Practice time is perhaps the single most critical element in the learning of swimming skills.  An inspirational quote by Publius Syrus about the value of practice, he said: “Practice is the best of all instructors.”  In today’s blog, let’s take an in-depth look at nine research-based practice considerations.  The best, most effective instructors consciously or unconsciously utilize these nine methods when they are teaching:

1. Maximize Practice Time: Maximizing practice time should be a primary concern of every swimming instructor when it comes to the design of a learning experience.  Practice is the “mother of learning.” Practice is king!
2. Design Appropriate Learning Experiences: To teach swimming skills or concepts to swim lesson students, instructors must design learning experiences that lead the learners from where they are to the desired objective or goal of performing the skill correctly.  Without appropriate learning experiences, swimmers of all ages and abilities will struggle.
3. Quality of Practice: Not just practice, but quality practice has the greater potential to contribute to learning (Ashy, Lee, and Landin, 1988; Buck Harrison and Bryce, 1991; Goldberger and Gerney, 1990; Silverman, 1985).  Regardless of the success level of a student at a task, if they are practicing a skill incorrectly, it is highly unlikely that they will learn the proper way to perform that skill.
4. Degree of Engagement: Cognitive engagement during practice is more likely to be effective (Magill, 1989).  Using Checks for Understanding, and a variety of activities and games can enhance the degree of engagement.
5. Class Organization and Class Management: Several studies reported that a very small amount of practice time is spent in appropriate practice. (Godbout, Brunelle, and Tousignant, 1983; Metzler, 1989).  When investigators looked how teachers were spending time, they discovered that much time was actually being wasted because of poor organization and management, as well as by simply talking too much to students about what to do and how to do it (long, wordy instructions).  Students were waiting their turn or spending much of their time just listening.
6. The Learning Experience Must be Appropriate: The most effective teachers understand that students profit from a learning experience that is appropriate to their level of ability.  If there is a range of abilities, skilled and experienced teachers use skill progressions that make the skill achievable for each student. Swimming instructors must design learning experiences that challenge students, yet are within reach of all students in the class.“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children, play is serious learning. In fact, play is the real work of childhood.”  – Fred “Mister” Rogers
7. Integrate “Play” within the Practice: Practice is more meaningful when “play” or “games” are incorporated into the lesson.  Play makes learning more fun and more meaningful.
8. Plan for Repetition while using Distributed Practice: Effective teachers understand that skills are learned through practice.  However, they don’t spend an entire lesson on one skill (Massed Practice).  They used Distributed Practice by spacing practice throughout a session or over several months as its’ proven to be more beneficial than spending an entire lesson practicing one skill.
9. Plan for Safety: While increasing practice time is the goal, one exception to maximum activity would be if it could cause a class to be unsafe.

I would invite you to look at a few of my blogs like this one on the use of progressive flotation vest. The use of a progressive flotation vest can give you the best of both worlds.   A safer environment and maximum activity.   This blog also several videos embedded in the blog to demonstrate the points.

In fact, the benefits don’t end there. You can customize the level of buoyancy so it can lead to the student desired objective or goal of performing the skill correctly.   The flotation vest also improves the quality of practice allowing children to perform skills correctly because they have better body position in the water vs. decreasing the quality because they aren’t strong enough or proficient enough to perform the skill yet.

By using the Progressive Flotation device, you can gradually reduce the buoyancy as they become stronger at the skill, therefore you are implementing the progression principle. It also makes the learning experience more appropriate as you can challenge students but yet the skill is achievable.  You give the students just enough support to be safe and successful.

If you can implement these proven pedagogy practices in your learn-to-swim classes, you will take your teaching to a whole new level and your students will flourish under your guidance! I hope you found this blog on Research-based Practice Methods helpful. Thank you for visiting!

The International Swimming Hall of Fame has named Jim Reiser the recipient of the 2015 Virginia Hunt Newman Award for his curriculum and approach in teaching infants, toddlers, and children to swim.  Jim is the first American to win the award in 10 years.

If you would like to learn more about the Swim Lessons University certification program and curriculum, make sure to visit us at www.SwimLessonsUniversity.com 

We have training and certification programs designed for both private instructors as well as organizations like YMCAs, Recreation Departments, Athletic Clubs, and more.

Swim Lessons University is currently being utilized by recreation departments, YMCAs, America Camp Association swim lessons programs, as well as by private swimming instructors in 45 states and over 30 countries!

You can also call us toll free at 1-866-498-SWIM (7946).

If you are teaching a new skill and want to communicate to your students how this skill should be performed, what is the most likely way you would communicate this information? A Demonstration! When demonstrations are used in conjunction with verbal descriptions, they provide the learner with invaluable sources of information, therefore improving the efficiency and effectiveness of skill acquisition.

