Nonlinear Pedagogy Research Articles

Nonlinear Learning Underpinning Pedagogy: Evidence, Challenges, and Implications

This article provides a brief overview of the framework of nonlinear pedagogy and evidence emanating from motor learning literature that underpins a nonlinear pedagogical approach. In addition, challenges for nonlinear pedagogy and a discussion on how nonlinear pedagogy support the work of physical education (PE) teachers will be shared. Evidence from the increasing volume of work on nonlinear learning from motor learning literature is used to suggest how acquisition of movement skills is supported by nonlinearity. The emergence of goal-directed behaviors is a consequence of the performer, environmental, and task constraints. With a nonlinear pedagogy approach, the focus is on the individual learner where opportunities for meaningful actions can be learnt. Design principles based on representativeness, focus of attention, functional variability, manipulation of constraints, and ensuring relevant information-movement couplings can be delivered via pedagogical channels of instructions, practices, and feedback to the learners. Importantly, this focus on the individual sets the foundation for a developing nonlinear pedagogy framework to enhance teaching in PE although the challenges are non-trivial.

Variations in acculturation and Australian physical education teacher education students' receptiveness to an alternative pedagogical approach to games teaching

Background: The development of intelligent, thinking performers as a central theme in physical education curriculum documents worldwide has highlighted the need for an evolution of teaching styles from the dominant reproductive approach. This has prompted an Australian university to change the content and delivery of a games unit within their physical education teacher education (PETE) course and adopt a productive student-centred approach that is compatible with current curriculum directives. The significance of prospective physical educators' biographies on their receptiveness to this pedagogical innovation was studied.Purpose: To investigate whether past school and sporting experiences are powerful influences on Australian PETE recruits' initial perspectives about effective physical education teaching practice and their receptiveness to an alternative pedagogical approach.Participants and setting: A total of 49 first year pre-service PETE students volunteered to take part in the study and were grouped according to their highest level of representation in games, either school/club, regional, or state/national. Students experienced the constraints-led approach during an eight-week games unit informed by nonlinear pedagogy and underpinned by motor learning theory.Data collection and Analysis: Prior to the commencement of the unit, participants completed a mixed response questionnaire aimed at gathering data about their physical education and sporting background. The data were summarised using descriptive statistics. Before and after taking part in the games unit, participants also completed a questionnaire, responding with their opinion of the importance of each sub-component of the traditional, reproductive style for an effective games teaching session. This resulted in a ‘traditional reproductive games teaching’ belief score. For each sub-component, participants were invited to respond in more detail to justify their opinions. A one-way between-groups analysis of variance, Tukey's HSD Post Hoc Test and a two-tailed, paired-samples t-test were used to analyse the quantitative data. Content analysis was used to analyse the qualitative data.Findings: The traditional, reproductive approach was the most frequently reported teaching approach used by the physical education teachers and sports coaches of participants in all groups. Prior to the commencement of the alternative games unit, participants in each representative level group held very strong beliefs in this reproductive approach, responding that an effective games teaching session should consist of a visual demonstration of the ‘ideal’ performance model, repetitive practice of the model using isolated drills with corrective feedback by the teacher, before the playing of the actual game. After experiencing the alternative games unit, there were statistically significant differences in the traditional reproductive games teaching belief mean scores for each group. This combined with participants' qualitative responses indicated receptiveness to the alternative pedagogy.Conclusions: The results of this present study show that, contrary to the mixed success found in previous research undertaken in North America, in Australia, we found strong evidence to show that it is possible for PETE educators to change beliefs in order to overcome the constraint of acculturation. Participation in the alternative games unit provided PETE students with the knowledge, understanding and belief in an alternative approach to teaching games compatible with curriculum documents.

Complex and nonlinear pedagogy and the implications for physical education

There is increasing support to describe and examine the teaching of game skills in physical education from a complex and nonlinear perspective. The emergence of game behaviours as a consequence of the dynamic interactions of the learner, the game environment and the task constraints within the game context highlights the nonlinear and complex nature of how learning of game skills can occur. While there is increasing recognition that teaching and learning should be seen from a complex and nonlinear perspective, the challenge is to provide teachers with ideas on how to deliver lessons and activities that are underpinned by specific pedagogical practices from this perspective and in alignment with emerging curricular guidelines. In this paper, key features of complex and nonlinear pedagogy are discussed and exemplified through a Singaporean PE context. Practical implications are shared on how lessons/activities (soccer) based on aspects of complex and nonlinear pedagogy can be delivered in the school.

