Connecting Theory to Practice – Effective Ways of Teaching Motor Learning Course for Undergraduate Physical Education Students

Abstract

Motor learning is an important subject and is a required course for undergraduate students who major in health and physical education according to NASPE standards two. The objective of motor learning courses at the undergraduate level is to prepare our students to be competent to teach motor skills in the future. However, teaching the motor learning course effectively at this level is truly challenging due to the abstractness of the motor learning theories which are largely based on laboratory experiments. Many times students" motivation of learning could be compromised due to a potential disconnect between theory and practice of motor learning course in general. Thus, the purpose of this paper is twofold: (a) to illustrate the obstacles of teaching motor learning courses, and (b) to introduce the effective ways of connecting theory to practice for teaching motor learning at the undergraduate level.