Maybe a provisional definition of how we determine "enskillment" or getting better at a bodily skill:
- First stage: learning a set of bodily skills that forms the foundation of a broader physical skill. For balance this includes adjusting your body weight, reorientating your vision & familiarising your brain with what it should see when you are off balance, changing your posture etc.
-Second stage: familiarising your body with the physical skill, making this taught foundation "your own" and almost second nature.
-Third stage: using this familiarised pattern of movement as a strategy to respond to different environments and situations. This is the (creative) application of balance to a variety of situations which require it: throwing a ball, staying still on a swaying or slippery surface, dancing.
Ann-Maree, this logic is very hard to argue with. I think this is why we need to incorporate levels/different ways our product can be used. I think for our age group we can assume they have mastered the first stage, seeing as they are able to stand and walk by this developmental level. The problem is that children in this age group tend to overestimate their balancing skills.
ReplyDeleteThe pirate ship concept starts at this second stage when it is turned off; that is, familiarising the users with being off balance and how to regain and maintain balance. Perhaps we could look at having this level of simplicity available when the machine is on still (i.e. just the blue LED lights indicating the water and the pirates instructions to balance the ship). The options we discussed for when the machine is on (i.e. having to press a button) is how I saw us incorporating applying balance to changing circumstances. If the users don't have to change their strategy for balancing the board (i.e. if they just stay in the locations they know will balance the board) this third stage of learning will not be accomplished.
I do really like the idea of incorporating other elements which require balance (perhaps at higher levels) though. For example, we could incorporate a ball that comes out at one side of the board and needs to be put into a hole on the other side of the board. The most effective way to do this would be for the child on one side to throw the ball to the child on the other side. Obviously this isn't the best solution. But we can brainstorm this in our meeting today.
Looking forward to bouncing ideas with everyone! :)