WACE Physical Education Studies: Functional Anatomy, Biomechanics and Skill Acquisition
Functional Anatomy and Movement Analysis
The syllabus asks you to describe how the musculoskeletal system produces movement, not simply to label bones. Be able to identify the major joints and classify them (hinge, ball-and-socket, pivot, saddle, gliding, condyloid), name the articulating bones, and give the plane and axis of each movement: flexion/extension occur in the sagittal plane about a transverse axis, abduction/adduction in the frontal plane about a sagittal axis, and rotation in the transverse plane about a longitudinal axis. Link each movement to the muscle group producing it and to its antagonist, and state the type of contraction (concentric, eccentric, isometric).
Biomechanics
Know Newton's three laws and apply them to sporting examples, and understand force summation, centre of gravity, base of support, stability, levers (first, second and third class with an example of each), and projectile motion (angle, speed and height of release). Be precise about the difference between mass and weight, and between speed and velocity.
Skill Acquisition
Distinguish open and closed skills, gross and fine, discrete, serial and continuous. Learn Fitts and Posner's stages (cognitive, associative, autonomous), types of feedback (intrinsic/extrinsic, concurrent/terminal, knowledge of results/knowledge of performance), practice distribution (massed/distributed) and transfer of learning.
Traps and a Rule of Thumb
Common errors: naming a lever class from the joint rather than from the relative positions of fulcrum, load and effort; confusing the plane of movement with the axis of rotation; and describing feedback as 'positive' when the question asks about timing or source. Rule of thumb: identify the joint, then the movement, then the plane and axis, then the muscle and contraction type - in that order, every time. For example, a biceps curl: elbow flexion in the sagittal plane about a transverse axis, concentric biceps brachii contraction, with the triceps lengthening eccentrically as antagonist.