Differential teaching and learning

In a concluded project, we critically examined the approach of differential learning (DL) proposed by Schöllhorn (1999). According to DL, movement learning should be organized with great variability – optimally without any repetition – and without technique-related feedback (see video). In theoretical articles investigating this concept (Künzell & Hossner, 2012, 2013), we showed that: the claimed practical consequences are neither theoretically nor empirically founded, the distinction from competing learning theories is incomplete and flawed, and the approach does not hold up in practice. Moreover, we provided experimental evidence that interventions in which movement variants are presented in a structured manner and the executed movements are corrected – both contradictory to the basic assumptions of DL – produced superior performance compared to DL interventions (Hossner et al., 2016a,b; for independent meta-analytic confirmation, see Tassignon et al., 2021). Movement learning in sports should therefore be shaped in line with the current state of knowledge in motor theory (see, e.g., Hossner et al., 2020).

Selected Publications:

Hossner, E.-J., Käch, B. & Enz, J. (2016a). On the optimal degree of fluctuations in practice for motor learning. Human Movement Science, 47, 231–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2015.06.007

Hossner, E.-J., Käch, B. & Enz, J. (2016b). On experimental designs, differencial learning, theoretical issues, dynamical systems, and the capability to adapt: Response to Schöllhorn. Human Movement Science, 47, 246–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.humov.2015.11.019

Hossner, E.-J., Kredel, R. & Franklin, D. W. (2020). Practice. In D. Hackfort & R. J. Schinke (Eds.), The Routledge international encyclopedia of sport and exercise psychology (pp. 532–554). Routledge.

Künzell, S. & Hossner, E.-J. (2012). Differenzielles Lehren und Lernen: Eine Kritik. Sportwissenschaft, 42(2), 83–95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12662-012-0251-y

Künzell, S. & Hossner, E.-J. (2013). Differenzielles Lehren und Lernen: Eine Erwiderung. Sportwissenschaft, 43(1), 61–62. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12662-013-0287-7

Literature:

Schöllhorn, W. I. (1999). Individualität – ein vernachlässigter Parameter? Leistungssport, 29(2), 5–12.

Tassignon, B., Verschueren, J., Baeyens, J.-P., Benjaminse, A., Gokeler, A., Serrien, B. & Clijsen, R. (2021) An exploratory meta-analytic review on the empirical evidence of differential learning as an enhanced motor learning method. Frontiers in Psychology, 12:533033. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.533033

Contact:

Ernst-Joachim Hossner