Role of Contextual Interference and Mental Engagement on Learning [1 ed.] 9781616686055, 9781616682088

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Copyright © 2010. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Role of Contextual Interference and Mental Engagement on Learning, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest

Copyright © 2010. Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated. All rights reserved. Role of Contextual Interference and Mental Engagement on Learning, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010. ProQuest

Perspectives on Cognitive Psychology

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ROLE OF CONTEXTUAL INTERFERENCE AND MENTAL ENGAGEMENT ON LEARNING

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PERSPECTIVES ON COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY Perspectives on Cognitive Psychology, Volume 1 Serge P. Shohov (Editor) 2002. 1-59033-361-6 Role of Contextual Interference and Mental Engagement on Learning Phillip D. Tomporowski, Bryan A. McCullick and Michael Horvat 2010. 978-1-61668-208-8

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Role of Contextual Interference and Mental Engagement on Learning Phillip D. Tomporowski, Bryan A. McCullick and Michael Horvat 2010. 978-1-61668-605-5

Role of Contextual Interference and Mental Engagement on Learning, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010.

Perspectives on Cognitive Psychology

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ROLE OF CONTEXTUAL INTERFERENCE AND MENTAL ENGAGEMENT ON LEARNING

PHILLIP D. TOMPOROWSKI BRYAN A. MCCULLICK AND

MICHAEL HORVAT

Nova Science Publishers, Inc. New York

Role of Contextual Interference and Mental Engagement on Learning, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010.

Copyright © 2010 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means: electronic, electrostatic, magnetic, tape, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the Publisher.

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For permission to use material from this book please contact us: Telephone 631-231-7269; Fax 631-231-8175 Web Site: http://www.novapublishers.com NOTICE TO THE READER The Publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this book, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability is assumed for incidental or consequential damages in connection with or arising out of information contained in this book. The Publisher shall not be liable for any special, consequential, or exemplary damages resulting, in whole or in part, from the readers‟ use of, or reliance upon, this material. Independent verification should be sought for any data, advice or recommendations contained in this book. In addition, no responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property arising from any methods, products, instructions, ideas or otherwise contained in this publication. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered herein. It is sold with the clear understanding that the Publisher is not engaged in rendering legal or any other professional services. If legal or any other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent person should be sought. FROM A DECLARATION OF PARTICIPANTS JOINTLY ADOPTED BY A COMMITTEE OF THE AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION AND A COMMITTEE OF PUBLISHERS. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

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CONTENTS

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Preface

vii

Chapter 1

Games and the Transfer of Knowledge

1

Chapter 2

Learning and Student Engagement

3

Chapter 3

Converging Evidence for the Role of Contextual Interference in Learning

9

Chapter 4

Physical Activity and Executive Function

15

Chapter 5

The Learning Curve and Mental Engagement

19

Chapter 6

Physical Activity Games: Connecting the Science to the Teaching of Physical Education

23

Physical Education Today: What Was Old Is New Again

27

Final Comments

41

Chapter 7 Chapter 8 References

43

Index

53

Role of Contextual Interference and Mental Engagement on Learning, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010.

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PREFACE Evidence obtained from several research areas has led to renewed interest in the possible association between games that are performed under conditions requiring moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and the emergence of children‟s executive function, which is the capacity to think before acting, the ability to retain information in mind, to reflect on the possible consequences of specific actions, and to self-regulate behavior. The goal of this book is threefold: first, to describe the phenomenon of Contextual Interference and how skill learning conditions influence the emergence and development of children‟s basic cognitive processes; second, to summarize findings obtained in several areas of research that link physical activity to mental functioning and academic performance; and third, to highlight the role that physical education can play in facilitating specific types of mental processes that are essential for children‟s successful goal-oriented behaviors. Games in which action requirements change unpredictably require mental engagement and executive functioning; subtle variations in practice routines are hypothesized to markedly influence how children learn associations between physical actions and their consequences. Examples of games designed to combine physical activity with mental challenges are provided, and special emphasis is placed on instructional conditions that address children‟s individual differences.

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Chapter 1

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GAMES AND THE TRANSFER OF KNOWLEDGE Over many millions of years, members of our genus, Homo, have evolved the capacity to adapt to an ever changing environment (Geary, 2005; Mithen, 1996; Tattersall, 1995). Advances in technology and research methods have allowed anthropologists to obtain an increasingly clearer understanding of the changes that have occurred from our earliest ancestors to modern humankind. The analyses of factors that have shaped our species‟ physical characteristics have long been of interest to anthropologists. More recently, conditions that have contributed to the emergence of human cognition and behavior have become a topic of study. Investigations of bone structure and skull size and shape have provided insights into changes in brain structures and functions that emerged over the millions of years that pre-date our existence (Ardila, 2008). Philosophers and scientists alike have long posited how structures of the mind and conscious emerged and what roles they have played in our evolution. These various positions have been most hotly debated over the past decade (See Gangestad & Simpson, 2007; Ginitis, 2007 for reviews). Cultural anthropologists have emphasized the importance of community rituals for ensuring the survival of social groups. Even before the emergence of language and symbolic representation, our ancestors communicated with others and gained an understanding of the importance of voluntary control of movements and actions, and the development of skills. Some have speculated that our ancestors‟ ability to control their physical movements provided the stimulus that led to the emergence of human consciousness, thought, and reasoning (Bronowski, 1973; Llinas, 2001; Vaynman & Gomez-Pinilla, 2006). This book focuses on the role physical activity games play in teaching children

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Phillip D. Tomporowski, Bryan A. McCullick and Michael Horvat

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to control voluntary motor actions. A case is made that a child‟s successful performance in diverse real-world situations requires his ability to select appropriate information and to initiate movement strategies that result in adaptation and goal attainment. Games provide a natural context for teaching children predictive relations between action and outcomes, as controlled movements require the selection, ordering, and temporal sequencing of muscle contractions. For children who are deficient in some aspect of functioning (cognitive, sensory, or physical), this approach will also facilitate movement performance in a naturalistic setting. The overview of recent advances in cognitive psychology will elucidate how subtle alterations in instructional content when playing games can substantially impact how effectively children control their thoughts and actions. A physical education model will be presented that describes methods of increasing children‟s mental involvement.

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Chapter 2

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LEARNING AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT Contextual learning emphasizes interrelations existing among a learner, a teacher, and a naturalistic environment that presents a problem to be solved. The harsh environment in which our early ancestors lived forced them to learn how to overcome challenges that were essential for survival. Progression from infancy to childhood and on to adulthood was marked by the accumulation of skills that resolved the daily problem of staying alive. Modern humans have also been forced to acquire skills required to face daily challenges. Early 20th century educators emphasized the importance of reality-based learning in which learners acquired knowledge by solving real-world problems (Dewey, 1886). Researchers who studied the processes of learning in the 1950s were particularly interested in how knowledge was accumulated, retained, and transferred. A series of experiments conducted by William Battig (1956; 1966) revealed that the transfer of knowledge to new learning conditions depended greatly on how the knowledge was initially acquired. The context of initial learning played an important role in how skills acquired in one situation were applied in novel situations. He observed that individuals who acquired movement skills under unpredictable conditions were better able to deal with new learning tasks than individuals who acquired movement skills under predictable and unchanging learning conditions. These observations, which did not support the behavioral learning theories that prevailed during this period, were viewed by most researchers of the time as anomalies. It was not until the introduction of cognitive learning theories in the 1970s that researchers began to focus attention on mental processes that are involved in problem solving and the roles of mental effort (Kahneman, 1973) and levels of processing (Craik & Lockhart, 1972). More recently, considerable theorizing has been

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Phillip D. Tomporowski, Bryan A. McCullick and Michael Horvat

made about the processes of mental engagement and mindfulness (Weber & Johnson, 2009) and the roles they play in learning and transfer of knowledge.

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MEASURING AND ASSESSING MENTAL ENGAGEMENT Cognitive researchers are interested in isolating and understanding the mental processes individuals use to detect changes in their environments, identify the specific nature of those changes, evaluate whether and how responses should be made, and prepare the body for voluntary actions. The information-processing model shown in Figure 1, describes how researchers believe that information flows from the environment into the central nervous system. The manner in which stimulus detection, response selection, and response programming operate is hypothesized to be modified by executive processes that determine the “mental effort” involved in processing. Tasks that call on highly learned and repetitive responses that have been acquired via extended practice (e.g., opening a combination lock) require the allocation of little, if any, mental resources. Novel tasks that require the individual to consider multiple response pathways draw on mental effort resources. Numerous cognitive theories have been proposed “executive processes” that are hypothesized to play important roles in regulating human thought and action.

Figure 1. Information-processing model.

