Purpose. The basis of our research was the phenomenon described first by W.F. Battig. It is called contextual interference and is not widely known in Poland, owing to prevalence of traditional lesson schedules and, secondly, because the results of research done abroad are very surprising. We advance a hypothesis that children learning in the blocked form - according to recent knowledge and experimental results - will learn faster. In retention tests, children learning under random conditions will gain better results. Basic procedures. There were 56 children aged 8 and 9 from a primary school in Wroclaw. Subjects were to learn three different motor tasks during two subsequent days: tennis ball throw at the target; 6 m slalom dribble with a basketball; 6 m slalom dribble with a football and a shot at the goal. Group A (controlled group) - learning in the blocked form - worked to the following schedule of each lesson: task a - 6 min 15 sec.; task b - 6 min 15 sec.; task c - 6 min 15 sec. