The Learning Connection: The Role of Movement-skill Learning in Teaching Developmental Games

Abstract

This article addresses how to design developmental games that connect knowledge about motor development with motor learning. As evidenced in the SHAPE America National Standards and Grade-level Outcomes for K–12 Physical Education, understanding children's phases and stages of motor development is essential to designing developmentally appropriate content, and applying motor learning principles is critical to facilitating learning during the instructional process. The principles that govern the learning of movement skills address how the teacher designs the movement task (e.g., goal of the skill, practice strategy) and the learning environment (e.g., scaling equipment and conditions), provides appropriate feedback to meet the developmental needs of students, and sequences instruction to promote transfer of learning. The relationship between the phases and stages of motor development and the levels of motor skill learning is explained and illustrated in a four-part task progression. This task progression is then used to provide sample lesson vignettes that demonstrate how the principles of motor learning are applied within the instructional setting.