Different instructional methods affect the acquisition and performance of sport stacking

Abstract

Sport stacking has gained increasing attention from all walks of life, including students, parents, teachers, physical educators, coaches and other practitioners with the emergence of evidence that it is able to facilitate cognitive, physical or perceptual motor skills. However, little is known about how to improve the acquisition and learning of the sport stacking skill. As such, the purpose of this study was to determine the best type of instructional methods (demonstration only and a combination of demonstration with verbal instructions) on the performance of sport stacking in novices. Thirty participants were recruited to participate in this study and were randomly assigned into the demonstration group (DG) or combination of demonstration and verbal instructions group (DVIG). Participants were shown a short video on how to perform sport stacking, whereby DG watched the demonstration with a muted sound, while DVIG watched the video with sound. Following that, participants were given the chance to practice for 15 minutes before completing three trials of the sport stacking cycle whereby total time (seconds) was recorded. The independent sample t-test was used to compare the means of DG with DVIG. The findings indicated that there were no differences between the two experimental groups (p = 0.681). It appeared that presenting information by way of demonstration or a combination of demonstration and verbal instructions were two possible ways to deliver information concerning how to perform sport stacking for novices. Discussions are presented from the viewpoint of demonstrations providing sufficient and relevant information as well as from the standpoint of verbal instructions being redundant for the learning of sport stacking skills.