Considerable research and debate has focused on the development of executive functions in children (Best, Miller, & Jones, 2009; C. Hughes, 2002a, 2002b; C. Hughes & Graham, 2002; Zelazo, Muller, Frye, & Marcovitch, 2003), and a general consensus has emerged over the past decade concerning its attributes. Psychometric research has identified three processes

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Learning and Student Engagement

5

that provide the foundation for executive function: response inhibition, working memory, and switching (Lehto, Juujarvi, Kooistra, & Pulkkinen, 2003; Miyake et al., 2000). Neuroimaging research has provided convergent evidence for multiple but interrelated components of executive function (Casey, Amso, & Davidson, 2006; Casey, Galvan, & Hare, 2005). Response inhibition is defined in terms of one‟s ability to withhold making well learned or highly practiced responses, and the ability to stop ongoing response sequences when circumstances require doing so. Response inhibition is viewed as critical to adaptive functioning, as successful goal-oriented behaviors often require a child to suppress prepotent behaviors, which may lead her to gain immediate reward but at the cost of reducing the possibility of her attaining goal-oriented rewards later (Barkley, 1996). Working memory involves the ability to maintain and manipulate information over brief periods of time (Alloway, Gathercole, & Pickering, 2006; Huizinga, Dolan, & Van der Molen, 2006). Working memory provides individuals with the ability to monitor incoming information and “update” conscious problem-solving activities in an “online” manner. Shifting reflects the ability to stop mental processes required to perform one task and to initiate processes required for a different, now relevant, task (Rogers & Monsell, 1995). Executive function is critical as it underlies the rules that guide children‟s behavior (Zelazo & Frye, 1998) and children‟s executive functions are deployed in cognitive and learning activities both inside and outside classroom settings. Specifically, cognitive shifting, inhibition, and working memory are directly related to successful math strategies and higher math scores (Bull, Johnston, & Roy, 1999; Bull & Scerif, 2001; Espy et al., 2004; St ClairThompson & Gathercole, 2006) and to high English, math, and science scores (St Clair-Thompson & Gathercole, 2006). The influence of executive functions is also reflected in writing skills (Hooper, Swartz, Wakely, de Kruif, & Montgomery, 2002; St Clair-Thompson & Gathercole, 2006). Inhibition is related to reading (Gernsbacher, 1993) and vocabulary learning (Dempster & Cooney, 1982). As evidence that executive functions play a causal role, preschoolers exhibiting high executive functioning later had higher math and literacy scores in kindergarten (Blair & Razza, 2007). Cognitive scientists have developed methods and procedures to verify the existence and operations of hypothesized mental constructs. “Effort” and “engagement” and other terms that reflect mental processing are defined operationally; that is, their meaning is specified by measuring an operations (Underwood, 1957). Mental effort is often described as a limited resource that can be drawn upon and allocated to fuel the mental operations required to

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Phillip D. Tomporowski, Bryan A. McCullick and Michael Horvat

overcome challenges and problems (e.g., Kahneman, 1973). The belief has been held by many researchers that the more mental effort an individual allocates to a problem, the better the performance and learning. While this view is appealing, it has been challenging for researchers to devise measurement procedures that demonstrate an individual‟s allocation of mental resources. An influential theory of memory storage and recall developed by Craik and Lockhart (1972; 1990) focused on the notion of Levels of Processing (LOP). They proposed that incoming information is processed at different levels of analysis, with early (shallow) processing preceding later (deep) semantic meaning. Importantly, deep processing provides an individual an opportunity to “keep things in mind” where it could be maintained via rehearsal and elaborated upon. The extent to which an individual remembers events and information was hypothesized to depend on the type of mental rehearsal employed and the level of analysis applied to the to-be-remembered information. Many experiments have been conducted in which participants‟ LOP was manipulated by arranging learning conditions whereby some individuals were permitted to engage only in shallow processing and others employed verbal rehearsal techniques that ensured deep information processing. In the main, individuals who engaged in deep processing derived greater memory benefits than those limited to shallow processing. While the LOP approach to studying resource allocation received some criticism (Baddeley, 1978; Eysenck, 1988), the methods were an important advancement in the study of human memory. Researchers have amassed clear evidence demonstrating the value of instructional approaches designed to increase the deep processing of semantic information. Children and adults who employ mnemonic memory strategies improve their encoding and recall of words and symbolic information (See Hertzog, Kramer, Wilson, & Lindenberger, 2009 for a review). Educators are well aware of the role of attention and mental involvement in children‟s motor-skill learning, and the authors of many publications have provided recommendations concerning ways to increase children‟s mental involvement and attention to tasks (Lee, 1994). Motor-skill learning, however, develops via different brain mechanisms than those involved in the storage of declarative semantic information. Events that people remember (episodic memory) and facts that are remembered (semantic memory) are stored in areas of the cerebral cortex via neurological pathways controlled by the hippocampus, a structure of the limbic system that plays a critical role in relational learning (Suzuki & Clayton, 2000). Voluntary movement sequences depend on procedural memories that are established via associative learning

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Learning and Student Engagement

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and stored in deep structures of the brain such as the basal ganglia (Serrien, Ivry, & Swinnen, 2007). The differences that exist between declarative knowledge and procedural knowledge provides a basis for the truism that there is a great deal of difference between knowing “about” something (e.g., describing a piano) and knowing “how” to do something (e.g., playing a piano). The fundamental differences in the manner in which declarative and procedural memories are acquired should also guide instructional methodologies. While mental engagement facilitates the acquisition of both declarative and procedural skills, subtle differences in contextual conditions may have substantial impacts on learning. For example, the instructional methods employed in LOP research, which direct individuals to embellish the meaning of words, may not be well suited for motor-skill learning, which depend on establishing associations between voluntary movements and their consequences. Perhaps instructional methods that focus the learner‟s mental involvement on the selection and sequencing of muscle contractions that lead to the resolution of movement problems are more effective for motor-skill learning. Research conducted on the contextual-interference effect provides both researchers and practitioners alike with methods of verifying children‟s mental engagement during motor-skill learning.

THE CONTEXTUAL INTERFERENCE EFFECT Based on early research conducted by Battig (1966), which was described previously, several contemporary motor-learning researchers have conducted experiments that examine how alterations in instructional context during initial practice sessions affect skill retention and transfer of learning to novel tasks. In these studies, associative learning was found to be more robust when training occurred under conditions that varied from trial to trial than when conditions remained fixed and predictable. Individuals who practice skills under varied training conditions (i.e., actions are varied across practice trials) learned more than those who practiced skills under constant training conditions (i.e., actions remain constant across practice trials). Explanations for the facilitating effects of varied practice on learning have focused on the amount of mental involvement required of the individual during practice (Guadagnoli & Lee, 2004). Under varied practice conditions, every change in successive practice trials requires the individual to inhibit previously used movement action plans and to call into action a different movement plan. Successfully shifting movement action plans from one task to another involves

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Phillip D. Tomporowski, Bryan A. McCullick and Michael Horvat

multiple mental operations. The individual must recognize the environmental conditions that define the task, retrieve a movement program from long-term procedural memory, and apply movement parameters to actions that are planned to perform the task. Training conditions that incorporate task conditions that switch unpredictably are reported to be more mentally effortful than conditions for which individuals repeat the same movement patterns for each trial within a given block. Executive functions, such as response inhibition, strategy selection, and planning, are central to the mental processes that occur during varied practice conditions. An important benefit derived from variable practice conditions and accompanying mental engagement is an enhanced ability to adjust actions and behaviors to wide variations in environmental conditions. Individuals who experience unexpected shifts in task demands during practice are better able to transfer what has been learned to novel situations than are individuals who acquire skills under less mentally challenging conditions that depend primarily on rote behavior. Results obtained from several lines of research provide convergent evidence supporting the role that mental involvement plays in learning about the relations that exist between actions and their consequences and the executive processes that control goal-directed behavior. The evidence suggests the games that children play can be designed to provide them with foundational knowledge about movement regulation that transfers beyond the acquisition of a specific set of sport skills.

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Chapter 3

CONVERGING EVIDENCE FOR THE ROLE OF CONTEXTUAL INTERFERENCE IN LEARNING

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Besides motor-skill research, which has shown that variations in initial learning can influence retention and transfer, similar evidence has been obtained from a diverse group of research domains. Under a wide variety of conditions, it appears that specific types of training experiences can foster mental engagement and facilitate the emergence and utilization of executive functions.

EMBODIED LEARNING RESEARCH Physical movement is central to existence. From an evolutionary perspective, it has been argued that the manner in which the brain evolved to organize and control movement explains the emergence of human cognition (Llinas, 2001). The central viewpoint of embodied cognition holds that cognitive processes are deeply rooted in the body‟s interactions with the world (Wilson, 2002). Considerable research on infants‟ acquisition of movement skills reveals the interrelation among physical activity, mental effort, and cognitive development (Thelen, 1996; Thelen & Smith, 1994) and factors that contribute to developmental delays (Spencer et al., 2006; Stockman, 2004; Thelen, 2004). As infants move, they learn about their environments and how tasks are solved (Adolph, 2008; Sommerville & Decety, 2006). Sensorimotor activation has been shown to influence both reasoning and problem-solving (Gallese & Metzinger, 2003; Jackson & Decety, 2004). Motor and cognitive

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Phillip D. Tomporowski, Bryan A. McCullick and Michael Horvat

development are interrelated phenomena that emerge over a protracted period (Diamond, 2000).

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COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH Developmental studies of children‟s executive function reveal that the foundational processes emerge at different points in time and each has its own developmental trajectory (Best et al., 2009). In general, executive functioning develops rapidly through the elementary school years and then develops at a slower pace during adolescence (Brocki & Bohlin, 2004; Huizinga, 2006). Behavioral and motor inhibition is the first area of executive functioning to develop rapidly. This is followed in the school years by the development of more complex executive components, such as shifting and working memory (Brocki & Bohlin, 2004; Klenberg, Korkman, & Lahti-Nuuttila, 2001; Lehto et al., 2003). The emergence and development of processes that underlie executive function continues throughout childhood and adolescence and even into young adulthood (Casey et al., 2006; Posner & Rothbart, 2007). Further, the development of executive processing skills is not an all-or-none phenomenon; they emerge gradually with continued practice, utilization of feedback, and refinement, especially when more complex tasks are performed. Importantly, their emergence may be conceptualized in terms of how children learn specific mental skills that lead to improved planning and problemsolving performance. Conceptualizing executive function as sets of mental skills acquired gradually via practice enable the formulation of specific hypotheses concerning the long-term benefits of physical activity game training on cognitive performance. The executive skills children acquire on the playground would be expected to transfer and be used in academic tasks and real-world conditions that involve behavior inhibition, working memory, and strategy. Developmental research provides evidence that children‟s ability to deploy executive skills to solve problems is influenced by environmental conditions. Impoverished environments can degrade mental development and hinder the refinement of problem solving skills, whereas enriched environments in which children experience conditions that stress the importance of complex rules to solve problems lead to thoughtful and more sophisticated problem solving skills (Frye, Zelazo, & Burack, 1998; Zelazo & Frye, 1998). Interventions designed specifically to improve children‟s executive attention have been shown to improve not only task-specific

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Converging Evidence for the Role of Contextual Interference…

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performance but also to generalize to general problem-solving tasks (Diamond, Barnett, Thomas, & Munro, 2007; Rueda, Rothbart, McCandliss, Saccomanno, & Posner, 2005).

