Chapter 5
Stages of Learning
Key Talking Points
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According to Fitts and Posner, learners pass through three distinct stages:
1. Cognitive stage: development of basic movement pattern
2. Associative stage: refinement of movement pattern
3. Autonomous stage: performance of movement becomes virtually automatic
Gentile’s two-stage model emphasizes the goal of the learner and the influence of task
and environmental characteristics on that goal.
 Stage 1: getting the idea of the movement
 Stage 2: fixation (closed skills)/diversification (open skills)
To infer learning, the practitioner can assess numerous performance changes, including
changes in coordination and control, muscle activity, energy expenditure, consistency,
attentional focus, knowledge and memory, error detection and correction, and selfconfidence.
Progress can also be assessed through performance curves, retention tests, and transfer
tests.
Retention tests measure the persistence of improved skill performance.
Transfer tests measure the degree to which the learner can adapt the practiced skill to a
different performance situation.
A performance plateau is a period of time during the learning process in which no overt
changes in performance occur. Plateaus often represent transitional periods in the
learning process in which the integration of task components (and perhaps strategy) is
being resolved; they are not necessarily indicative of a cessation in the learning process.
Short Answer / Essay Questions
1.
Compare and contrast fixation and diversification.
2.
List four performance indicators that could be used to infer learning.
3.
Explain why highly skilled performers are able to recognize, predict, and respond to
performance situations more accurately than their less-skilled counterparts.
4.
Explain the limitations presented by performance curves.
5.
Compare and contrast retention and transfer tests.
Web Resources
The following website shows a short video featuring child pool-playing prodigy Landon
Shuffett.
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFl_vsJJG7A (Page 112)
 Key Words: Demonstration, Video, YouTube, Billiards
Exploration Activities
Stage of Learning Analysis
Note: These activities invite students to apply the Fitts and Posner model to sample
performances. (Page 115)
Task 1
Observe and compare the forearm pass performance for each individual at the following web
links:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkfDDtZMR_Q&feature=related
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFwltz8xAgE
Based on your observations, determine in which stage of learning each performer is, using Fitts
and Posner’s model, and list the specific behavioral characteristics that led you to your decision.
Task 2
Observe a youth sport competition/practice in a skill of your choice. Choose five individuals to
watch closely. Based on your observations, determine in which stage of learning each performer
is, using Fitts and Posner’s model, and list the specific behavioral characteristics that led you to
your decision.
Observation: Expert versus Novice Swimmers
Note: This activity invites students poolside to observe swimmers. (Page 121)
Visit a local swimming pool.
Questions:
1. Watch a beginning swimmer performing freestyle for several minutes. Describe his or her
technique. List the muscles that are involved in accomplishing this technique. Now watch
an individual who is more proficient at the freestyle stroke. Describe his or her technique.
Again, note the muscles involved in the performance.
2. What physical differences did you observe between the two learners’ execution of the
freestyle stroke?
Automatic Behaviors
Note: This activity is meant to show students that paying mind to a movement normally
performed automatically can impede performance of it. (Page 123)
Each able-bodied person has a walking pace that is natural for him- or herself. If able, determine your
natural pace by walking down a hallway several times.
Questions:
1. Describe what happened when you tried to determine your natural walking pace.
2. When a practitioner asks a patient to walk naturally across the clinic floor in order to evaluate his
or her gait, would you expect to see similar results? Give suggestions to help ensure an accurate
assessment.
Answers to Selected Cerebral Challenges
DISCLAIMER
Because all learning situations involve a dynamic relationship among the learner, the task, and
the environment, many responses will depend on the assumptions the respondent made when
answering the question. Consequently, the answers provided are merely examples of possible
responses and do not necessarily reflect all possibilities.
Cerebral Challenge 5.1
Create a chart with column headings as shown below. Choose a skill or task and generate a list of
practical tips practitioners could follow based on Fitts and Posner’s description of the behavioral
characteristics of the learner for their three-stage model.