Nonlinear Pedagogy Underpins Intrinsic Motivation in Sports Coaching

A key challenge for sports coaches is to provide performers with learning environments that result in sustain-able motivation. In this paper, we will demonstrate that programmes based around the principles of Nonlinear Pedagogy can support the three basic psychological needs that underpin self-determined motivation. Coaches can therefore ensure that practice sessions provide for intrinsic motivation with its associated motivational and emotional benefits.

Sport Performance as a Domain of Creative Problem Solving for Self-Organizing Performer-Environment Systems

In this paper we discuss the role of nonlinear pedagogy in explaining and facilitating creative behaviors within the sport performance context. Some research results are also highlighted as examples of creative problem solving within sports such as martial arts and rugby union. Within the framework of nonlinear pedagogy, creative behaviors may occur as a consequence of a specific constellation of interacting constraints that impinge on the performer-environment system. The relaxation of constraints enhances the potential for exploratory behavior and enables greater fluency and flexibility, increasing the probability of discovering atypical functional solutions to a task goal. In the example of team games, we highlight that critical values of interpersonal distance in attacker-defender dyads define a region that affords high metasta- bility and reorganization of dyad actions. Here idiosyncratic performance solutions are created by immediate constraints of the system. Also, the performance context offered by the team is of utmost importance for creating possibilities for ac- tion at an individual level. In general we emphasize that analysis of the performer-environment system can provide a full account of the emergence of creative behaviors in sport performance contexts.

Constraints-led Approach and Emergent Learning: Using Complexity Thinking to Frame Collectives in Creative Dance and Inventing Games as Learning Systems

This paper will describe complexity theory as framing an emergent learning process. This process will be con-nected to a constraint-led approach to skill learning and a non-linear pedagogy perspective in physical education[1]. Often traditional and common sense notions of learning are framed as a correspondence process focused on acquiring or accu-mulating information such as repetition of technical cues in PE to do a skill in an activity. In this paper I will elaborate on a broader conception of learning systems, shifting concepts of learning from correspondence to coherence theories of knowing, where learning is described as an emergent process. By way of examples, this paper will discuss how pedagogi-cal approaches associated with creative dance [2] and inventing games [3]can form complex learning systems that can be understood using complexity thinking.

‘How does TGfU work?’: examining the relationship between learning design in TGfU and a nonlinear pedagogy

Background: In the last few decades, conceptions about teaching and learning in physical education have evolved from a teacher-centred approach to a more student-centred approach where learners are encouraged to develop problem-solving skills, critical thinking and autonomy of thought. A popular model advocating this approach in physical education, Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU), has attracted widespread attention. Although advocates of TGfU have provided some empirical and anecdotal evidence to support the ‘tactical over technical approach’ to games teaching, recent work has highlighted that to date, the question ‘Does TGfU work?’ has remained largely unanswered. Therefore, there is a need to research the intuitive assumptions about how students learn to play games and to understand how the TGfU approach might work for games teaching and learning. Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide insights to further our understanding of the possible processes underpinning the pedagogical principles of TGfU in games teaching. In this regard, we outline how a Nonlinear Pedagogy approach could provide a theoretical rationale to explain how the principles of TGfU might support learning design for games teaching. To achieve this aim, we examined the viability of the four key pedagogical principles of the TGfU model and highlighted the theoretical and practical implications of Nonlinear Pedagogy, considered with some empirical evidence from the motor learning literature. Findings: The theoretical ideas emanating from an ecological dynamics perspective, such as constraints manipulation, importance of maintaining information-movement coupling and harnessing movement variability, can underpin a Nonlinear Pedagogy approach. It has been proposed that research evidence from the motor learning literature can provide a suitable theoretical grounding to support the viability of the four main pedagogical principles of the TGfU model (i.e., sampling, tactical complexity, representation and exaggeration) and can contribute insights to the possible processes of TGfU in games teaching. Summary: A Nonlinear Pedagogy approach has the potential to provide researchers and physical educators with an understanding of the theoretical and practical work on TGfU, in association with its pedagogical principles. Understanding the underlying processes linked to the key pedagogical principles in learning design is critical for addressing pedagogy and curriculum concerns in physical education to enhance student learning. The ideas raised in this paper provided some rationale for the efficacy of the model, and also a platform for researchers and practitioners to more effectively engage students using the TGfU model.

