Allen writes: I suspect it is a mistake to treat all exceptional achievement in the same way, e.g., athletic achievement and musical talent. For instance, the soccer player David Beckham undoubtedly acquired his special talent of extraordinary accuracy in long passes by hard work, i.e., repeated practice. But I don't believe a budding composer can advance his or her talents very much by repeatedly copying the same (or different) pieces of music over and over again.
There is practice and there is deliberate practice (see the work of Ericsson, who is the source for the 10,000 hour estimate). Mere repetition of exisitng moves and skills (Allen's example of copying an existing piece over and over as "practice" in composition would fall into this category) does not move an individual to the next level of expertise, even if they do this work for 10,000 hours. Ericsson and his colleagues argue that the extended practice must be deliberate practice, in which the person works on progressively more challenging tasks and takes advantage of the feedback from a skilled mentor or coach to direct attention and effort toward areas that need improvement. Ericsson had an article in the NYTimes magazine (March 2007) in which he discussed the emergence of world-class tennis players from tennis camps in Russia with dreadful facilities but excellent coaching and players who deovoted massive time in deliberate practice. An excellent description of deliberate practice (including a discussion of the role of other factors such as genetics) is presented in a Psychological Review article: Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Romer, C. (1993). The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance. *Psychological Review, 100,* 363-406. Ericsson is a prolific publisher. A quick PsycINFO search will locate many recent articles, in which he applies this notion of deliberate practice to attaining exceptional performance in music, medical work, sport (in general and for specific activities), and even Scrabble play. I've been thinking a lot lately about what might constitute delibrate practice for teaching in higher education. Any thoughts? Claudia Stanny --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=7711 or send a blank email to leave-7711-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
