The Effect of Constant and Variable Practices on Retention and Transfer of Overhand Throwing Accuracy in Pre-School Children

The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of constant and variable practices on retention and transfer of the accuracy of overhand throwing. Thirty-six right-handed children (girls and boys) volunteered and divided into 3 groups: constant, blocked variable, and random variable, based on their pre-test grades. The constant group practiced overhand throwing with target has dimension of 60×60 cm, while the other groups practiced with targets having dimensions of 30×30, 60×60, and 90×90 cm. Participants performed 6 blocks of 6 acquisition trials in 2 days. The retention test was performed after 24 hours and the transfer test was performed 10 minutes after retention test by changing the target dimensions. Data were analyzed using factor analysis of variance (ANOVA) followed by Tuckey's post hoc tests (α<0.05). There was no significant difference in retention test between the experimental groups, but in transfer test the random variable group performed better than the other groups (p=0.033). The result showed that the application of variable practices, especially those with random variable can effectively affect on transfer of the overhand throwing accuracy in children