Answer
Examples of general responses:
Cognitive
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Motivate learner
to want to learn
the skill
Provide verbal
instructions and
demonstrations
to help learners
gain a basic
understanding of
the skill.
Design practice
experiences for
initial motor
program
development
Provide
Autonomous
Associative
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Plan and
implement
appropriate
practice
opportunities
Teach visual
search strategies
Continue to
provide
feedback to
reinforce,
motivate and
correct
performance
Help athletes to
develop error
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Continue
planning
appropriate
practice
opportunities
Provide
feedback when
needed
Continue to
motivate learner
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feedback
regarding errors
and prescribe
corrections
Continue to
encourage
learner
detection and
correction
capabilities.
Cerebral Challenge 5.3
Determine which strategy—fixation (F) or diversification (D)—would be more appropriate for
practicing each of the following skills:
a. Free throw
b. Guarding (soccer, basketball, etc.)
c. Moving from sitting to standing position
d. Floor routine in gymnastics
e. Ascending and descending stairs
f. Diving
Answer
a. Fixation
b. Diversification
c. Diversification
d. Fixation
e. Diversification
f. Fixation (springboard competitor)
Cerebral Challenge 5.4
Create a chart with column heads as shown below. Choose a skill or task and generate a list of
practical tips practitioners could follow based on Gentile’s two-stage model of learning.
Answer
Examples of general responses:
Getting the idea of
the movement
Fixation
Diversification
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Clearly
communicate
goal of the task
through verbal
instructions and
demonstrations
Direct learners’
attention and
visual search
towards relevant
stimuli
Facilitate
learners’
development of
basic movement
pattern through
appropriate
practice design
Provide
feedback
regarding errors
and prescribe
corrections
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Design practices 
where regulatory
conditions are
fixed while also
subjecting
learners to a
variety of
potential nonregulatory cues
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Design practices
where variations
in regulatory
conditions that
simulate
possible
criterion
conditions
should be
systematically
introduced
Continue to
highlight those
features of the
environment that
are regulatory
and nonregulatory and
direct the
learner’s
attention and
visual search
toward those
stimuli that are
relevant.
Cerebral Challenge 5.6
Having just introduced a beginning soccer class to dribbling, the teacher designs a drill in which
the learners pair up and one dribbles to the other end of the field while avoiding the other person,
who tries to take away the ball. Will this be an effective drill? Justify your answer.
Answer
Based on the description, this is a beginning soccer class and they have just been introduced to
dribbling. Consequently, we can assume that the learners are in Fitts and Posner’s cognitive
stage. A characteristic of learners in this stage is that attentional demands are high and limited to
movement production. Consequently, difficulties will be apparent when learners are required to
time their movements in conjunction with an external object or event. Therefore, this is not an
effective drill for this group of learners.
Cerebral Challenge 5.8
List examples of declarative and procedural knowledge for a skill of your choice.
Answer
Declarative knowledge is information used to decide what to do in a given situation.
Procedural knowledge is information regarding skills, operations, and actions.
Skill is acting as a Volleyball Setter.
Examples of responses:
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Declarative Knowledge
Understanding
 when to call block or free ball
 when to pass over the net vs.
passing to set up an attack
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Procedural Knowledge
Demonstrating correct execution of a
overhead pass
Being able to critique another player’s
technique
Cerebral Challenge 5.9
Three learners were asked to practice juggling 10 minutes per day for 10 consecutive days. The
mean number of catches per day was calculated by dividing the total number of catches by the
number of trials. The mean number of catches per day for each learner is graphed below.
Categorize each participant’s performance curve based on the four patterns depicted
in Figure 5.5 (page 128).
What conclusions can you make based on the data presented?
1.
2.
4
Mean # of Catches
3.5
3
2.5
Participant 1
2
Participant 2
1.5
Participant 3
1
0.5
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Day
Answer
1.
Participant 1: S-shaped curve
Participant 2: Negatively accelerating curve
Participant 3: Linear curve
2.
Although the graphs of the three participants differ, they all have achieved the same
performance level by the 10th day. No conclusion can be made regarding learning.