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PLAY RESEARCH Play is a form of physical activity that has been proposed to serve an important role in normal maturation and in the emergence of children‟s cognitive processes (F. P. Hughes, 1995; Johnson, Christie, & Yawkey, 1987; Panksepp, Siviy, & Normansell, 1984) and socialization (Pellis & Pellis, 2007). Indeed, restrictive environments which limit children‟s access to time for free play, rough and tumble play, and physical activity have been hypothesized to impede socially appropriate behavioral patterns (Diamond et al., 2007; Panksepp, 1998). Evidence supporting the importance of play behavior to cognitive development has come from numerous studies that have assessed the effects of exploration of novel and enriched environments on animals‟ neurological development (See Black, Jones, Nelson, & Greenough, 1998; Briones, 2006; Greenough & Black, 1992). Interestingly, the manner in which rodent brains responds to physical activity depends on the specific type of physical activity performed. Running, for example, which engages largemuscles leads to increased capillary growth in the brain, whereas small-limb activities that are used to climb and maintain balance result in neuronal adaptations and long-lasted structural changes in the brain (Anderson, McCloskey, Tata, & Gorby, 2003; Black, Isaacs, Anderson, Alcantara, & Greenough, 1990; Isaacs, 1992; Kleim, Vij, Ballard, & Greenough, 1997). Similarly, children‟s neurological development is thought to benefit from exploratory play and physical activity. Neural networks, which are relatively undifferentiated at birth, become increasingly more specialized during childhood (Casey et al., 2005; McLeod, Plunkett, & Rolls, 1998). Further, the pattern of children‟s neural specialization is determined, in part, by environmental stimulation (Huttenlocher, 1994; Katz & Shatz, 1996; Kolb & Whishaw, 1998). These results suggest that, through play and physical activity, children learn to decide when it is appropriate to act and when an action should be inhibited. Behavioral inhibition has been viewed as a cornerstone of executive function. It may be the case that children who are motorically active gain from those experiences and acquire greater behavioral control than children who are less motorically active (Campbell, Eaton, & McKeen, 2002). Play that necessitates effortful mental involvement appears to

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influence children‟s ability to control their movements and self-regulate their actions. Environments that elicit children‟s effortful mental involvement may promote behavioral change via the emergence and utilization of executive functions needed to regulate actions and to achieve goals. On the other hand, environments requiring only repetitive actions with minimal mental involvement may foster infants and children who exhibit passive, reactive behaviors that do little to promote the advancement of executive functions (Blair, 2002).

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PHYSICAL REHABILITATION RESEARCH Numerous treatments have been proposed to remediate damage caused by injury or diseases that influence the nervous system (Carey, Bhatt, & Nagpal, 2005; Doyon, 1997; Nudo, 2006). Activity-based treatments have been developed to restore skills lost to cardiovascular accident (stroke) and other CNS insults. Recently, researchers have begun to evaluate how subtle variations in exercise treatment methods alter rehabilitative progress. Interests in the specificity of exercise training have been spurred by data obtained from studies that demonstrate distinct differences in the manner in which the brain responds to specific forms of physical activity. The neural networks that are developed following repetitive, mindless, and unskilled behaviors differ from those that are developed following the learning and practice of a new skill or sport. Several researchers have noted that the direct effects of exercise are potentiated by skill training (Carey et al., 2005; Will, Galani, Kelche, & Rosenzweig, 2004). Two recent studies have demonstrated that children (Pesce, Crova, Cereatti, Casella, & Bellucci, 2009) and adolescents (Budde, Voelcker-Rehage, Pietrassyk-Kendziorra, Ribeiro, & Tidow, 2008) who participated in a physical education class that included complex motor activities evidenced greater learning of later class-room information than did adolescents who participated in aerobic activities that did not stress mental involvement. Research conducted with animals, non-human primates, and humans have demonstrated that brain structure is altered most under conditions in which movements of a challenging task are performed in conjunction with high levels of mental involvement. Nudo et al. (1996) noted increased areas of motor cortex activation in primates required to engage in skilled motor movements to retrieve food pellets. Similarly, Pascual-Leone et al. (1995) observed that the representational map of motor cortical regions in humans increased when participants learned a complex series of finger and

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Converging Evidence for the Role of Contextual Interference…

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hand movements. A review of animal studies that assessed recovery from brain injury concluded that animals living in enriched environments experienced a quicker recovery; however, these benefits were enhanced when enrichment treatment also included an exercise component (Will et al., 2004). The combination of motor movements and mental involvement is considered essential for the promotion of neuroplasticity and functional rehabilitation (Carey et al., 2005; Woodlee & Schallert, 2006). In summary, research from a variety of areas provides evidence to suggest that training methods that place cognitive demands on learners (e.g., contextual interference) produce improvements in executive function. It is plausible that children‟s games designed to present ever-changing rules to solve problems elicit mental engagement that leads to thoughtful executive problem solving.

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Chapter 4

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PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND EXECUTIVE FUNCTION For millennia, the connection between a healthy body and a healthy mind has been a central theme in Western civilization. The body-mind association has been supported by cross-sectional studies of older adults‟ (See Tomporowski, 2006, for a review) and children‟s mental ability (See Tomporowski, Davis, Miller, & Naglieri, 2008 ; Trudeau & Shepard, 2008 for reviews), which typically show that physically fit and/or active individuals perform some cognitive tasks better than less physically active individuals. This is also apparent in individuals with cognitive disorders (Zagrodnik & Horvat, 2009). In addition, case-controlled studies provide evidence that an increased level of physical activity early in life postpones age-related declines in cognition (Dik, Deeg, Visser, & Jonker, 2003). While evidence for the benefits of physical activity on mental function has existed for some time, many claims for the far-reaching benefits of exercise on mental functioning, academic achievement, and intelligence have been based on relatively recent experiments that provide evidence for a causal relation between exercise training and cognition. Several experiments conducted with middle-age and older adults indicate that aerobic exercise programs have a positive impact on cognitive function (Colcombe & Kramer, 2003). A subset of studies conducted with older adults has included measures of brain function and demonstrates that exercise training leads to specific neurological adaptations (Colcombe et al., 2004). While fewer experiments have been conducted with children, the results have been consistent with those obtained in studies with adults showing evidence of improved cognitive function (Davis et al., 2007) and alteration of brain activation (Davis et al., accepted).

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Recent reviews of the exercise literature indicate that chronic exercise appears to affect some types of cognitive function more than others. Colcombe and Kramer (2003) reviewed studies that assessed the effects of aerobic exercise training on older adults‟ cognitive function and concluded that exercise produced a moderately large effect on overall cognitive performance; however, the greatest gains were found for tests of executive function, followed by tests of effortful controlled processing, perceptual processing, and information-processing speed. Similar conclusions were drawn by Tomporowski et al. (2008) following a review of studies that assessed the impact of exercise on children‟s intelligence, cognition, and academic achievement in terms of an executive function hypothesis. In summary, the results of a number of recently conducted experiments provide evidence for a causal link between exercise and cognitive function in children and in older adults. Presently, the dominant explanations for the robust effect of exercise on executive function are couched in terms of biological adaptations (van Praag, 2009). The physical challenges of exercise have been proposed to directly influence and modify neural networks, particularly those in the pre-frontal cortex of the brain (Kramer & Hillman, 2006). Biologically-based explanations are supported by research conducted with animals, which demonstrated that exercise regulates the production of proteins, such as brain derived neurotropic factors (BDNF), which underlie neural integrity (van Praag, 2008, 2009; Vaynman & Gomez-Pinilla, 2006). While the case has been made that physical activity alone may affect children‟s cognitive function directly via changes in neural integrity, there exist alternative explanations (Tomporowski et al., 2008). For instance, it is plausible that the relation between exercise and cognitive function may be moderated by the type of mental activities in which children are engaged while being physical active. The importance of children‟s “thoughtful decision making” during physical exercise classes as a means to promote critical reasoning has been posited by several researchers (McBride & Xiang, 2004). In summary, these findings highlight two points that are relevant to educators: 1) physical activity appears to prime and prepare the CNS to benefit from environmental experiences and 2) skill acquisition, as opposed to simple repetitive movements, is essential for the development of cortical networks that are involved in executive function. Research conducted in a number of academic areas of study provides convergent evidence for the importance of perception, action, and movement on cognitive development. These recent breakthroughs support a model that describes how specific forms of exercise

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training produce substantially better student outcomes relative to current practices (See Figure 2). Two variables are hypothesized to contribute to the modification of cognitive functions that underlie academic outcomes: 1) Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity is hypothesized to influence directly neural networks that underlie cognition and especially executive function; 2) the environmental context in which exercise training is performed, along with action-perception couplings, is hypothesized to moderate the association between exercise and cognition. Given that exercise-induced arousal primes and prepares the CNS to benefit from environmental experiences, physical education teachers are uniquely positioned to aid in the emergence and development of basic cognitive processes in children.