There are SIX factors that we need to consider before giving demonstrations:

1. Status of the model (Landers and Landers, 1973)
2. When the model should begin demonstrating  (Gentile, 1972 & Landers, 1975)
3. Correctness of the demonstration (Landers and Landers, 1973)
4. Observing incorrect demonstrations (Weir & Leavitt, 1990)
5. Frequency of demonstrations (Hand & Sidaway , 1992)
6. Demonstrations that include both visual and auditory modeling (Doody, Bird, & Ross, 1985)

Status of the model (Landers and Landers, 1973)

One of the first things to consider when deciding about demonstrating a skill is, who should do the demonstration. It may be surprising to find that the status of who demonstrates the skill can be influential in establishing the effectiveness of the demonstration.   For example, consider the experiment by Landers and Landers in which they compared skilled and unskilled models that were either the teacher or student peers. Results indicated that the teacher was a more effective model when skilled at performing the task. I agree. However, there are times when student demonstrations are also very effective.   If the student is capable of demonstrating accurately, especially in swimming, the instructor can keep the students attention focused on the important aspects of the skill or performance.

When the model should begin demonstrating (Gentile, 1972 & Landers, 1975)

Another decision that must be made about the use of a model is when the model should begin demonstrating a skill to best facilitate learning.   This decision concerns whether to begin demonstrating the skill before practice begins or after some practice has occurred. One argument promotes demonstrating before practice begins so that the students have the idea of what the skill looks like when it is performed.   This approach would be in keeping with Gentile’s (1972) proposal that the goal of the first stage of learning is to “get the idea of the movement.”

An alternative to this approach is to allow students to first try the skill on their own after being provided with information about the goal of the movement and some basic verbal instructions about how to perform the skill (Landers, 1975).   This approach emphasizes initial trial-and-error practice and may help the student to develop some initial coordination, as well as learn some movement characteristics that won’t work. So after some initial exploration, the model could then be introduced.

These results suggest that introducing a model before practice begins is an appropriate technique. However, it is advisable to provide an opportunity for students to observe the model at other times during practice, in addition to this initial opportunity. These results also suggest that there are situations in which allowing students the opportunity to initially explore how the skill can be done before introducing the model can be beneficial.   Personally, I use both of these demonstration techniques in my swimming lessons.

Frequency of demonstrations (Hand and Sidaway, 1992)

Although it is recommended that a skill be demonstrated before practicing a skill, it would also be beneficial to demonstrate the skill at various times during practice.   The question that arises is, if the skill should be demonstrated during practice, how frequently?

A more recent student by Hand and Sidaway (1992) suggests that more frequency may be better than less frequency. This study has its flaws when it comes to learning to swim because the experiment had to do with hitting golf balls into a target.   What’s interesting is that the group that observed a skilled model before every shot vs. another group observed before every 5^th shot and another before every 10^th shot.   The results showed the group who saw the learner model before every shot did better than the other groups.

I would argue that while this approach may be absolutely true for hitting a golf ball, it would not work for swimming.   My conclusion is predicated on the significantly decreased practice time, which is the best of instructors.   Watching a golf swing takes seconds. Whereas watching a swimming demonstration could take minutes, severely reducing the invaluable practice time.

Correctness of the demonstration (Landers and Landers, 1973; Gould and Roberts, 1982) & Observing incorrect demonstrations (Weir & Leavitt, 1990)

A common conclusion about a model’s performance of the skill is that the skill should be performed correctly.   The studies by Landers and Landers (1973) showed that a skilled teacher as a model led to better student performances than the unskilled teacher. Gould and Roberts (1982) stated that “High-status” models must accurately and skillfully portray the skill.

Why would the more accurate demonstrations lead to better learning?   The most likely reason is that the student is asked to try the skill after having seen a demonstration of it, the student typically tries to imitate as closely as possible what the skilled model did.

Lastly, we cannot forget how the learner can benefit from a “compare and contrast” approach. I have found this method extremely useful. When the learner can see the difference, the “compare and contrast” approach to demonstrations has proven over and over to get better results.

Allow me to share with you a video example of this approach during one of my classes:

Demonstrations that include both visual and auditory modeling (Doody, Bird, & Ross, 1985)

For a student to get the most from a demonstration, the teacher must guide their observations. The critical aspects of the skill should be highlighted verbally and, if possible, visually through freezing the action at critical points (as we do in teaching Breaststroke Arms while using the Traffic Light model) or verbally overemphasizing important aspects of the skill.

Some also remember the visual cues and verbal cues of a skill better if they are provided with information regarding why a skill is performed in a certain way.

Lastly, before teachers have students practicing a skill, swimming instructors should check the students’ understanding of what they have observed. This can be done by asking questions after an observation or by asking students to demonstrate what they are trying to do. It can also be done by asking students to look for particularly important points during the observation and checking for understanding afterward.

