style

    Srem-Sai Medina; Hagan Jr John Elvis; Jatong Ahmed Baba; Schack Thomas. Assessment of Random and Blocked Practice Schedules on Motor Skills’ Acquisition, Retention and Transfer Among Selected Senior High School Students. Am. J. Sports Sci. 2019, 7(1), 26-33. doi: 10.11648/j.ajss.20190701.15

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    AMA Style

    Srem-Sai Medina, Hagan Jr John Elvis, Jatong Ahmed Baba, Schack Thomas. Assessment of Random and Blocked Practice Schedules on Motor Skills’ Acquisition, Retention and Transfer Among Selected Senior High School Students. Am J Sports Sci. 2019;7(1):26-33. doi: 10.11648/j.ajss.20190701.15

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ajss.20190701.15,
      author = {Srem-Sai Medina and Hagan Jr John Elvis and Jatong Ahmed Baba and Schack Thomas},
      title = {Assessment of Random and Blocked Practice Schedules on Motor Skills’ Acquisition, Retention and Transfer Among Selected Senior High School Students},
      journal = {American Journal of Sports Science},
      volume = {7},
      number = {1},
      pages = {26-33},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ajss.20190701.15},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajss.20190701.15},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ajss.20190701.15},
      abstract = {The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of blocked and random practice schedules on acquisition, retention and transfer after teaching basketball skills among novice Senior High School students. Using a quasi-experimental design, a combination of simple random and purposive sampling procedures were used to select 60 novice participants who were equally assigned to a Blocked Practice Group (BPG [N= 30]) and Random Practice Group (RPG [N= 30]) respectively. After 9 sessions of teaching and learning of chest pass, overhead pass and sidearm pass, results for skill acquisition indicated that the BPG scored higher means than the RPG in all the three motor skills. For retention, improved performance for the RPG than the BPG in all 3 skills was noted. Similar results were obtained for the transfer phase. ANOVA test for retention produced significant mean differences between the three motor skills. However, the RPG recorded more superior values for between group analyses than the BPG. Independent sample t-test also revealed significant difference between random and blocked practices in terms of overall learned skills. Based on these findings, Physical education tutors and perhaps coaches should consider adopting blocked practice approach during isolated skill learning. Additionally, random practice scheduling should be used when the main objective is based on retention and transfer of knowledge regarding motor skills, especially during competitive milieu or other analogous related activities.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Assessment of Random and Blocked Practice Schedules on Motor Skills’ Acquisition, Retention and Transfer Among Selected Senior High School Students
    AU  - Srem-Sai Medina
    AU  - Hagan Jr John Elvis
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.ajss.20190701.15
    T2  - American Journal of Sports Science
    JF  - American Journal of Sports Science
    JO  - American Journal of Sports Science
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    SN  - 2330-8540
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ajss.20190701.15
    AB  - The purpose of this study was to assess the influence of blocked and random practice schedules on acquisition, retention and transfer after teaching basketball skills among novice Senior High School students. Using a quasi-experimental design, a combination of simple random and purposive sampling procedures were used to select 60 novice participants who were equally assigned to a Blocked Practice Group (BPG [N= 30]) and Random Practice Group (RPG [N= 30]) respectively. After 9 sessions of teaching and learning of chest pass, overhead pass and sidearm pass, results for skill acquisition indicated that the BPG scored higher means than the RPG in all the three motor skills. For retention, improved performance for the RPG than the BPG in all 3 skills was noted. Similar results were obtained for the transfer phase. ANOVA test for retention produced significant mean differences between the three motor skills. However, the RPG recorded more superior values for between group analyses than the BPG. Independent sample t-test also revealed significant difference between random and blocked practices in terms of overall learned skills. Based on these findings, Physical education tutors and perhaps coaches should consider adopting blocked practice approach during isolated skill learning. Additionally, random practice scheduling should be used when the main objective is based on retention and transfer of knowledge regarding motor skills, especially during competitive milieu or other analogous related activities.
    VL  - 7
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    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

  • Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, University of Cape Coast, Cape Coast, Ghana

  • Department of Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Sports, University of Education, Winneba, Ghana

  • Neurocognition and Action - Biomechanics- Research Group, Faculty of Psychology and Sport Sciences/CITEC, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany

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