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Figure 2. Hypothesized relation between physical activity and executive function.

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Chapter 5

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THE LEARNING CURVE AND MENTAL ENGAGEMENT Both theories of motor learning (Schmidt, 1975) and cognitive learning (Ackerman, 1987) explain learning in terms of a progression through specific stages. While numerous conditions characterize each stage, mental involvement plays a central role in describing differences that exist among them. During the cognitive stage, the novice is faced with a problem-solving task that requires her to create a general plan of action before beginning physical practice. Prior to the first movement, the learner constructs a mental model of the task. This mental model establishes a relation among task conditions, actions to be taken, and the outcomes that are expected from these actions. Through experiences derived from physical movement (practice), the learner codes connections between environmental conditions and movements (Guarrera-Bowlby & Gentile, 2004). This psychomotor coding process provides the basis for the emergence of a motor program that is used to instruct the body to move in specific ways. During the associative stage, psychomotor coding becomes refined as repeated practice solidifies the neural networks that direct and guide the learner‟s movements. With extended practice, motor movements are performed with greater efficiency and less executive mental involvement is required. Indeed, the autonomous stage of learning is defined in terms of the absence of executive control and mental engagement. The negatively accelerating learning curve described in Figure 3 depicts the relation between practice and performance. While the shape of the curve can vary greatly as a function of the type of task being learned and the specific abilities of the learner, the stage-like progression toward automaticity remains unchanged.

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Figure 3. Hypothetical learning curve.

A novice‟s performance gains are greatest during learning‟s initial stages. Paralleling these improvements, the learner‟s movements are shaped as he/she is rewarded by experiencing successful approximations of behaviors that will lead to goal attainment. Feedback derived from the movements themselves serves to reinforce the activation of the executive processes that guided the selection, sequencing, and timing of muscle contractions. Neurological systems that link action and outcomes are activated and elicit the experience of pleasure. From a phylogenetic perspective, it is logical that the mobilization of physical and mental efforts involved in overcoming the challenges of skill learning are rewarded by the same mesolimbic system structures that reward actions that result in reduced hunger by eating and reward thirst by drinking. Observations of children‟s game-playing behaviors support the view that learners experience great reward early in training. A child or adolescent may be engaged for hours with a new toy or game; however, as the game becomes less challenging, the child‟s motivation to continue playing wanes. Thus, following predictions derived from the contextual-interference effect, games designed to vary response requirements would be expected to promote greater mental involvement, motivation, and long-term effects on executive functions than games in which motor actions are predictable, unchanging, and lead to rapid learning. In summary, the information provided in the preceding sections suggests that children‟s games designed to elicit moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and encourage mental involvement may benefit children‟s physical and mental

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development. Addressed in the next sections are suggestions and recommendations concerning how such games can be developed and adapted to individual children‟s capabilities and skill levels.

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Chapter 6

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PHYSICAL ACTIVITY GAMES: CONNECTING THE SCIENCE TO THE TEACHING OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION The information emerging from the exercise psychology literature has important implications for the health and well-being of children. Moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) prompts crucial physiological changes in the brain, particularly when MVPA is coupled with the increased mental involvement inherent in “skilled exercise” or game play. Thus, it appears that the teaching of quality physical education should play a substantive role in a school curriculum. In this section we argue for the implementation of theorybased physical education and/or extracurricular physical activity programs as a vehicle for facilitating the emergence of children‟s foundational executive processes. The section begins with a brief historical overview of physical education in our schools and concludes with a description of what a physical education class or physical activity program developed and guided by the exercise psychology literature might look like.

HISTORICAL OVERVIEW The history of school-based physical education is relatively short; however, the philosophy of physical and mental health can be traced back for centuries. To frame the discussion of an optimal physical education class it is important to trace this history.

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The Beginning. While Greek and Roman influence on physical education and sport is unquestionable, it was not until the late 19th Century that physical education was formally recognized as a subject to be taught in school. At that time, “physical training” was heavily influenced by German and Swedish approaches to teaching what was termed “gymnastics.” The high rates of European and Scandinavian immigration at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries brought to North America an influx of customs from Europe that extended well beyond food, music, and religion. The German and Swedish gymnastic systems, while distinct from and in competition with one another, had very similar purposes. Both focused on building physical strength and increasing participant vigor while promoting the traditions of the homeland (Siedentop, 2007). Eventually, derivative gymnastic systems in North America adapted and extended the German and Swedish systems by uniquely focusing on the promotion of female physical activity, dance, bodily development, and calisthenics. In 1893, a major event that still influences physical education today occurred when Thomas Wood proposed what he termed the new physical education. Wood, a physician, posited that physical education was not only important to the physical well-being of children but it also made important contribution to the “social, emotional, and intellectual development of the child” (Rice, Hutchinson, & Lee, 1958, p. 327). Wood claimed that physical education was vital for the development of the “whole individual” (Lumpkin, 2008, p. 273), a belief that was in line with the prevailing educational tenets advocated by such leading educational theorists as Edward Thorndike and John Dewey. Wood‟s redefinition of physical education prompted debate that went beyond whether one gymnastic system was superior and considered whether physical education should be an “education of the physical or an education through the physical” (Siedentop, 2007, p. 42). After more than a century, this debate continues. Luther Gulick, a leading proponent of the new physical education; particularly “education through the physical” delivery, argued that physical education should include play. He advocated play as an “educational force” very early in the 20th century (Lumpkin, 2008, p. 274). This view appeared to gain acceptance during the 1930s, but during the first and second World Wars and throughout the 1950s the prevailing philosophy was that physical education should be the means by which citizens prepare for war. During these years the philosophy of an “education of the physical” using calisthenics and fitness testing was the zeitgeist guiding school based physical education (Lumpkin, 2008).

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Physical Activity Games

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The Mid to Late 20th Century. By the 1960s and 70s, however, the pendulum had swung again and the notion of playing sports and games reemerged as the framework for the design and delivery of school physical education. Also during this time, women and people with special needs were included and there was a focus on how physical education programs were designed and delivered to serve individuals in these two groups. Perhaps one of the most significant events influencing physical education occurred in 1986 when the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE) introduced a set of standards for defining a physically educated person. The definition embraced both the “education of the physical” and the “education through the physical” approaches by including cognitive and affective outcomes that were as important as psychomotor outcomes. At the end of this last century and throughout the current decade, obesity has emerged as a major health-care issue. High numbers of children and adolescents now classified as obese and overweight have profoundly influenced the physical education profession and how policy makers view its place in the curriculum. Given the severity of the epidemic it is surprising that many are turning away from the notion set forth over a century ago by Wood and underscored by NASPE that physical education should be a major contributor to the healthy overall development of children. What has happened is that many academics, policy makers, and, subsequently, physical education practitioners have endorsed physical activity primarily as a means for reducing children‟s body weight.

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Chapter 7

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION TODAY: WHAT WAS OLD IS NEW AGAIN Ideally, physical education teachers aim to help students become physically educated citizens who will be physically active for a lifetime. A physically educated person should be able to perform motor skills competently, know how to apply movement concepts (e.g., space awareness, effort, time) and strategy, be physically active, become healthy and maintain that health, be socially and personally responsible, and value physical activity for a variety of reasons (NASPE, 2004). On one level, this definition appears to reflect Wood‟s and Gulick‟s early views of physical education. However, the recent focus on stemming and reversing the childhood obesity epidemic has led educators to curricula that favor children‟s engagement in MVPA without emphasizing skill acquisition games that foster mental involvement. Physical education classes have come to be little more than aerobic programs modeled on adult and low-organized (e.g., less complex) aerobic activities. Less emphasis is placed on traditional recess time, which can include the type of sedentary play (e.g., talking, “playing house”) that promotes children‟s mental involvement (Pellegrini, Horvat, & Huberty, 1998). Indeed, contemporary views of PE are in direct contrast to Wood‟s notion of the new physical education. We contend that PE classes in which MVPA is coupled with mental engagement may be the best way to alter the prevalence of childhood obesity and to educate through the physical. Developing fundamental motor skills (learning, practicing, and applying the skills) is an important component of any intervention aiming to promote

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long-term fitness (Barnett, Van Beurden, Morgan, Brooks, & Beard, 2008). If lifetime fitness is acquired and maintained, the prevalence of overweight and obesity will naturally decrease. Physical education classes that focus solely on MVPA without emphasizing instruction, practice, and application of motor skills (using the skills in games) will not bring about a lifelong physically active person. Indeed, participating in MVPA without the notion of “fun” that is generally associated with skill competence and game play may reduce the motivation to be physically active. Resent research has found “fun and enjoyment” were major motivators for engaging in physical activity among low-income, culturally diverse adolescents and adults (Bragg, Tucker, Kaye, & Desmond, 2009). Thoughtful consideration should be given to how physical education and physical activity programs are conceived and delivered. While we fully agree that school PE classes should be a place for MVPA, the evidence from areas such as neurophysiology, exercise psychology, and public health suggests that it should also be a place where children are challenged to solve problems. Children should be in put in purposely designed situations where they can develop decision-making skills in dynamic game situations. In doing so, physical activities become a lifestyle choice that is maintained across the lifespan and contributes to both healthy development and healthy aging (Hertzog, et al., 2009). In short, we propose that children engage in developmentally appropriate, moderately to vigorously physically active games with instructionally appropriate instruction and interaction from a qualified instructor. This will yield the most benefits (e.g., physical, cognitive, and affective) for children. Supporting literature from the area of physical education pedagogy will provide a foundation for laying out our view of what a physical education/physical activity program should look like and how it can satisfy both those who believe such programs should be an “education of the physical” and those who contend they should be an “education through the physical.”

