Teaching an Adolescent to Throw a Baseball with Non-Dominant Hand

Rachel Donaldson

EXSC 351-001

March 1, 2019

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1.) Motor Skill and Learner

Jake is a normal 12-year-old boy with no prior baseball experience who has a

goal of learning how to throw a baseball with his non-dominant, left hand. Jake’s father

believes if he learns to throw a baseball left-handed he will be more recruitable as a left-

handed pitcher when he is older. Jake has decided to go to a baseball skills clinic for

novices to learn the proper techniques for throwing a baseball left-handed. According to

Shumway-Cook & Woollacott (2007) and the Gentile’s Learning Stage Theory, Jake is

in the Idea of Movement stage because he is learning to understand the goal of the task

and figuring out the best movements to achieve goals. Jake will practice throwing a

baseball at the skills clinic with his left hand at a stationary target. According to

Edward’s (2010) and the Gentile’s 2-Dimensional taxonomy, this skill will be classified

as a closed motor skill because the regulatory conditions are stable, there is no relative

change in the environment, and the timing of the action is under Jake’s control. This skill

is also classified as quasi-mobile with object manipulation since he is stepping forward

to throw and a ball is being manipulated during the skilled performance.

2.) Content of AFB

Knowledge of Results (KR) and Knowledge of Performance (KP) are both

features of augmented feedback that can be used to pass information from the

instructor to the learner regarding aspects of performance. KR provides augmented

feedback on what the outcome of the motor skill was while KP provides augmented

feedback on how the motor skill was performed.

Sharma et al. (2016) conducted a study that compared the effectiveness of KR

and KP in the learning of a skilled motor activity by healthy young adults. The purpose

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of the study was to test if KR or KP was most effective for teaching this motor skill. The

study recruited 30 healthy young adults in physical therapy school. The subjects

consisted of males and females between the ages of 18 to 25 years. The subjects were

randomly assigned to 1 of the 2 groups and given a task to throw a soft spongy ball as

far as possible with the non-dominant arm. All of the subjects practiced throwing a soft

spongy ball for 6 days a week for 4 weeks. The subjects threw the ball 40 times each

day in 10 trial increments. The first group received KR feedback while the other

received KP feedback. The independent variable was the type of feedback each group

received while the throwing distances of the participants was the dependent variable.

The results of the study found that both groups improved their throwing distance,

however, the group that received KP feedback showed greater improvement than those

that received KR feedback. The subjects in the study are similar to the learner, Jake, as

they could all be classified as being in Gentile’s Idea of Movement stage according to

the Gentile’s Learning Stage Theory from Shumway-Cook & Woollacott (2007). The

study is also similar to Jake’s motor skill because according to Edwards (2010),

throwing a soft spongy ball and throwing a baseball in a skills clinic are both closed

motor skills, with a quasi-mobile body and object manipulation. Having the same learner

and skill classifications are strengths that provide convincing evidence that KP feedback

will work best to teach Jake how to throw a baseball with his left hand.

I will implement KP as my form of augmented feedback to teach Jake how to

throw a baseball with his left hand since the study proved that KP feedback will provide

the best results for this classification of learner and skill. I will provide KP feedback to

Jake in the form of verbal cues and videotape replays of his performance. For example,

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I will tell Jake that he “forgot to step with his right foot” when he incorrectly steps with his

left and that he “did not follow through” when he fails to follow through with his left arm. I

will also show Jake a video replay of himself throwing the baseball that shows him

dropping his elbow when he incorrectly drops his elbow.

3.) Microstructure of Practice

The microstructure of a practice can be divided into two types: blocked practice

and random/variable practice. Blocked practice involves repetitively practicing a skill to

completion before moving to another skill or variation. Random/variable practice

involves practicing a skill in a random or variable order during practice including a

mixing of skills and frequent changes to the task.

Horbacewicz, J. (2018) conducted a study that compared the effects of a blocked

practice structure to a random practice structure. The purpose of this study was to

examine which practice organization produced greater learning of manual force

production. Fifty-two physical therapy students with a mean age of 24.5 years

participated in the study. All of the participants were novices and had not yet taken a

manual techniques course. The participants were randomly assigned to either a blocked

or random practice group. The participants were instructed to apply two levels of force

to a board that calculated the amount of force produced. The practice consisted of 30

trials at each force level. The independent variable of this study was the practice

microstructure, blocked or random. The dependent variable was the measure of force

produced to a target area with the medial board of the hand. The main result of the

study revealed that a blocked practice schedule produced fewer errors than a random

practice schedule for novice physical therapy students learning to apply manual force

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both immediately after the practice session and at retention testing one week later. This

study is relevant to Jake because according to Shumway-Cook & Woollacott (2007), the

subjects in the study can be classified in the same Idea of Movement stage as Jake

since they had no prior experience performing the task and were still learning to

understand the difference between motor actions and their outcomes. The study is also

applicable to Jake’s motor skill because according to Edwards (2010), both skills can be

classified as being closed with object manipulation. The skill in the study, however, is

stationary and not quasi-mobile as in Jake’s case. The similar learner and skills

classifications are a strength of the study, which suggests that the results from the study

should be applicable to teaching Jake how to throw a baseball left-handed. However,

since the study used a stationary skill instead of a quasi-mobile one, the evidence may

not be completely applicable to Jake.

I will use a blocked practice schedule to teach Jake to throw a ball left-handed

because the study proved that blocked practice produced fewer errors than a random

practice schedule both initially and during long term retention testing. I will implement

blocked practice by having Jake throw a baseball repetitively at three different stations

focusing on distance, speed, and accuracy. The three variants I will use in the practice

session will be to have Jake: 1) throw the baseball repetitively from 20.5 feet, 40.5 feet,

and then 60.5 feet to work up to pitching distance 2) throw the baseball repetitively from

60.5 ft to measure his pitching speed each time and 3) throw the baseball at a target

repetitively to work on pitching accuracy. At this station the target will also be placed

from 20.5 feet, 40.5 feet, and finally 60.5 feet.

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 References

Edwards, William H. (2010). Motor learning and control: From theory to practice.

Retrieved from Google Books: https://books.google.com

Horbacewicz, J.(2018). Effect of blocked versus random practice on physical therapy

students’ manual force modulation. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 125(6), 1173-

1185. Retreived from

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0031512518797845?

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xutu9T1woiFJq7FYjHmd8sZzc4cTPPmN_Fhu3gTvc-GAPfYnqIul5L-

TNGsz8IudtY

Sharma, D. A., Chevidikunnan, M. F., Khan, F. R., & Gaowgzeh R. A. (2016).

Effectiveness of knowledge of result and knowledge of performance in the

learning of a skilled motor activity by healthy young adults. Journal of Physical

Therapy Science, 28(5), 1482-1486. Retreived from

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4905894/

Shumway-Cook, A., & Woollacott, M. H. (2007). Motor Control: Translating research

into clinical practice. Retrieved from Google Books: https://books.google.com