How Elite Coaches' Experiential Knowledge Might Enhance Empirical Research on Sport Performance

In sport science, much research has been aimed at developing empirical knowledge of performance and practice. While this body of work has led to significant advances in understanding, one source of information that has been under-represented is the analysis of experiential knowledge of highlevel athletes and coaches. Using the run-up task in sport as an exemplar, we were interested in understanding the relationship between the experiential knowledge of elite coaches and empirical research findings to ascertain how a combination of these knowledge sources might enrich understanding of sport performance. For this purpose, fifteen interviews were conducted with elite coaches from three sports; track and field, gymnastics, and cricket. The qualitative data showed elite coaches intuitively expressed ideas consistent with recent scientific research in their design of training and learning programs. Key ideas expressed included perception-action coupling, the effects of interacting constraints on performance, and an approach to practice which was consistent with insights from nonlinear pedagogy. The data revealed how experiential knowledge of elite coaches might be used to support and enhance empirical research processes. Specific examples include providing direction for future research, assisting in the representative design of empirical research, and highlighting limitations of some empirical research protocols and findings. The coaches' comments suggested a need for more systematic and sustained efforts to explore how experiential knowledge might enrich understanding of sport performance.

Princípios Pedagógicos dos Teaching Games for Understanding e da Pedagogia Não-Linear no Ensino da Educação Física

Os modelos de ensino ecológicos na Educação Física distingue-se pela sua pertinência no sentido de centrar o ensino no aluno. Especificamente, os Teaching Games for Understanding e a Pedagogia Não-Linear são modelos que possibilitam um processo pedagógico baseado na dinâmica intrínseca dos jogos desportivos, destacando-se pela sua pertinência para o desenvolvimento do conhecimento tático declarativo e processual dos alunos. No entanto, como modelos recentes necessitam de ser devidamente compreendidos e orientados no sentido de resultaram proficuamente na intervenção didática. Nesse sentido o presente artigo procura desenvolver os princípios pedagógicos que baseiam os modelos: i) a seleção do tipo de jogo; ii) a modificação do jogo por representação; iii) a modificação por exagero; e iv) o ajustamento da complexidade tática. Em suma, procurar-se-á definir os princípios basilares que deverão sustentar a intervenção didática do professor de Educação Física, aquando dos modelos ecológicos de ensino.

Learning opportunities in 3 on 3 versus 5 on 5 basketball game play : an application of nonlinear pedagogy

This study investigates the differential learning opportunities in 5 on 5 versus 3 on 3 basketball game play. Video-analysis of the game performance of thirty basketball players (10-11 years) resulted in significantly higher scores on all game performance components (GPC’s: cognitive decision making component (DM), motor skill execution efficiency (MSEfficiency) and motor skill execution efficacy (MSEfficacy) component), indicating more learning opportunities during 3 on 3 game play. The actual game performance level, showed only significantly higher scores for the percentage of positive decisions for cutting actions in the 5 on 5 condition. Future research is needed to indicate to what extent learning results are easier or faster attained when using small sided games, based on the nonlinear pedagogy framework, and second which is the optimal game play situation to assess game performance, and this for players of a different game performance level or for different stages.

Representative Learning Design and Functionality of Research and Practice in Sport

Egon Brunswik proposed the concept of "representative design" for psychological experimentation, which has historically been overlooked or confused with another of Brunswik's terms, ecological validity. In this article, we reiterate the distinction between these two important concepts and highlight the relevance of the term representative design for sports psychology, practice, and experimental design. We draw links with ideas on learning design in the constraints-led approach to motor learning and nonlinear pedagogy. We propose the adoption of a new term, representative learning design, to help sport scientists, experimental psychologists, and pedagogues recognize the potential application of Brunswik's original concepts, and to ensure functionality and action fidelity in training and learning environments.

Nonlinear pedagogy: Learning design for self-organizing neurobiological systems

In this paper, key concepts in ecological psychology and nonlinear dynamics exemplify how learning design can be shaped by ideas of self-organization, meta-stability and self-organized criticality in complex neurobiological systems. Through interactions with specific ecological constraints in learning environments, cognition, decision making and action emerge. An important design strategy is the use of different types of noise to channel the learning process into meta-stable regions of the “learner–learning environment” system to encourage adaptive behaviors. Here learners can be exposed to many functional and creative performance solutions during training. Data from studies in the performance context of sports are used to illustrate how these theoretical ideas can underpin learning design. Based on these insights a nonlinear pedagogy is proposed in which the role of coaches or trainers alters from a more traditional, prescriptive stance to the mode of manipulating key interacting task constraints including information, space and equipment to facilitate learning.

A constraints-led perspective to understanding skill acquisition and game play: a basis for integration of motor learning theory and physical education praxis?

