Nonlinear pedagogy and its application in a volleyball didactic unit: a practical approach

Introduction: The current holistic demands of the curriculum for the students' Secondary education require further methodologies that do not only focus on the simple acquisition of physical and motor skills. The implementation of contemporary models such as the non-linear pedagogy understand the teaching-learning process as a complex and nonlinear system, in which students, group-classroom, environment and teachers interact between each other, therefore negotiating the barriers of the acquisition of motor skills. Objective: The aim of this study was to design, implement and observe the motor response to a volleyball Didactic Unit based on non-linear pedagogy principles, such as the modification of the rules, size of the game area or material used. Methods: 66 students participated in this experience (age= 14.8 +/- 0.3 years old). All of them performed a self-assessment of this practice and we also collected some observations. We encouraged the students' participation through the variability, the use of uncertainty activities, learning exploration, creativity and decision-making. Results: We observed the expected students' motor response to the modification of constraints without giving specific instructions addressed to what they should perform. There was a high significant correlation between the knowledge of the game and the self-perception competence of the pass (r=0.366, p=0.004), the reception (r=0..266, p=0.040), serve (r=0.376, p=0.003), colocation of the body (r=0.413, p=0.001), and attack and block (r=0.267, p=0.038). Conclusions: Through the implementation of non-linear pedagogy, we observed that the students improved their autonomy and decision making. We also observed multiple interactions among the students in order to optimize their response to the constrictions applied.