Overview
This lecture explains the four main types of practice in skill learning—part, whole, whole-part-whole, and progressive part practice—highlighting their methods, strengths, and weaknesses.
Part Practice
- Skill is broken down into subroutines, each practiced separately.
- Best for low organization and complex skills with many decisions or perceptual demands.
- Useful for fine-tuning detailed aspects, such as technique adjustments.
- Weaknesses include lack of overall kinesthetic (body movement) sense and possible confusion for learners.
- Very time-consuming due to needing to work on each part.
- Involves far transfer, meaning practice conditions differ from real-life performance.
Whole Practice
- The skill is practiced in its entirety without breakdown.
- Suited for high-organization skills that can't be separated into parts.
- Develops correct kinesthetic sense and overall understanding.
- Closer to real-life performance (near transfer) and helps fluency and timing.
- Good for ballistic (explosive) and discrete (clear start/end) skills.
- Drawbacks: difficult for beginners and young learners, hard to isolate errors, can be unsafe or impractical for complex or risky skills.
Whole-Part-Whole Practice
- Practice skill as a whole, then isolate and improve errors in parts, and finally recombine for whole practice.
- Combines strengths of both part and whole practice.
- Excellent for error detection and detailed understanding.
- Benefits experienced (autonomous) learners and works well for serial skills.
- Drawbacks: time-consuming, not practical for groups or beginners.
Progressive Part Practice (Chaining)
- Start by isolating and practicing the first part, then the next, then combine practiced parts sequentially.
- Effective for serial skills and routines (e.g., gymnastics, swimming strokes).
- Builds strong connections between skill components.
- Drawbacks: time-consuming, no full kinesthetic sense until all parts are practiced together.
- Not suitable for discrete, continuous, or high-organization skills.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Part Practice — Breaking a skill into components and practicing each separately.
- Whole Practice — Practicing the entire skill in one go.
- Whole-Part-Whole Practice — Practicing the whole skill, then parts, then whole again to correct errors.
- Progressive Part Practice (Chaining) — Practicing parts singly and then joining them together sequentially.
- Kinesthetic Sense — Awareness of body position and movement.
- Transfer (Near/Far) — How closely practice resembles actual performance (near = similar, far = different).
- Serial Skill — Skill made up of a sequence of smaller movements.
- Discrete Skill — Skill with a clear beginning and end.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Review examples of each practice type and identify suitable sports/skills for each.
- Prepare to apply evaluative points on strengths and weaknesses in exam responses.