INSTRUCTIONAL PROTOTYPE Programs that successfully promote children‟s MVPA in instructional game environments will depend on three conditions: (a) qualified instructors, (b) selection of appropriate games, and (c) monitoring skill development while verifying children‟s mental engagement.

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QUALIFIED INSTRUCTORS In Woody Allen‟s Academy Award-winning film, Annie Hall, Alvy Singer (played by Allen) is quoted as saying, “I remember the staff at our public school. You know, we had a saying, uh, that those who can't do, teach, and those who can't teach, teach physical education." Unfortunately, Allen‟s character appears to summarize the beliefs of many—that anyone can teach physical education. To date, there is no evidence to suggest that people are born to teach or that one can teach others to play because one has played and excelled in a sport. A qualified and thoroughly trained teacher is a fundamental requirement for student success in the instructional environment. Given data suggesting children‟s decision making during MVPA will promote cognitive benefits, physical education teachers must be both well-versed in game rules and strategies and skilled in how to teach them to children. These instructors need to be qualified, not just certified. Drawing the distinction between qualified and certified is important. A qualified teacher possesses a specialized body of knowledge and skills that allows him or her to meet desired objectives helps students learn. A certified teacher is simply one who is legally licensed to teach. A qualified teacher has requisite content, pedagogical, and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) (Shulman, 1986). Researchers have noted that this particular kind of knowledge acquisition begins to be developed as soon as one enters school (Lortie, 1975), continuing throughout a lifetime, but is formally acquired through the completion of an accredited teacher preparation program. Most but not all states have certification requirements for physical education teachers that assume that those certified have this knowledge and skills. Some states with such certification mandates, unfortunately, have made it easier to become certified to teach PE by requiring practitioners to merely pass a written test (National Association for Sport and Physical Education & American Heart Association, 2006). Thus, the assurance that all PE teachers are qualified is not necessarily met by application of the label “certified.” For non-school physical activity programs, such as after-school programs (ASP), the criteria for hiring instructors are even less stringent. Many ASPs are viewed as nothing more than “gym and swim” programs (Hellison et al., 2000 p. 31) or a time to complete academic work or engage in self-directed recreation. While both of these types of ASP are valuable, they do not guarantee the outcomes that an ASP taught by a specialist who can combine MVPA and game play may be able to produce. Typically, these programs are

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staffed with a well-meaning instructional corps that fails to offer the content and pedagogy needed for students to obtain maximal benefits.

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SELECTION OF APPROPRIATE GAMES An optimal physical education or activity instructional program for children would require that two criteria be met: First, the games would be required to raise and sustain children‟s heart rate. Second, the games should be both fun and mentally engaging. The content of an effective PE/PA game would require children to make frequent problem-solving decisions that are followed by quantitative or qualitative feedback. Children‟s mental engagement during physical activity has been shown to motivate later activity. Xiang, Chen, and Bruene (2005) assessed the influence of instructional methods on fourth-grade children‟s motivation to keep running. Students from one elementary school were taught running through a stand-alone “Running Club.” The activity for this group was rote lap running that was linked to an extrinsic award system based on lap completion. This class was based on an exercise prescription model that focused the health importance or running. Fourth graders at a second school learned about running by incorporating it into games focused on skill development. Pre- and post-test measures on the children‟s one-mile run times, and self-report questionnaires assessing their achievement goals, intention of future participation, and reward expectations were administered at the beginning and end of the school year. While both groups improved their one-mile run times, the major finding was that children‟s interest in running was the most important predictor of their future intention to run. The group who learned about running in a game-play environment exhibited a higher intent for future participation in running than those who learned about running in a “running for running‟s sake” manner. These results suggest that the way in which physical activities are taught influences children‟s performance and motivation. Xiang and her colleagues (2005) speculated that teaching activity for activity‟s sake may be detrimental to children‟s motivation to be physically active. Specifically, they note, “…young children taught running in order to improve health might come to the conclusion that running lacks a purpose. Children run in their daily lives, and they often run for particular purposes, many of which, naturally, are for playing, fun and enjoyment. Teaching an activity that

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has high health value, such as running, in an isolated context isolated from direct and tangible purposes that children appreciate could create an incoherent curriculum context (p. 195).”

Woodlee and Schallert‟s (2006) review of the body of work regarding the impact of motor activity and inactivity on the brain revealed that “repetitive and relatively unskilled exercise differs, in its effects on brain structure, from skilled motor training (p. 204).” More specifically, they point out that a simple task such as jogging would definitely have a positive impact on the brain by increasing the cerebellum‟s vascular supply. However, learning a sport with a level of physical activity intensity comparable to jogging would require learning new skills and the application of those skills, rules, strategies, and tactics. The combination of MVPA and mental involvement may well increase both angiogenesis and synaptogenesis in the brain. Thus, both instructional content and its delivery are essential for one to accrue maximum benefits from physical education and physical activity programs.

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GAME DESIGN To illustrate how “skilled exercise” piques children‟s attention and increases motivation to remain physically active, we present two prototypical games. One game is predominantly locomotor (Tag) and the other is manipulative in nature (Floor Hockey). These prototypes exemplify how games can be developed to elicit both MVPA and mental involvement.

TAG Tag presents children an opportunity to learn valuable cognitive skills that are utilized across virtually every team or invasion sport. On the surface, it appears that running is the main activity; however, a close examination of the game by a qualified teacher with a keen eye for detail and content knowledge reveals that there are subtle mental skills and application of movement concepts (space awareness, effort, & relationships), strategies, and tactics involved. During Tag children are physically active and constantly making decisions. With practice, Tag emerges as a skilled exercise. The manner in which the rules of Tag are presented by a skilled teacher is essential. The game and its rules of play must be designed in consideration of

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a number of variables: e.g., children‟s fitness level, cognitive ability, physical ability, and past experiences. Presented below is an example of how the game of Tag might be presented to maximize children‟s health and mental development. After a brief explanation of the game‟s essentials, a series of strategic modifications designed to increase the game‟s decision-making opportunities and skill development are presented. While the game can be altered in numerous ways, we present three here and discuss ways that each version can be made more inclusive for children with disabilities. Consider the following scenario involving a group of 30 children ages 8-9 in an elementary school gymnasium. Usually the teacher would present the tasks of chasing, fleeing, and dodging by demonstrating, explaining, and questioning. The children then practice dodging or faking moves by themselves before actually playing a game of Tag. The teacher would begin the game phase of Tag by explaining and demonstrating the rudimentary rules of Freeze Tag. Rules for Freeze Tag are minimal and the amount of skill needed to fully participate depends on three variables: (a) the boundaries, (b) the number of “Chasers” (e.g., “It” or “Taggers”) and (c) the number of Fleeers (players avoiding the Chasers). So, let us visualize the first stage of playing this game and then consider modifications to the game that increase the amount of skill development and decision making opportunities (mental involvement) required to play. Given 30 children, and the size of the space (boundaries), it would make sense to designate three “Chasers” who have the job of running (or engaging in any mode of locomotor movement) after the Fleeers. In essence, these three children are a team and their job is to tag all the other Fleeers. If a Fleeer is tagged by a Chaser, he or she must freeze (stop in place) and can only re-enter the game if “unfrozen” by a child who is not a designated Chaser. Ultimately, the objective for the Chasers is to have all the players frozen so that none of the fleeing children can be unfrozen. By selecting three Chasers, the number of Fleeers now becomes 27. Each Chaser needs to pursue nine children each. Played in bouts of approximately two minutes at full speed, rarely are the Chasers able to freeze all the Fleeers. This means that very few children remain inactive and, if so, only for negligible periods of time. The decision-making opportunities at this point in the game are numerous for all participants. While each group appears to be a part of a team, there is no indication from the teacher that teamwork is needed and it is implied that all are playing for their own „survival‟ and benefit. This means that the Chasers are not specifically assigned to chase and tag only nine Fleeers and there is virtually no explicit opportunity to collude formally with their fellow Chasers

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regarding territory coverage or which specific fleeing children to hunt most vigorously. Furthermore, since frozen Fleeers can be unfrozen, keeping track of which ones have been tagged becomes too cumbersome and decisions regarding whom to chase and how to chase are being constantly formulated, acted on, and discarded or modified by the Chasers. For the Fleeers, decisions regarding where to place themselves within the boundaries and when it would be least “dangerous” to help another player are constantly being made. To incorporate children with disabilities, Chasers may wear a colored vest or sounding device worn on the belt. Locomotor movements used in Tag can be modified by using a wheelchair or by skipping. As the game begins, the qualified teacher is stationed on the periphery and observes the action and notes which aspects of the game may need to be altered to increase both MVPA and the chasing, fleeing, and dodging. Typically, children with experience in sport and rudimentary problem solving skills will move to spaces where they can see the entire space in front of them (e.g., a corner) and away from Chasers. This could lead to a smaller amount of MVPA for such children. A qualified teacher will notice this and amend the game during the next round and point out to all the players that the strategy used by those particular students was an effective strategy or a good decision. Spotlighting the strategy to the class now signals to the Chasers that more territory coverage is needed and to the Fleeers that they might want to adopt this strategy. To maximize the MVPA for the next round, the teacher can do one of three things: (a) decrease the boundaries, (b) increase the number of Chasers, or (c) both. Boundaries need to stand out and be easily recognizable or even tangible for children with cognitive delays or can be given a “safety zone” where they can be for 10 seconds or stand with another student‟s assistance in the safety zone. Prompts can also be used, especially in the early activity phases for children with delayed processing. Visual, verbal, or physical prompts from a classmate can also facilitate correct responses. Eventually, the skills of Freeze Tag are acquired by the children and the difficulty of this game can be increased. Using the same principles seen in Freeze Tag, the qualified teacher might then introduce a game called Partner Tag. In this modification, the fleeing children spread around the field in pairs, with their arms hooked. Again, there are multiple Chasers but there are also five players who are not partnered and who are Fleeers. The Fleeers run from the Chasers and are deemed safe if they can “hook elbows” with one of the pairs scattered on the field. When a Fleeer hooks elbows, the second person in that pair has to leave and becomes a Fleeer. When a tagging occurs, the roles simply reverse. Both of these alterations can be presented to the children as

