involve physical skills. Psychomotor learning requires the use of muscular
movement. Psychomotor tasks are skills that teach new muscular movements.
There are different categories of psychomotor skills. The following are
some of those categories.
consist of a single step or a few steps and have distinct task-determined
beginnings and endings.
beginning and ending points are more subtle and are performer-determined.
are performed without active influence from the environment.
Open Skills: Skills
that are usd when the environment causes the performer to make continuous
Person and object
that can be performed at rest or in motion.
There are two characteristics
that distinguish skilled behavior from other activities. Skilled behavior
employs executive subroutines to control decisions and supply coordinate
skills in a hierarchical organization or plan. Skilled behaviors also
employ temporal patterning of skills to integrate the sequence of performance
Here are some ways
that instruction events can be adapted when psychomotor skills.
gain a student's attention the instructor will need to actively and
explicitly direct the students attention to the learning task. They
should also make the learner aware of how learning the skill will benefit
purpose can be established by the instructor stating the purpose or
by the instructor demonstrating the skill.
arouse the student's attention show how the skill will fit into later
the preview of the lesson the instructor should tell what will be learned
and how the lesson will proceed.
activate prior knowledge, instructors should build upon previously learned
The process of information can be accomplished through the explanation
and demonstration of the skills.
focus of attention can be accomplished using characteristics of the
explanation or the demonstration. During the explanation or demonstration
of the skill the instructor should make sure to place importance on
the important steps of the skill.
that teachers can suggest to assist learners could be visualization
strategies, a mnemonic strategies or oral rehearsal strategies.
are different types of practice that can take place during stage. An
instructor can choose between massed practice where the learner engages
in one or few intensive extended period of practice with little or no
rest in between or spaced practice where short practice sessions are
distributed overtime. The instructor also has to choose whether to practice
the entire skill at one time or practice separate parts of the skill
before assembling the parts into a whole. The type of practice used
depends on the complexity of the skill and the ability of learners.
can come in the forms of internal or external feedback. Internal feedback
comes from the learners senses and external feedback comes in the form
of comments from the instructor. Both of these types tell the learner
how they performed the skill and give them clues to how to improve their
performance of the skill.
cognitive portion of psychomotor skills can be assessed using methods
described during the previous strategies but the motor portion must
be assessed in a different manner. The motor portion of the skill is
usually assessed by having the learners demonstrate the skill.
summary and review should include a recap of the main points of the
transfer of knowledge is accomplished by additional practice accompanied
by guidance and feedback.
remotivate and close the lesson, instructors need to remind learners
how they can apply the skill in the future.
the evaluation of feedback and remediation stage the learner processes
how well they can perform the skill and then takes action to improve
the skill if they are having trouble performing the skill or perfect
the skill if he is able to to perform the skill.
To show an example
of how a lesson teaching a psychomotor skill might be taught. I have provided
a lesson that teaches a psychomotor skill.
students will correctly demonstrate a chest pass and a bounce pass.
gain student attention and arouse interest tell the students that they
are continuing their unit on basketball and that this lesson is going
to focus on passing skills.
establish the instructional purpose tell them that today they will be
learning two types of passes the chest pass and the bounce pass and
demonstrate each pass.
arouse the students attention show how these skills can be used during
a basketball game.
preview lesson tell the students that they are going to learn learn
to perform each of these skills and that they will playing some games
to practice these skills.
activate prior knowledge have the students practice dribbling the ball
and throwing the ball to one another.
process the information go through the steps of each pass.
Pass Cues (bend, extend, release):
Thumbs against chest -- elbows bent and out.
Step toward the target.
Extend arms -- fully release ball to target.
Thumbs should now be pointed down.
Spread fingers along the sides of the ball.
Start the ball at chest level.
Keep knees bent.
Release the ball by extending arms downwards.
Upon release, turn palms outward toward floor.
Ball should contact ground two-thirds of the way to the receiving player.
sure that the position of the hands and how the ball is released is
stressed during the focus of attention.
practice the skills have the students get in pairs and pass to one another
for about ten minutes and then split the class into groups and have
the class take part in passing relays.
feedback by telling the students if they are correctly executing the
passes or by offering suggestions on how to improve their passing.
summarize and review the lesson ask the students questions about the
skill like where their hands should be on the ball, where should the
ball bounce during the bounce pass, and what should they make sure their
partner is doing before passing the ball.
remotivate and close the lesson remind students how these skills can
be used in a basketball game.
assess the skills have the students demonstrate the passes for you and
have them tell you the steps that have to be completed when performing
each of these steps. You should also have the students determine if
they are performing the skill correctly and determine what they can
do to improve their performance.