Effects of observational practice and gender on the self-efficacy and learning of aiming skill

The purposes of the present investigation were to study the effects of observational model and gender on the learning and self-efficacy of dart throwing skill. Forty eight novice girls and boys from PE classes were divided into two observational and physical practice groups, randomly. In acquisition phase and in retention and transfer tests, they practiced 60 trials and 12 trials, respectively. The results of acquisition phase showed that there was significant main effect of gender and the follow-up results demonstrated that the males had more accurate performance and more self-efficacy score than females (p<0.05). There were no significant differences between observational and physical groups on throwing accuracy and self-efficacy (p>0.05), but the males had more accurate performance than females in retention and transfer phases. In conclusion, observing a model can result in acquiring and learning of a skill as well as the executing a skill because of the role of self-efficacy and observational model is more effective for males than females for learning facilitation.