Stages of Learning
Things to Consider Regarding
the Stages of Learning
 Transitions between learning stages cannot be
clearly delineated.
 One stage blends into the next.
 A learner can be in different stages for learning
different skills.
 Stages of learning are not dependent on age.
Your Perspective
 Imagine that you and your roommate are trying to
learn a new skill together, and you are at a more
advanced stage of learning. What can you do to
continue learning while also helping your
roommate not to be discouraged?
 How would you feel if the situation was reversed,
and your roommate was more advanced than
you?
Models of Stages of Learning
 Fitts and Posner’s three-stage model
 Gentile’s two-stage model
Fitts and Posner’s
Three-Stage Model of Learning
Learner at the Cognitive Stage
 Introduced to a new motor skill
 Develops an understanding of the movement’s
requirements
 Attempts numerous techniques and strategies; a
trial-and-error approach
 Reformulates past movement experiences in an
effort to solve the current movement problem
 Needs guidance to detect and correct errors
Learner at the Associative Stage
 Is committed to refining one particular movement
pattern
 Performs more consistently, with fewer errors
 Is better at detecting errors and developing
strategies to eliminate them
 Needs constructive practice experiences and
effective feedback from practitioner
Learner at the Autonomous Stage
 Can perform a skill proficiently
 Can perform multiple tasks simultaneously
 Performs consistently and confidently, with few
errors
 Can detect and correct those errors that are made
 May become discouraged and unmotivated if
proficiency comes slowly
 Practitioner serves as motivator
Gentile’s Two-Stage Model of Learning
Getting the Idea of the Movement
 Learner’s goal:
 Develop an understanding of movement requirements
and the environment in which task is to be performed
 Organize a corresponding movement
 Instruction and practice should facilitate the
development of a basic movement pattern.
Fixation/Diversification Stage
 Learner’s goal: Refinement of the skill
 Fixation:
 Closed skills
 Example: Performing on a balance beam
 Diversification:
 Open skills
 Closed skills with inter-trial variability
 Example: Shooting a hockey puck from various angles
and positions; golf putting
Inferring Progress
Indicators That Learning Has Occurred
 Movement pattern
 Attention
 Knowledge and memory
 Error detection and correction
 Self-confidence
Improvements in Movement Pattern
 Increase in coordination and control
 More fluid muscle activity
 More efficient energy expenditure
 Increased consistency
Freezing and Freeing
the Degrees of Freedom
Paying Attention
 Attention to skill execution:
 As skill proficiency develops, the need to attend
consciously to each aspect of the movement
decreases—and performance becomes virtually
automatic.
 Allocation of visual attention:
 Skilled performers direct attention to relevant areas.
 Beginners have difficulty discriminating between
relevant and irrelevant cues.
Measuring Progress
 Performance curves:
 Negatively accelerating curve
 Positively accelerating curve
 Linear curve
 S-shaped curve
 Retention tests
 Transfer tests
Types of Performance Curves
Limitations of Performance Curves
 Represent temporary effects and cannot establish
relative permanence.
 Constructed from measurements that are often
obtained by calculating the mean of several trials.
 Each trial could be very different.
Performance Plateaus
 Period of time during the learning process in which
no obvious changes in performance occur.
 May be a transitional period in the learning process.
 Not necessarily an indication that learner has stopped
learning.
 Possible reasons:
 Fatigue, anxiety, lack of motivation
 Limitations in type of performance measurement being
used
Your Perspective
 If and when you hit a plateau in your ability to
learn a new skill, how do you handle it? What do
you do to overcome anxiety or gain new
motivation?
 How would you help someone else overcome
his/her performance plateau?