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options and be progressively changed as children improve their skill. Concurrently, the speeds of a required movement can be changed as necessary or desired. In Partner Tag, the decision making both increases and changes. In addition to the decisions made in Freeze Tag by the Chasers and Fleeers, Fleeers now have to choose where to “hook onto” and the Fleeers who are partnered now have to decide when they can leave the partnership and how to escape from the Chaser, who is now in very close proximity. The Chasers now need to make a strategic decision, as how they chase a Fleeer can determine whether they can easily tag a Fleeer who is leaving a partnership. Added cognitive dissonance occurs via the role reversal that happens once a Chaser tags a Fleeer, because both players now have to quickly switch their mindset and alter their skills and tactics (e.g., changing from chasing to fleeing). A third variation of Tag provides yet more opportunity for decision making while engaging in MVPA. The game of Dribble Tag can be done in two ways. The easiest way the game is played requires that all Fleeers have a ball that can be dribbled by hand. The space can be the entire gymnasium or decreased, based on the teacher‟s assessment of the MVPA and skill level of the children. The Fleeers must dribble the entire time and, if tagged by a Chaser, must stop in place and dribble 10 times with the left hand and 10 with their right before being eligible for “unfreezing” by another dribbling Fleeer. Fleeers cannot unfreeze another Fleeer if the 20 dribbles have not been completed. The Chasers can be with or without a ball (depending on teacher‟s assessment) and, as with Freeze Tag, the Chasers attempt to have all Fleeers stopped at once. Another alteration to this game is to only allow half the Fleeers to have a ball. The Chasers can only tag those dribbling but a Fleeer can pass the ball to another Fleeer who does not have one to avoid being tagged. Low functioning children can be accommodated by changing speed requirements or using larger easier to hold balls or allowing dribbling with two hands. Beyond requiring both Chasers and Fleeers make decisions needed in the game, the addition of dribbling the ball (and/or passing it) requires players to think about how and where to dribble. The Chasers now will be in a position to decide how to chase a Fleeer and learn that failure to tag a Fleeer might be fine if they are also aware of the Fleeers without the ball and position themselves close to the Fleeers as well. This version of Tag combines two separate skills (chasing, fleeing, dodging and dribbling) that are often required in more complex games, such as basketball and team handball.

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FLOOR HOCKEY Floor Hockey focuses on manipulative skills. As described below, Floor Hockey can be designed to combine MVPA and high mental engagement and the game can be modified for children with disabilities. Floor Hockey is included in virtually all physical education curriculums for grades 4-8. The equipment needed is generally minimal and the physical activity requirement, if done correctly, can be vigorous. The „traditional‟ version of Floor Hockey is similar to of Ice Hockey in that there are five „floor‟ players and a goalie for each team. The objective is to put the puck (or a nearly bounceless ball) past the goalie of the other team while preventing the opposing team from doing likewise. The five „floor‟ players move about the playing area and use passing, moving, marking, and shooting strategies to perform the game. With one ball, 10 „floor‟ players, and two goalies, the floor players receive the greatest amount of MVPA and mental engagement. The goalies, however, experience minimal MVPA, and with only one ball, only one player at a time is practicing the manipulative skills included in Floor Hockey. Three modifications to the traditional version of Floor Hockey are presented below that increase children‟s mental engagement, and the modifications can be adopted to include children with disabilities. Perhaps the easiest alteration to traditional Floor Hockey to increase MVPA and mental engagement is simply to eliminate the position of goalie by using a small trash can turned on its side. The game now becomes 5 v. 5 or 6 v. 6 and goals are awarded if the ball is put into the can. This is called Trash Can Hockey. A further extension of the game to allow for even more MVPA and mental engagement can be achieved by having a qualified teacher decrease the size of the floor and boundaries, and the number of persons on each team. A slightly smaller floor and a 3 v. 3 format would force the players to cover more of the playing area and increase the number of touches one would receive. More touches and more space coverage increase both the MVPA (more running) and the number and quality of strategic decisions to be made (i.e., who to receive the pass, where to run, or defend against [two defenders marking an offensive player] when an opponent is open). Combining a lack of a goalie, with a small trash can as the goal, can increase the complexity of the game because a rule change can now stipulate that a shot cannot be blocked or caught as a goalie is typically allowed to do. This game, fortunately, requires few changes to accommodate low-functioning children. Arranging games with small numbers of players and limited boundaries and gradually moving to more “typical” formats are perfect physical education

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strategies. Teachers can use prompts such as calling a child‟s name (“Bryan!”) to signal that a pass is coming. Teammates can tap their sticks on the floor to signal when to pass or have a secret word (“Hamburger!”) when they want to signal to a child with disabilities when and to whom to pass the ball. The second version of the game, called Four Team Hockey, increases MVPA and mental engagement. It resembles less the typical Floor Hockey than the Trash Can Hockey described above. This version can accommodate more players and considerably more mental engagement is elicited and required from the players. Depending on the space available, a 5 v. 5 format could elicit as much MVPA as the 3 v. 3 format. In this version, the floor area is essentially the same. Instead of two goals (trash cans) and two teams, however, four trash cans and four teams are involved. Instead of placing two goals (trash cans) at each end of the floor as in the standard version of the game, four cans are placed in each corner of the playing space and numbered one through four. Additionally, three balls are used instead of one. Each team wears different colored pinnies (jerseys) and is assigned a number corresponding to a trash can. The objective is for each team to score by putting the ball in the can that corresponds to their team number. For example, Team One would try to score in the trash can marked Team One. While it seems that each team would just need to concentrate on scoring in their trash can, the team‟s score has to be higher than the other three teams in order to win. Consequently, defending the other three goals is just as important as scoring points. Such strategy requirements increase the importance of floor coverage and team tactics to the players. On the surface it appears that this version is not much different from the requirements of the version described above; the added complexity comes from players who now must be concerned with more than stopping one team. They cannot be focused on only one aspect of the game. With the increase in the number of balls in play, game activity is furious and more touches by players are possible. These tactical changes from Trash Can Hockey structure greatly increase players‟ mental engagement. If the group of children participating is less than 20 individuals necessary to constitute four teams of five players the same game can be played with two teams of 6-7 players. Two goals (diametrically opposed) can be assigned to each team and just one ball can be used. The MVPA and mental engagement are increased because larger floor coverage and strategy dilemmas remain. In this instance a teacher will have little trouble including children with cognitive disorders or who are in wheelchairs by altering the rules (see next paragraph). For example, children with visual impairments would benefit by having a

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sounding device attached to the trash can into which the child is supposed to shoot the ball. Adding rules to Trash Can Hockey provides a third adaptation that can elicit greater MVPA, skill development, and mental engagement than the traditional version. Similar to the first alteration presented above, teams of three to four players each would play but rules for scoring goals would be changed. For instance, a rule stipulating that each member of the team must have touched the ball at least once before a shot for a goal can be taken (or counted as an actual score) could be implemented. Altering the final objective transfers typical Floor Hockey into a skilled exercise called 21. As with the card and basketball-type games Blackjack and 21, this game requires each team to score the exactly 21 points before the other team. In this version, however, a ball shot into the trash can is worth two points and a shot that hits the side of the trash can is worth one point. The rules could be extended and made to more closely resemble basketball if there is a line from which a shot is taken. A ball neatly and cleanly shot into the trash can after the requisite number of passes or from behind a point on the floor would be worth three points. The added challenge in 21 is that this exact score must be achieved; exceeding this score is penalized with a loss of points. Thus, if a team with 20 points takes a shot and mistakenly puts the ball in the goal instead of just hitting the side of the goal, the team “busts” and their score falls back to 11 points. Offensively, this now provides an added consideration regarding which shots to take and from where to take them. This format also provides new defensive considerations. If a one-point shot would end the game, the defense would need to decide how to defend the sides of the trash can and not be concerned with players directly in front. They might even try to force a shot into the can on a deflection so that the opposing team would “bust.” Accommodating the inclusion of children with cognitive or learning disabilities might require labeling the balls with numbers and having the value of a ball in the can be worth a set number of points. Seeing the numbers will help children perform mathematic calculations as they keep score.

