A Comparison of Conventional and Video Teaching Methods Among Beginning Swimmers at Utah State University

The purpose of this study was to determine the value, if any, of utilizing the instant playback feature of television videotape replay in teaching the front crawl and elementary backstroke to beginning swimmers at Utah State University. A review of literature revealed controversy as to the usefulness of the VTR media in teaching selected motor skills. Subjects consisted of 30 male freshmen and sophomore college students placed into two groups: experimental and control, on the basis of their individual scores on pre-instruction skill testing. The subjects participated in 12 instructional periods of 40-50 minutes. The control group received instruction by a conventional method involving verbal explanation, demonstration, practice, instructor analysis and correction. The experimental group received the same type of instruction except that they were supplemented by the use of television videotape replay. Both test groups were taught by the same instructor. A panel of five judges evaluated videotaped performances of a pre and post skill test of each subject performing the two selected strokes. The judges rated four areas; proper arm movement, proper leg movement, arm-leg coordination and smoothness of style from 1-10. The high score and low score for each subject was dropped and the raw score was determined by averaging the three middle scores of the five judges. An analysis of variance program was applied to the data with the pre test scores subtracted from the post test scores to determine performance differences. Sixty different observations were made on the 30 subjects, Summated analysis of variance was subjected to an F test for significance. The preset level of acceptance was .05. The X change for both groups was 6.24 with the experimental group having a higher mean than the control group; 6.66 as compared with 5.83. The X reflects a positive learning curve for both groups. F tests for statistical significance indicated no difference between the means of the two test groups at any level of significance. It was concluded that the conventional method of instruction involving verbal explanation, demonstration, and correction is not benefited by the use of videotape replay in teaching the front crawl and elementary backstroke to beginning swimmers