Problem-solving prior to instruction in learning motor skills - initial self-determined practice improves javelin throwing performance

A question that many parents face when their child learns motor skills like riding a bicycle concerns the temporal order of instruction and self-determined practice. In physical education, a systematic evaluation of this temporal order on learning outcomes is so far missing. In the present study, ninety 7th graders learned javelin throwing. They either received instruction on the technical movement features of javelin throwing before self-determined practice (I-PS), or they started with self-determined practice and received the instruction afterwards (PS-I). We measured changes in throwing distance and changes in performance of technical features of the throws. Students with PS-I, but not students with I-PS, significantly increased javelin throwing distance and improved technical features. We discuss potential underlying mechanisms of these effects, in particular the role of awareness of knowledge gaps through initial practice that could be elaborated on during subsequent instruction, and the suppression of implicit learning processes with instruction.