Motor Development and Motor Learning

Catalog description

Understanding how children and adolescents acquire motor skills and become a skillful movers requires an integration of knowledge from the fields of motor development and motor learning. Motor development focuses on the progressive age-related changes in motor behavior attributed to growth, development and maturation. Motor learning focuses on the relatively permanent changes in motor behavior brought about by practice and experience. The focus of motor development and motor learning each provides a unique aspect to understanding the motor behavior of the moving child and adolescent; however it is the relationship between the aspects that provide a rich understanding of how both acquire motor skills. Physical education teachers must be able to use motor development knowledge to design goals appropriate for the developmental stage and perceptual motor abilities of the learner; and use motor learning knowledge to design appropriate movement tasks and practice conditions for the type of skill.