Learning design for Nonlinear Dynamical Movement Systems

Abstract

This paper discusses a theoretical basis for a sport pedagogy predicated on a conception of the learner as a nonlinear dynamical movement system. Here key ideas in ecological dynamics are elucidated before implications are considered for designing performance simulations to enhance learning in sport. It is argued that this approach to learning design in sport can provide practititioners with a relevant model of the learner and of learning processes. A key idea in ecological dynamics proposes that the relevant scale of analysis for understanding human behaviours such as learning is the person-environment relationship, not either entity considered separately. The paper concludes by discussing five prin-ciples of learning design implied by a commitment to an ecological dynamics approach to human behavior.