MONITORING SKILL DEVELOPMENT Content alone will not be enough to elicit the desired outcomes of skilled exercise. That is, the pedagogy underlying the game‟s strategies reflect carefully constructed objectives and be rich in content. The effective teaching

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literature (Rink, 2010; Rosenshine & Stevens, 1986) indicates that teacherstudent interaction is essential to student learning. While there are numerous approaches to teaching (Metzler, 2005; Mosston & Ashworth, 2002) it appears that the best way to help children obtain the requisite physical activity and interaction is best done so through a Direct Instruction Model (DIM). The DIM (Metzler, 2005) is a theoretically rigorous approach that is perhaps the best way to ensure requisite teacher-student interaction occurs. The DIM requires that (a) the teacher explain and demonstrate the skill and/or task, (b) the students practice the skill or task, and (c) the teacher provide group and individual feedback while extending (making it easier or harder, depending on student skill level) the task. Given the need for clear instruction, accurate demonstration, congruent feedback, and content development in applying the DIM, the need for a qualified physical education teacher to oversee and carry out these tasks cannot be overstated. Only a qualified physical education teacher will be able to properly execute the most important instructional task in the DIM; this is the assessment of the individual student‟s skill and game play performance, coupled with the application of congruent feedback about the performance. The qualified physical education teacher would best know when and how to extend a given task to ensure its appropriate use for individual students. Using the DIM for learning is hardly a novel idea in the PE literature (McCullick & Byra, 2002) as the use of models/styles of instruction rooted in general education were first introduced to physical education in 1966 by Muska Mosston. Throughout the 1980s, a solid body of work devoted to studying the efficacy of different styles emerged. It appears that the Direct Instruction approach to teaching motor skills (sport/games) was most efficacious for development (especially for rote and novel skills). While not the sole manner in which to teach games that elicit the appropriate MVPA, mental engagement, and skill performance, the DIM does provide a framework for teachers to provide exemplary instruction. We posit that along with the properly designed and altered activities, a physical education and/or physical activity program would be best delivered in this manner. In summary, we have offered two prototype games designed and altered to elicit both high levels of physical activity and mental engagement in children. The design of these two games is based on a large body of historical and pedagogical literature in physical education and an emerging exercise psychology literature that focuses on contextual interference and learning.

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Also provided are game modifications that ensure that the activities are inclusive for all children, regardless of physical and mental ability level.

“THOUGHT” ACTIVITIES Below, we offer three activities to further promote reflection and/or discussion. Please consider the scenario described in Box 1.

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Box 1 Mr. O‟Reilly notices that many of his fourth and fifth grade students have difficulty striking or catching moving objects even when given the most elementary and contrived tasks to practice them. One day he decided to videotape his students hitting “whiffleballs” thrown underhand with a plastic bat. He then spent time after school watching the video and his students‟ performance. After a few minutes of viewing, it dawned on Mr. O‟Reilly that he was only concentrating on the motor output (whether the student was successful in hitting the ball). Knowing that in doing so, he was failing his students by not concentrating on the motor process (the swing itself—stance, grip, weight transfer, swing) and thus not helping them advance. While composing his lesson plans for the next class session, Mr. O‟Reilly reorganizes his teaching activities by offering multiple opportunities for hitting practice such as hitting a ball off a tee and hitting a ball “soft-toss” style from the side by a skilled thrower before moving on to hitting a ball that is thrown overhand from the typical distance. This slight change in teaching activity allowed Mr. O‟Reilly to manage the sensory input by changing the status of the ball from a moving to a stationary target. Thus, the students were better able to concentrate on the skill cues needed to properly strike the ball before having to process the movement and direction of it. Practice in this manner (or playing a modified game of whiffle/base/softball) increases the chances of a learner being able to understand the skill cues needed and execute a swing more often so that a measure of mastery can be achieved.

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1. Pick a manipulative motor skill (dribbling, striking with a hockey stick, throwing and catching, etc.). Now, working back from the absolute performance of it design at least three modified activities that decrease the sensory input and enhance the ability to concentrate on the motor process. 2. Mr. O‟Reilly has another issue that arises. He wants to enhance skill development but also increase/maintain the level of moderate to vigorous physical activity. Using his scenario or the one you have created above, further design two activities/games that involve the modified practice of the skill while attaining and maintaining a moderate to vigorous level of physical activity. 3. Which is more important in developing a lifelong physically active person, skill or physical activity? Are they exclusive?

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Chapter 8

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FINAL COMMENTS It is only through movement that humans are able to meet and overcome the challenges they encounter everyday across their lifespan. Many movement patterns are genetically linked and are executed without conscious awareness, while other movements are acquired through experience and brought into play when specific environmental conditions are presented. Developmental scientists are interested in understanding how children come to control the execution of movement skills. Results obtained from research conducted in a number of relatively independent areas of study provide converging support for the importance of the structure of the instructional environment. When task demands change unexpectedly, mental engagement is heighten and longlasting learning is produced. Games and sports provide teachers a vehicle to arrange learning conditions that have the potential to alter the trajectory of children‟s mental development. Through attentive arrangement of instructional conditions and judicious use of methods of feedback, teachers can influence and guide the emergence of children‟s foundational executive processes. These mental processes have a direct effect on children‟s and adolescents‟ abilities to overcome daily physical and mental challenges.

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Thelen, E., & Smith, L. B. (1994). A dynamic systems approach to the development of cognition and action. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Tomporowski, P. D. (2006). Physical activity, cognition, and aging: A review of reviews. In L. W. Poon, W. J. Chodzko-Zajko & P. D. Tomporowski (Eds.), Active living, cognitive functioning, and aging (pp. 15-32). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Tomporowski, P. D., Davis, C. L., Miller, P. H., & Naglieri, J. A. (2008). Exercise and children's intelligence, cognition, and academic achievement. Educational Psychology Review, 20(2), 111-131. Trudeau, F., & Shepard, R. J. (2008). Physical education, school physical activity, school sports and academic performance. International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity, 5(10), DOI:10.1186/1479. Underwood, B. J. (1957). Psychological research. New York: AppletonCentury-Crofts, Inc. van Praag, H. (2008). Neurogenesis and exercise: Past and future directions. Neuromolecular Medicine, 10, 128-140. van Praag, H. (2009). Exercise and the brain: something to chew on. Trends in Neurosciences, 32(5), 283-290. Vaynman, S., & Gomez-Pinilla, F. (2006). Revenge of the "Sit": how lifestyle impacts neuronal and cognitive health through molecular systems that interface energy metabolism with neuronal plasticity. Journal of Neuroscience Research, 84, 699-715. Weber, E. U., & Johnson, E. J. (2009). Mindful judgment and decision making. Annual Review of Psychology, 60(1), 53-85. Will, B., Galani, R., Kelche, C., & Rosenzweig, M. R. (2004). Recovery from brain injury in animal: relative efficacy of environmental enrichment, physical exercise or formal training (1990-2002). Progress in Neurobiology, 72, 167-182. Wilson, M. (2002). Six views of embodied cognition. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 9(4), 625-636. Woodlee, M. T., & Schallert, T. (2006). The impact of motor activity and inactivity on the brain. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(4), 203-206. Xiang, P., Chen, A., & Bruene, A. (2005). Interactive impact of intrinsic motivators and extrinsic awards on behavior and motivation outcomes. Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 24, 179-197. Zagrodnik, J. A., & Horvat, M. (2009). Chronic exercise and developmental disabilities. In T. McMorris, P. D. Tomporowski & M. Audiffren (Eds.),

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Exercise and cognitive function (pp. 269-283). Chichester: John Wiley & Sons. Zelaso, P. D., & Frye, D. (1998). Cognitive complexity and control: II. The development of executive function in children. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 7(4), 121-126. Zelazo, P. D., Muller, U., Frye, D., & Marcovitch, S. (2003). The development of executive function. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 68, 1-28.

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INDEX

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A academic performance, vii, 51 academic tasks, 10 academics, 25, 45 achievement, 15, 16, 30, 45, 51 achievement test, 45 activation, 9, 12, 15, 20, 45 activity level, 44 acute, 49 adaptation, 2, 37 adaptive functioning, 5 ADHD, 49 adolescence, 10 adolescents, 12, 25, 28, 41, 44 adult, 27, 44, 46, 47 adulthood, 3, 10 adults, 6, 15, 16, 28, 45, 46, 49 aerobic, 12, 15, 16, 27, 45 aerobic exercise, 15, 16, 45 after-school, 29 age, 15, 44, 45 aging, 28, 45, 51 aid, 17 alternative, 16 alters, 45 American Heart Association, 29, 49 American Psychological Association, 46, 49

angiogenesis, 31, 44, 47 animal studies, 13 animals, 11, 12, 16 aptitude, 45 arousal, 17 assessment, 34, 38 automaticity, 19 awareness, 27, 31, 41

B back, 23, 37, 40 barriers, 44 basal ganglia, 7 basketball, 34, 37 BDNF, 16 behavior, vii, 1, 5, 8, 10, 11, 48, 51 behavioral change, 12 behavioral sciences, 46 beliefs, 29 benefits, 6, 10, 13, 15, 28, 29, 30, 31 birth, 11 body weight, 25 Boston, 44, 47, 49 brain, 1, 6, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 23, 31, 45, 46, 47, 49, 51 brain injury, 13, 51 brain structure, 1, 12, 31, 46 bust, 37

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Index

54

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C capillary, 11 central executive, 44 central nervous system, 4 cerebellum, 31, 45, 46, 47 cerebral cortex, 6 cerebral function, 45 certification, 29 changing environment, 1 childhood, 3, 10, 11, 27, 43, 47 children, vii, 1, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52 citizens, 24, 27 classes, 16, 27, 28 classroom, 5 classroom settings, 5 CNS, 12, 16 codes, 19 coding, 19 cognition, 9, 15, 16, 17, 44, 45, 46, 47, 50, 51 cognitive ability, 32 cognitive development, 9, 11, 16, 45, 46 cognitive disorders, 15, 36 cognitive dissonance, 34 cognitive function, 15, 16, 17, 45, 51, 52 cognitive performance, 10, 16 cognitive process, vii, 9, 11, 17, 48 cognitive psychology, 2 cognitive tasks, 15 communities, 46 community, 1 competence, 28 competition, 24 complexity, 35, 36, 43, 45, 46, 52 components, 5, 10 Congress, iv connectionist, 48 conscious awareness, 41 consciousness, 1 consensus, 4 construction, 47

contextual interference, 13, 38 control, 1, 8, 9, 11, 19, 41, 44, 45, 46, 52 controlled studies, 15 cortex, 12, 44, 45, 47, 49 costs, 49 critical analysis, 49 criticism, 6 cross-sectional, 15 cues, 39 curriculum, 23, 25, 31

