Growing up as an individual that has competed in several different sporting arenas, I was surrounded by coaches with different philosophies, methods and approaches to motivating me as an athlete. I had one coach in particular that was able to instill a sense of drive, determination, and confidence in my ability to learn new skills, take on challenges, and reach my goals. How were they able to inflame that desire to become my best every single day? In this post I will reflect on readings describing theories of learning, and motivation, relating to my own personal experience. Based on my understanding of the article, the behaviorist teaching method focuses on the idea that learning is a result of stimulus and response. This approach emphasizes the use of rewards and positive reinforcement to shape behavior. For instance, a teacher rewards a student with a sticker for completing their homework on time. In the sporting arena, my coach had adopted this same strategy in the form of extrinsic motivation. By creating incentives for us to reach our goals this method was made evident. For example, the ability to be promoted to team captain. Or negatively, threatening to bench a player, or have them dropped from the team. The cognitivist teaching method focuses on the idea that learning is a result of mental process. This method emphasizes the use of problem-solving and critical thinking to help students learn. Such as, a teacher having students work in groups to solve a complex problem. Therefore, the cognitive coaching process focuses on identifying an athlete’s goals, strengths, and development needs, and planning to meet those needs through structured learning practices. In my own experience, I’ve found that I’m intrinsically motivated, and driven by the desire to learn and develop new skills. The need to feel efficient and develop meaningful relations with others on the team was imperative to my learning process. I now understand that the working environment is key to making a team or student a happy and motivated one. In athletics, this starts when a player shows up for a training session, they should feel a surge of energy hit them. My coach was able to identify these needs and foster an environment that allowed for this learning style to be met. Lastly, the constructivist teaching method focuses on the idea that learning is a result of knowledge from past experiences. This method creates situations in which the students will question their own understanding and builds on what they already know. The constructivists’ position asserts that the transfer of learning occurs through practice, knowledge, and concept. An example of this would be allowing students to teach one another. Learners then pose their own questions and seek answers to these questions through research and direct observation.
eryn
Hi Brayden, I found it really interesting to read about the learning theories from a different perspective. Specifically, I enjoyed that you used examples of learning in an athletic scenario rather than academic. This view was not something I even considered before reading your post, so thank you for sharing! I also found it intriguing how you talked about the importance of environmental factors for keeping learners motivated and driven to take on learning for themselves. I enjoyed your post, so thank you for the interesting perspective!
Anastassiya
Hi Brayden! Thank you for sharing your understanding of learning theories based on your learning as an athlete! What an exciting experience! Behaviourism strategies like reward/punishment and drill/practice work very well in sports. What do you think would be an example of a constructivist approach in relation to sports?