Background: In order to design appropriate environments for performance and learning of movement skills, physical educators need a sound theoretical model of the learner and of processes of learning. In physical education, this type of modelling informs the organisation of learning environments and effective and efficient use of practice time. An emerging theoretical framework in motor learning, relevant to physical education, advocates a constraints-led perspective for acquisition of movement skills and game play knowledge. This framework shows how physical educators could use task, performer and environmental constraints to channel acquisition of movement skills and decision-making behaviours in learners. From this viewpoint, learners generate specific movement solutions to satisfy the unique combination of constraints imposed on them, a process which can be harnessed during physical education lessons. Aims: In this paper the aim is to provide an overview of the motor learning approach emanating from the constraints-led perspective, and examine how it can substantiate a platform for a new pedagogical framework in physical education: nonlinear pedagogy. We aim to demonstrate that it is only through theoretically valid and objective empirical work of an applied nature that a conceptually sound nonlinear pedagogy model can continue to evolve and support research in physical education. We present some important implications for designing practices in games lessons, showing how a constraints-led perspective on motor learning could assist physical educators in understanding how to structure learning experiences for learners at different stages, with specific focus on understanding the design of games teaching programmes in physical education, using exemplars from Rugby Union and Cricket. Findings: Research evidence from recent studies examining movement models demonstrates that physical education teachers need a strong understanding of sport performance so that task constraints can be manipulated so that information–movement couplings are maintained in a learning environment that is representative of real performance situations. Physical educators should also understand that movement variability may not necessarily be detrimental to learning and could be an important phenomenon prior to the acquisition of a stable and functional movement pattern. We highlight how the nonlinear pedagogical approach is student-centred and empowers individuals to become active learners via a more hands-off approach to learning. Conclusions: A constraints-based perspective has the potential to provide physical educators with a framework for understanding how performer, task and environmental constraints shape each individual's physical education. Understanding the underlying neurobiological processes present in a constraints-led perspective to skill acquisition and game play can raise awareness of physical educators that teaching is a dynamic ‘art’ interwoven with the ‘science’ of motor learning theories.

Extended Book Review: Dynamics of Skill Acquisition: A Constraints-Led Approach

This is an upper-level undergraduate or graduate textbook for courses in human movement and skill acquisition. A professional reference for movement practitioners and scientists, including teachers, coaches, physical educators, physical therapists, rehabilitation specialists, sport scientists, psychologists, biomechanists, and physiologists. The book provides a comprehensive analysis of the evolution of the constraints-led perspective, a recognized theory in motor learning and control. It outlines the development of a conceptual model of coordination and control within a multidisciplinary framework, capturing the various interlocking scales of analysis (e.g., neural, behavioral, psychological) and the many subsystems (e.g., perceptual and movement) involved in producing behavior. A conceptual model of coordination and control is important not just for designing learning environments, but it is also important for ensuring that learners gain positive experiences when acquiring motor skills. Practitioners and students will appreciate the applied focus which outlines a model of human movement with specific constraints-led approach strategies that address skill acquisition across a variety of professions, including teaching, coaching, and rehabilitation. By learning both the theoretical origins and applications for implementing a constraints-led approach to movement skill acquisition, readers will gain insight into how the informed organization of learning and rehabilitation environments produces more effective and efficient use of practice and therapy time. Contents: Traditional theories of skill acquisition -- Physical constraints on coordination : dynamical systems theory -- Informational constraints on coordination : an ecological perspective -- Redefining learning : a constraints-led approach -- Understanding the dynamics of skill acquisition -- Dealing with individual differences : implications for a nonlinear pedagogy -- Organizing practice to optimize learning -- Using verbal guidance as an informational constraint on learners -- Observational learning as directed search -- Implementing the constraints-led approach: case studies.

The Role of Nonlinear Pedagogy in Physical Education

In physical education, the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) pedagogical strategy has attracted significant attention from theoreticians and educators for allowing the development of game education through a tactic-to-skill approach involving the use of modified games. However, some have proposed that as an educational framework, it lacks adequate theoretical grounding from a motor learning perspective to empirically augment its perceived effectiveness. The authors examine the literature base providing the theoretical underpinning for TGfU and explore the potential of a nonlinear pedagogical framework, based on dynamical systems theory, as a suitable explanation for TGfU’s effectiveness in physical education. Nonlinear pedagogy involves manipulating key task constraints on learners to facilitate the emergence of functional movement patterns and decision-making behaviors. The authors explain how interpreting motor learning processes from a nonlinear pedagogical framework can underpin the educational principles of TGfU and provide a theoretical rationale for guiding the implementation of learning progressions in physical education.