Learning through experience

1  Infants learn to move and interact with their environment through experience: what they learn and how fast they learn is influenced by the interaction between factors situated within the infant (physical and psychosocial ) and the opportunities for learning provided by the social and physical environment.

2  For any given task or activity an infant's abilities and motor behavior can only be understood by considering the interplay between the child, the task and the environment 

3  Learning occurs when the infant is interested, motivated and engaged. It is an active process of exploration of options for achieving a goal.  

4  Learning is task specific: we learn what we practice. 

5  Infant learning is a progressive process - new abilities expand and elaborate on established task specific abilities and knowledge. 

All experience reflects the complex interaction between many factors

Max explores a side arm throw 
Involves visual pickup, postural anticipation and alignment of segments, wind-up, developing force, responding the perturbation created by throwing action, regaining balance. 

Toddler side arm throw 1_1.jpg   Toddler side arm throw 2_1.jpg   Toddler side arm throw 4_1.jpg

Max knocking over skittles 
Max understands the task, waits for me to position the bottles, leans forward to align the ball with the bottles and throws.  

Toddler skittles 2_1.jpg   Toddler skittles 5_1.jpg   Toddler skittles 7_1.jpg  

Providing just-right experience: task and environment selection, adaptation and progression 

By carefully analyzing all the factors that affect child's ability to perform ball related activities using a task-child-environment approach, I can select activities that are appropriate and adapt the tasks and environment to allow the child to succeed. 

In this way I know that I am making the most effective use of the time I share with the child or children, and that I am able to progressively adapt the tasks to improve the child's ball handling abilities. 


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