Reference

Chow, J. Y., Button, C., Lee, M. C. Y., Morris, C., & Shuttleworth, R. (2023). Advice from “pracademics” of how to apply ecological dynamics theory to practice design. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living, 5.

🚀 Article in 3 Sentences

1. The aim of the article was to get honest insights from different pracademics to help with issues related to pedagogical approaches based on ecological dynamics.
2. The experienced ‘pracademics’ explore some key questions around the implementation of Ecological Dynamics into practice.
3. The last section explores some of the hurdles that are faced in the implementation of Eco D in practice.

🤝Impressions

👨‍🏫Who should read this?

🎾How Article will influence my coaching

• Being clear of the Learning Objectives (Intentions?) and how you’ll integrate the key pedagogical principles into a practice are key for coaches
• Even though what eventually emerges may be different to what you predict, planning is still crucial to successfully apply Ecological Dynamics. One way you can do this is have a scaffold rather than a set plan
• Assessment shapes both the performers behaviour and the teachers behaviour. This is why it’s important to try design assessment tasks that are based on the design principles of NLP
• Designing tasks that allow athletes to explore new opportunities without over-constraining and losing representativeness can be a big challenge. Reduce without impoverishing
• Because it's a non-linear process it's incompatible to measure it's efficacy in a linear way. Because it harder to show cause and effect of the methods, it can be difficult for practitioners as this is often what is valued by key stakeholders
• Really love the phrase ‘observe to design and design to observe’
• Ecological Dynamics can challenge one's view of the world, but it also allows for dynamic thoughts instead of fixed and explicit processes. Some coaches find this freedom of thought empowering both inside and outside of the coaching context, helping them make deeper connections to the wider world and sense-making.

📃Takeaways for coaches

• Some of the features of non-linear learning can be intuitive for practitioners

-Non-proportional changes in behaviour during practice

-Multiple ways of moving to achieve the task goal