Course Catalogue

Module Title: Motor Learning and Skill Acquisition  

Module Code: MLS101 

Programme Title: Bachelor of Sports and Health Sciences

Credit Value: 12 credits 

 

General Objectives

The module would enable students to examine and understand how interactions of the developing and maturing individual happens with the environment, and the tasks that bring changes in a person’s movements. The practical sessions related to the module would sharpen observation techniques, critical thinking through interactive questions and lab-based activities. The module also provides a wide range of contemporary developments with regard to growth, development, and motor skill acquisition to keep pace with the changing field.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this module the students will be able to:

  1. Discuss the constraints-led model.
  2. Describe how development occurs over lifespan.
  3. Explain how various theories describe changes in motor behaviour.
  4. Outline the principles of motion and stability that lead to proficient motor performance.
  5. Illustrate typical patterns of growth to recognize individual differences.  
  6. Discuss the external factors that influence the changes in the growth patterns.
  7. Examine postural development and balance in children.
  8. Differentiate individual constraints that affect development of locomotor patterns.
  9. Identify the developmental changes in the execution of manipulative skills.
  10. Review historical perspectives on the role of action in perceptual development.
  11. Define the role of specific social agents, such as parents and schools, on individual development.
  12. Examine the body’s response to short-term and long-term rigorous exercises.
  13. Develop a framework for charting constraints to enhance developmentally appropriate teaching.

Assessment Approach

Assessment mode

Quantity

Weighting

Assignments 

2

20%

Class Tests

1

5%

Lab work

1

10%

Class participation 

 

5%

Midterm Examination

1

10%

Total Continuous Assessment (CA)

 

50%

Summative Assessment (2.5 Hours written examination) 

1

50%

 

 

 

 

 

Subject Matter

Session (Hours)

Topics

Teaching & Learning Strategies

Mode of Assessment

1(10 Hrs)

 
  1. Unit I. Fundamental Concepts
    1. Defining Motor Development
    2. Constraints: A model for studying motor development
    3. How do we know it is a change?
    4. A developmental paradox: Universality Versus Variability

Lecture 

Presentation

Videos

self-study

Assignment

2(5 Hrs)
  1. Unit II. Theoretical Perspectives in Motor Development
    1. Maturational perspective
    2. Information processing perspective
    3. Ecological perspective
    4. Current interests

Lecture 

Presentation

Videos

self-study  

Class test

3(10 Hrs)
  1. Unit III. Principles of Motion and Stability
    1. Understanding the principles of motion and stability
    2. Using the principles of motion and stability to Detect and correct error part
    3. Development of motor skills across the lifespan

Lecture 

Presentation

Videos

Demonstration 

self-study  

Assignment

4(10 Hrs)
  1. Unit IV. Early Motor Development
    1. How do infants move?
    2. Why do infants move?
    3. The purpose of reflexes motor milestones: The pathway to voluntary movements
    4. Development of postural control and balance in infancy

Lecture 

Presentation

Videos

Demonstration 

self-study  

Mid-term examination

5(15 Hrs)
  1. Unit V. Development of Human Locomotion
    1. First voluntary locomotor efforts: Creeping and crawling
    2. Walking across the lifespan
    3. Running across the lifespan
    4. Other locomotor skills
    5. Development of ballistic skills
      1. Overarm throwing
      2. Kicking punting
      3. Sidearm striking
      4. Overarm striking
      5. Interventions

Lecture 

Presentation

Videos

Demonstration 

self-study  

 

Assignment and class presentation

6(10 Hrs)
  1. Unit VI. Development of Manipulative Skills
    1. Grasping and Reaching
    2. Catching anticipation
    3. Physical Growth, Maturation and Aging
    4. Prenatal development
    5. Postnatal development - childhood and adolescence
    6. Development of physical fitness (Review from Fitness and wellness)

Lecture 

Presentation

Videos

Demonstration 

self-study  

 

Class test

7(10 Hrs)
  1. Unit VII. Physical and physiological Endurance
    1. Physiological responses to short-term exercise
    2. Physiological responses to prolonged exercise
    3. Development of Strength and Flexibility
      1. Muscle mass and strength
      2. Development of flexibility

Lecture 

Presentation

Videos

Demonstration 

self-study  

Exercise lab

Field work

Lab presentation

8(10 Hrs)
  1. Unit VIII. Weight Status, Fitness, and Motor Competence
    1. Obesity
    2. Motor competence, activity, fitness, and body composition
    3. Sensory-Perceptual Development: sensory, auditory and kinesthetic
    4. Postural control and balance

Lecture 

Presentation

Videos

Demonstration 

self-study  

 

9(10 Hrs)
  1. Unit IX. Social and Cultural Constraints in Motor Development
    1. Social and cultural influences as environmental constraints
    2. Other sociocultural constraints: Race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status
    3. Psychosocial Constraints in Motor Development
    4. Self-esteem: The link between perceived and actual motor competency motivation, summary and synthesis

Lecture 

Presentation

self-study   

Assignment

Class Discussion

Group work and Presentation

10(45 Hrs)
  1. Lab Demonstration (for relevant topics listed above)

Lab practice

Demonstration and viva-voce

Reading List

Mandatory Reading:

Haywood, K., & Getchell, N. (2020). Lifespan motor development (7th ed.). Human Kinetics.

 

Supplementary Readings:

Goodway, J., Ozmun, J. C., & Gallahue, D. L. (2021). Understanding motor development: Infants, children, adolescents, adults (8th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning

Payne, V. G., & Isaacs, L. D. (2020). Human motor development: A lifespan approach. Routledge
Royal Thimphu College