D decision making, 16, 29, 32, 34, 48, 51 decisions, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35 declarative knowledge, 7 defense, 37 definition, 25, 27 delivery, 24, 25, 31 detection, 4 developing brain, 44 developmental delay, 9 developmental disabilities, 51 developmental disorder, 50 developmental psychology, 50 Diamond, 10, 11, 45 DIM, 38 disabilities, 32, 33, 35, 36, 37 diseases, 12 diversity, 48 dribbling, 34, 40 drinking, 20 dynamic systems, 51 dynamical system, 50 dynamical systems, 50

E ears, 10 eating, 20 Education, v, 23, 25, 27, 29, 44, 48, 49, 51 educators, 3, 16, 27 elbows, 33

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Index

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elementary school, 10, 30, 32, 47 embodied cognition, 9, 51 emotional, 24 encoding, 6 engagement, vii, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 13, 19, 27, 28, 30, 35, 36, 37, 38, 41 England, 48 environment, 1, 3, 4, 29, 30, 41 environmental conditions, 8, 10, 19, 41 environmental context, 17 epidemic, 25, 27 episodic memory, 6 Europe, 24 evolution, 1, 46, 50 execution, 41 executive function, vii, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 16, 17, 20, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 52 executive functioning, vii, 5, 10, 48 executive functions, 4, 5, 9, 12, 20, 43, 46, 47, 48 executive processes, 4, 8, 20, 23, 41 exercise, 12, 15, 16, 23, 28, 30, 31, 37, 38, 43, 44, 48, 49, 51 eye, 31

F fabric, 50 failure, 34 false belief, 44 feedback, 10, 30, 38, 41 film, 29 fitness, 24, 28, 32, 43, 45, 50 focusing, 24 food, 12, 24 fossil, 50 frontal cortex, 16 frontal lobe, 48 fuel, 5

55

G games, vii, 1, 8, 13, 20, 25, 27, 28, 30, 31, 34, 35, 37, 38, 40 ganglia, 7 general education, 38 general intelligence, 46 goal attainment, 2, 20 goal-directed, 8 goal-directed behavior, 8 goals, 12, 30, 35, 36, 37, 46 grades, 35 groups, 1, 25, 30 growth, 11, 50 gymnastics, 24

H hands, 34 health, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30, 32, 51 Heart, 29, 30, 49 heart rate, 30 hippocampus, 6, 50 hiring, 29 hockey, 40 human, 1, 4, 6, 9, 47, 49, 50 human brain, 49 human cerebral cortex, 47 human cognition, 1, 9 Human Kinetics, 46, 48, 51 humans, 3, 12, 41 hypothesis, 16

I ice, 24 imaging, 45 immigration, 24 impairments, 36 implementation, 23 inactive, 32 inclusion, 37 income, 28 indication, 32

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Index

56

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individual differences, vii individual students, 38 infancy, 3 infants, 9, 12 information processing, 6, 43 inhibition, 5, 8, 10, 11, 50 injury, iv, 12 instruction, 28, 38 instructional methods, 7, 30 instructors, 28, 29 insults, 12 integration, 43 integrity, 16 intellectual development, 24 intelligence, 15, 16, 51 interaction, 28, 38, 50 interactions, 9, 47 interface, 51 interface energy, 51 interference, 7, 20, 44 interrelations, 3 intervention, 27, 50 intrinsic, 51 Investigations, 1

J judgment, 51

K kindergarten, 5, 44 knowledge acquisition, 29

L labeling, 37 language, 1 learners, 3, 13, 20, 49 learning, vii, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12, 19, 20, 27, 31, 37, 38, 41, 43, 45, 46, 47, 48, 50 learning disabilities, 37 learning task, 3

lesson plan, 39 lifespan, 28, 41 lifestyle, 28, 51 lifetime, 27, 28, 29 limbic system, 6 literacy, 5, 44 London, 48 low-income, 28

M magnetic, iv maintain balance, 11 mandates, 29 mastery, 39 mathematics, 44 maturation, 11, 50 measurement, 6 measures, 15, 30 memory, 5, 6, 8, 10, 43, 44, 45, 48, 49, 50 mental ability, 15, 39 mental development, 10, 21, 32, 41 mental health, 23 mental model, 19 mental processes, vii, 3, 4, 5, 8, 41 metabolism, 51 MIT, 48, 51 modeling, 48 models, 38, 48 monkeys, 49 motivation, 20, 28, 30, 31, 51 motor actions, 2, 20 motor activity, 31, 51 motor function, 49 motor skills, 27, 38, 49 movement, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 16, 19, 27, 31, 32, 34, 39, 41, 49 muscle, 2, 7, 20, 49 muscle contraction, 2, 7, 20 muscles, 11 music, 24

Role of Contextual Interference and Mental Engagement on Learning, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010.

Index

N nation, 49 natural, 2 nervous system, 12 neural network, 12, 16, 17, 19 neural networks, 12, 16, 17, 19 neurogenesis, 44 neuronal plasticity, 51 neurons, 48 neurophysiology, 28 neuroplasticity, 13 neuropsychology, 44 neuroscience, 46, 50 New York, iii, iv, 44, 45, 46, 48, 49, 50, 51 non-human, 12 non-human primates, 12 normal, 11 North America, 24

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O obese, 25 obesity, 25, 27, 28 observations, 3 old age, 45 older adults, 15, 16, 45 online, 5 overweight, 25, 28, 45

P partnership, 34 passive, 12 pathways, 4, 6 pedagogical, 29, 38 pedagogy, 28, 30, 37 pendulum, 25 perception, 16 perceptual processing, 16 philosophy, 23, 24 phylogenetic, 20

57 physical activity, vii, 1, 9, 10, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35, 38, 40, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 51 physical education, vii, 2, 12, 17, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 35, 38, 48, 49, 50 physical exercise, 16, 51 physical well-being, 24 physiological, 23 planning, 8, 10 plastic, 39 plasticity, 44, 45, 47, 48, 51 play, vii, 1, 4, 5, 8, 11, 23, 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 36, 37, 38, 41, 47, 49 pleasure, 20 policy makers, 25 preadolescents, 49 predictors, 44 prefrontal cortex, 45 preschool, 46 preschool children, 46 preschoolers, 5 pretraining, 43 prevention, 44 primates, 12 proactive interference, 45 problem solving, 3, 10, 13, 33 problem-solving, 5, 9, 10, 11, 19, 30 problem-solving task, 11, 19 procedural knowledge, 7 procedural memory, 8 production, 16 program, 8, 19, 23, 28, 29, 30, 38, 45 programming, 4 proteins, 16 prototype, 38 psychology, 23, 28, 38, 43 psychostimulants, 49 public, 28, 29 public health, 28

Q questioning, 32

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Index

58 questionnaires, 30

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R rash, 36 rat, 47 rats, 44 reading, 5 reality, 3, 46 reasoning, 1, 9, 16 recall, 6, 49 recovery, 13, 49 recreation, 29 reflection, 39 regulation, 8 rehabilitation, 13 relationships, 31 religion, 24 resolution, 7 resource allocation, 6 resources, 4, 6 retention, 7, 9 rewards, 5 risk, 47 risk factors, 47 rodent, 11 routines, vii

S safety, 33 schema, 50 school, 10, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 32, 39, 47, 50, 51 scores, 5, 45 secret, 36 sedentary, 27 selecting, 32 self-report, 30 semantic, 6 semantic information, 6 semantic memory, 6 sequencing, 2, 7, 20 series, 3, 12, 32

services, iv severity, 25 shape, 1, 19 shoot, 37 short-term, 43 signals, 33 skill acquisition, 16, 27 skills, 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 27, 28, 29, 31, 33, 34, 35, 38, 41, 44, 46, 49 social group, 1 socialization, 11 spatial, 44 specialization, 11 species, 1 specificity, 12 speed, 16, 32, 34 sports, 25, 41, 51 stages, 19, 20 standards, 25 stimulus, 1, 4 storage, 6 strategies, 2, 5, 6, 29, 31, 35, 36, 37 strategy use, 33 strength, 24 stress, 10, 12 stroke, 12 structural changes, 11 students, 27, 29, 30, 33, 38, 39 supply, 31 suppression, 46 survival, 1, 3, 32 susceptibility, 45 switching, 5, 44 synaptogenesis, 31, 44

T tactics, 31, 34, 36 tangible, 31, 33 task conditions, 8, 19 task demands, 8, 41 teacher preparation, 29 teachers, 17, 27, 29, 38, 41 teaching, 1, 23, 24, 30, 37, 38, 39, 48, 50 temporal, 2

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Index territory, 33 timing, 20 training, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 20, 24, 31, 51 trajectory, 10, 41 transfer, 3, 7, 9, 10, 39 transitions, 46 treatment methods, 12 trial, 7, 45 truism, 7

U unification, 46 universities, 46 updating, 50

vocabulary, 5 vortex, 48

W war, 24 wear, 33 well-being, 23, 24 wheelchair, 33 winning, 29 women, 25 working memory, 5, 10, 43, 44, 50 World War, 24 writing, 5

Y V

yield, 28

Z zeitgeist, 24

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variability, 46 variables, 17, 32 variation, 34 videotape, 39 visuospatial, 43

59

Role of Contextual Interference and Mental Engagement on Learning, Nova Science Publishers, Incorporated, 2010.