My name is Gunnar Gräsbeck and I am currently doing my Ph.D in the German Sport University Cologne. My main interests of research are nonlinear pedagogy and how it can be applied to different fields, particularly in Olympic fencing which is my passion. Outside my research and sport practice I am an avid gamer. I am heavily inspired by game series like Final Fantasy and other games with deep story-telling and strong character development. I believe games like these can be linked to education in order to inspire new learning habits for future generations.
Co-Authors:
Swen Körner, Ph.D supervisor
Mario Staller, collaborator and partial supervising in Ph.D projects
Nonlinear Pedagogy in Olympic Fencing – do video games offer a new dimension for its elaboration?
FROG 2022 – Talk
Fencing is an Olympic sport that has so far been dominated by linear teaching methods. Nonlinear Pedagogy (NLP) offers a new field of research due to fencing not having any nonlinear elements defined, despite being characterized a sport of high dynamical complexity. The Constraints-Led Approach (CLA) proposed by Davids et al. (2008) is a manner to apply NLP in practice to manipulate learners as dynamical systems. Learning is an individual process, characterized by extrinsic and intrinsic dynamical changes of learners leading to change in behavior that aims for a new learning outcome. Due to learning being a complex individual process, the CLA has been proven efficient in steering this in the right direction. By defining constraints in the learning environment, their manipulation functions as this steering activity to guide the learning process by either limiting or loosening the constraints of learning, depending on the outcome desired by the learner. Being applicable to any field where learning is affected by constraints, defining right constraints for a CLA approach is crucial. This paper aims to elaborate on constraints present in fencing, however proposing the dimension of video games as a new field of their recognition. Many sports are adapting to the field of e-sports and VR/AR technology to take performance into new levels, advocating fencing to do the same.
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