Allow me to share with you another video example of this approach during one of my swim lessons:

If you can implement these proven pedagogy practices and motor learning principles in your swim lessons, you will take your teaching to a whole new level and your students will flourish under your guidance!  I hope you found this blog helpful. Thank you for visiting The Swim Professor Blog!  .

The International Swimming Hall of Fame has named Jim Reiser the recipient of the 2015 Virginia Hunt Newman Award for his curriculum and approach in teaching infants, toddlers, and children to swim.  Jim is the first American to win the award in 10 years.

If you would like to learn more about the Swim Lessons University certification program and curriculum, make sure to visit us at www.SwimLessonsUniversity.com 

We have training and certification programs designed for both private instructors as well as organizations like YMCAs, Recreation Departments, Athletic Clubs, and more.

Swim Lessons University is currently being utilized by recreation departments, YMCAs, America Camp Association swim lessons programs, as well as by private swimming instructors in 45 states and over 30 countries!

You can also call us toll free at 1-866-498-SWIM (7946).

Writing about this activity has  “I Saw Esau,”  playing over and over in my head, a song made famous by the Ames Brothers in 1956!  At any rate, if you’re looking for a fun breath control game for swimming lessons that will take the monotony out of your rhythmic bobs, your learn to swim students will certainly enjoy this one:

This is not an activity for true beginners, as children would need to have some basic air exchange skills as a prerequisite for this activity.   It would work perfectly, however,  in the Swim Lessons University Swim Strokes 201 or 202 Lesson Plan though for sure!

The International Swimming Hall of Fame has named Jim Reiser the recipient of the 2015 Virginia Hunt Newman Award for his curriculum and approach in teaching infants, toddlers, and children to swim.  Jim is the first American to win the award in 10 years.

If you would like to learn more about the Swim Lessons University certification program and curriculum, make sure to visit us at www.SwimLessonsUniversity.com  We have training and certification programs designed for both private instructors as well as organizations like YMCAs, Recreation Departments, Athletic Clubs, and more.

Swim Lessons University is currently being utilized by recreation departments, YMCAs, America Camp Association swim lessons programs, as well as by private swimming instructors in 45 states and over 30 countries!

You can also call us toll free at 1-866-498-SWIM (7946).

Each of us make lasting impressions on children, and far more by our actions than words.   As swimming instructors we are making impressions every day, so when my father-in-law asked me to share this with my friends–YOU, my colleagues, were the first ones I thought of… ENJOY!

One great new theme that my young swim lesson students  have really enjoyed is an “Invisible Buddy Day.”  While adults may find it a little bizarre, young children love hanging out with “invisible buddies!”  I can’t tell you how much fun this can make a strokes class for a four or five year old.  In fact, our Swim Lessons University Swimming Instructors are loving it too!

According to Dr. Bergan, who interviewed with Parenting Magazine, these pals can actually be healthy for kids. “Playing with a make-believe sidekick can help children develop the social skills such as getting along with other children, sharing, cooperation, and taking turns.”

I like to have my young students teach their invisible friend the stroke cues, tell them to praise their “invisible buddy” for a good job, and even tell their invisible buddy how to perform the skill better–but reminding my students to make sure they are telling their invisible buddies what they did well too so they don’t feel bad.

According to Dr. Bergen, “Invisible pals can also provide moral support, just as a real friend would.”

Give it a try in your Swim Strokes 201 class (ages 3-5) class.  Your young learn-to-swim students will love it!

Make sure to check out our brand new home page video on Swim Lessons University. The video, also available on YouTube, is called What is Swim Lessons University?” In just over eight minutes, all your questions will be answered.

By watching this video you will learn all about Swim Lessons University. Whether you are a new start up business or an established one, a parent or teacher, whether you are a Red Cross, SwimAmerica, or Y program–you going to love the tips, ideas, and strategies you will discover at Swim Lessons University.

Maybe most importantly, you may be just looking for a swim instructor training program that is convenient and affordable. Swim Lessons University is a turn-key training program and you get to train all your swim teachers in house. You can adapt the entire Swim Lessons University system for your program or you can take bits and pieces. Whatever works for you! What’s most important to me is that we are all doing what we love to do—giving children a lifelong gift, teaching them how to swim and how to be safer in and around the water.

The Swim Lessons University system has been tested, tried, and proven. Jim Reiser’s approach has even been endorsed by
· Late, legendary, Olympic Swimming Coach Richard Quick
· WABC Executive Director and National Swim School Association Founder Steve Graves
· World renowned Author and coach Ernest Maglischo And many more

Questions?
Call us Toll Free at 1-866-498-SWIM (7946)