https://padlet.com/jackawenz/w9xcgeagbrk3lvc8 en-us 2023-04-30 21:24:36 UTC 2023-05-02 01:22:27 UTC hello@padlet.com jackawenz https://padlet.com/jackawenz/w9xcgeagbrk3lvc8/wish/2573135545 I have been cross country skiing for about 7 years now, and while I would consider myself to be quite proficient in the skill now that was not always the case. Looking back on my years of learning how to skate ski I remember distinct stretches of time where my skiing ability fell into certain categories.
 
I started as most do, pushing my skis backwards like ice skates trying desperately to move quickly across the packed snow.. After a year full of much advice and practice I finally got my feet under me and was able to glide like I was supposed to, albeit for very short stretches of time. Over time I refined my balance, and was even able to go downhill on one leg for extended periods.

When learning about Fitts & Posner's 3-stage model I realized that my skiing abilities followed their model fairly well. I started in the cognitive stage, with some days much better than others and verbal help from coaches allowing me to improve from barely being able to stand to full on 5km races in about a year. After I could complete moderate distances (with acceptable form) I moved into the associative stage. here I was focused mainly on being able to glide on one foot for as long as possible, I noticed when I was doing something wrong as the movement often didn't feel as smooth as it was supposed to, but I couldn't fix the problem without external feedback from coaches. I improved slowly for three or so years in this situation leaning slowly how to correct my errors. Finally during my fourth year I moved into the autonomous stage. Here I could ski without thinking, and any mistakes I made I knew how to correct. I even started teaching others how to ski then, showing my mastery of the skill.

The gif above demonstrates the single leg balance needed to skate ski well. Getting to this point is far harder than it looks.

]]> 2023-04-30 21:36:19 UTC https://padlet.com/jackawenz/w9xcgeagbrk3lvc8/wish/2573135545 jackawenz https://padlet.com/jackawenz/w9xcgeagbrk3lvc8/wish/2573155576 Slacklining is a very fun summer activity, it's essentially low tightrope walking on a 2" wide band in between two trees. The ultimate goal of it (barring tricks far beyond my abilities) is to walk about 50' across without falling off. I bought my won slackline a couple years ago, and immediately set out with a group of friends to tackle this task.

Right away I noticed a difference between me and my peers. I was consistently getting much further on the line than they were with no more experience than any of them. we were all athletes in our own sports, with a football player, a soccer player, and a weightlifter among us. What made me better than them I wondered?

As a cross country skier I surmised that positive transfer of skills was the culprit. Thorndike's identical elements theory claims that the similarity of the skill and coordination patterns make a skills more transferable. With skate skiing lateral balance is the name of the game, just like slacklining. In addition to this the slackline is about the width of a ski, so my body is very used to balancing laterally on an object of that width. The muscles being used were also identical, as skiing involves a single leg, just like slacklining where each step leaves you balancing on a single limb at a time. Who knew my years of skiing would help me conquer another fun activity?

The photo demonstrates what slacklining looks like. He has both feet on the line in this photo because he is about to transition into the next step.]]> 2023-04-30 22:38:55 UTC https://padlet.com/jackawenz/w9xcgeagbrk3lvc8/wish/2573155576 jackawenz https://padlet.com/jackawenz/w9xcgeagbrk3lvc8/wish/2573158879 I've been a bass player for a number of years, and have played genres of music from heavy metal to jazz. Each piece of music however I learn differently based on its repeatability and complexity, using whole and part practice to fully learn a piece of music.

For example take Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Travelin Band". The bassline in this song is repeated heavily throughout the piece, with a simple walking bassline dominating most of the song. Here I use whole practice to master it, as it's a simple line that hinges on flowing through the song smoothly (or "walking" though it). No part is particularly complex, as the flow of the bass is what really ties the whole thing together. This strategy makes sense, as whole practice is best suited to highly organized, timing-based skills, just like a walking bassline.

On the other hand take Anesthesia-pulling teeth by Metallica. This is a bass solo that is very complex, with a lot of moving pieces and not very many repeated parts. Trying to use whole practice just leads to a mess of notes as my fingers fumble across the more complex sections trying to keep time. Instead I took it by parts, practicing a small section of the song or a specific technique for a long time before attempting to string it all together. As part practice is best suited for highly complex skills this makes sense, and my use of segmentation (or taking the song one note/line at a time) made it much easier for me to transition to whole practice later on to get the timing and flow of the whole song down in the long run. 

Using these strategies allows me to learn more music faster, and therefore improve quickly.

The gif above shows someone preforming a complicated bassline, most likely learned through part practice.]]> 2023-04-30 22:48:25 UTC https://padlet.com/jackawenz/w9xcgeagbrk3lvc8/wish/2573158879 jackawenz https://padlet.com/jackawenz/w9xcgeagbrk3lvc8/wish/2573171426 There are a lot of small things that one doesn't usually think about when it comes to cooking in a professional setting. In a home kitchen everything goes, if you're okay with eating something that fell on the floor, you can! In a kitchen that is a massive no go. During my time working in a butcher shop/deli I encountered many of these situations where what I do at home doesn't match up to what I do at work. 

One specific memory is when I was slicing radishes to pickle and serve as a deli item. At home I would simply slice them roughly even (and I mean ROUGHLY), throw them in my vinegar and spices, and chuck them into the fridge to pickle. However at work I didn't realize how much of difference the evenness makes. You see, speed is king in a restaurant where there is always ten things you have to be doing. So being in a hurry I sliced the radishes, put them in the vinegar, and promptly forgot about them. The next day I was informed that the whole batch had to be tossed due to my hastiness leading to massive variations in the slice thickness, and therefore the quality of the pickling.Oops.
I had forgotten about Fitt's speed-accuracy tradeoff. You see the faster one does a coordination task the less accurate it becomes. In my haste to attend to my other duties I had gone so fast that I sacrificed too much accuracy, and wasted both the batch and all of my time and work. There is a sweet spot where a task is finished at the highest speed it can be done while not sacrificing too much accuracy, on that day I did not find that sweet spot. I certainly took more time at work on my tasks afterwards to ensure their quality, yet again proving Fitt's law correct.

The gif above shows a similar task to what I was doing. You need a fair bit of practice to get to the speed of his slices.]]> 2023-04-30 23:20:48 UTC https://padlet.com/jackawenz/w9xcgeagbrk3lvc8/wish/2573171426