Learning in the Ugly Zone: The Importance of Play and Exploration (with guest Snoopy)

12/31/22 • 12 min

The River Tiger Podcast from Dynamics Coaching

This is an audio version of the blog post 'Learning in the ugly zone: the importance of play and exploration.'

The out-take at the beginning is Snoopy (my border collie) helping me by highlighting play and exploration with his 'squeeky piggy' Christmas present.
The full blog post including the diagramme of the Ugly Curve can be found on the Dynamics Coaching website by following this link https://dynamics-coaching.com/articles/learning-in-the-ugly-zone/
Dynamics Learning (ugly) Curve (Davies and Davies, 2019)

The dynamics challenge-performance learning curve, adapted from Davies and Davies (2019) is an ecological dynamics model of optimal challenge for learning. It is based on the self-organising properties of movement dynamics (e.g. Kelso, 1984) the ‘cusp catastrophe model’ (Thom, 1923; Hardy & Fazey, 1987) the ‘challenge point framework’ (Guadagnoli & Lee, 2004) and Dave Alred’s (2015) concept of the ‘ugly zone’..

This is an audio version of the blog post 'Learning in the ugly zone: the importance of play and exploration.'

Previous Episode

An introduction to the Athletic Skills Model (ASM) with Dr Martina Navarro

I met Martina when I attended the Athletic Skills Model (ASM) Advanced Instructor course earlier this year. The course was excellent and I have used the practical elements regularly in all of my coaching and own practice since.
I am exploring how to develop it for using with horses to help diminish the movement poverty that many horses suffer and to support healthy, happy and skilful movement in horses as well as humans.
For open courses in the UK in 2023 (London and Sheffield) or for bespoke courses with a focus on your own sport contact Dr Martina Navarro.
The Athletic Skills Model website (English overview). https://www.athleticskillsmodel.nl/en/about-asm/
An open access academic paper about the ASM theoretical underpinnings .
https://www.athleticskillsmodel.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Creating-adaptive-athletes-the-athletic-skills-model-for-enhancing-physical-literacy-as-a-foundation-for-expertise.pdf
Dynamics Coaching blog articles link https://dynamics-coaching.com/our-blog/
Martina Navarro
'I joined the Department in August 2017 from the University of Bern, Switzerland, where I was working as a post-doctoral research fellow. I hold a BSc degree in Sport Science from the School of Physical Education and Sport Science, University of Sao Paulo (EEFE-USP), Brazil. At the same institution (USP), I did my PhD in Human Physiology (Neuropsychology) focusing on the effects of training strategies and high levels of stress and anxiety in human cognition (eg. attention and decision making) and motor control. During my PhD I joined a Sandwich program and did part of my PhD research at the MOVE Research Institute Amsterdam at the VU University Amsterdam. In 2013 I worked at the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, at the School of Medicine of the Federal University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, as Post-Doctoral Fellow. In 2016, I was awarded an excellence post-doctoral research fellowship by the Swiss Government, and subsequently joined the Institute of Sport Science at the University of Bern. During my Fellowship, my research focused on testing Bayesian Decision Making Theory in sports and human performance. In addition, I have worked with sports consultancy companies and professional sports teams and international sport organisations, most notably, in Brazil and the Netherlands.

My research interests are focused on understanding the intricacies of the key elements (perception, action, cognition and emotion) in human performance psychology. Specifically, my work investigates how high levels of anxiety and stress and different skill acquisition strategies may affect attentional resources and consequently decision-making process.'
Academic contact [email protected]