ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Sports Act. Living
Sec. Physical Education and Pedagogy
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fspor.2025.1605959
This article is part of the Research TopicBuilding Health Through Physical Activity in Schools - Volume IIView all 14 articles
The effects of the implementation order of implicit and explicit learning methods on learners' task enjoyment and motor skill acquisition
Provisionally accepted- 1Department of Health and Physical Education, Cooperative Faculty of Education, Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya, Japan
- 2Department of Health Informatics, Faculty of Healthcare Management, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata, Japan
- 3Okinawa Prefectural Education Center, Okinawa, Japan
- 4Faculty of Education, Tokoha University, Shizuoka,, Japan
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Purpose: This study aimed to explore the effect of the order of two learning methods (one based on implicit and another on explicit learning) on students’ enjoyment and ability to acquire motor skills in gymnastics. Apparatus gymnastics courses for pre-service teachers were analyzed using information and communication technology. Methods: The participants were 21 pre-service teachers in Japan. They were divided into two groups with equal skill levels, with the order of learning method alternating between the groups. Seven lessons were conducted in total. Changes in enjoyment of learning mat exercises, physical sensation during practice, and self-evaluation of skill progress were examined before and after class. Results: In implicit learning, the learners enjoyed activities without concern about the presence of others; however, their self-evaluation of skill progress was lower than that in explicit learning. In explicit learning, learners enjoyed activities less than in implicit learning; however, their self-evaluation of skill progress was higher than that in implicit learning, and they tried to perform tasks with higher-level skills. This was possibly because learners experienced enjoyment without concern about the presence of others implicit learning, followed by the opportunity to improve their self-evaluation and attempt higher-level tasks in explicit learning. Conclusions: The findings suggest optimal instructional strategies should implement implicit learning to foster enjoyment and sensory-motor exploration, followed by explicit learning to enhance progress self-evaluation and promote performance of advanced skill challenges.
Keywords: motor learning, Learning method, College physical education, Apparatus gymnastics, Information and Communication Technology
Received: 04 Apr 2025; Accepted: 30 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Matsuura, Matsuoka, Isa and Sakairi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yuki Matsuura, Department of Health and Physical Education, Cooperative Faculty of Education, Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya, Japan
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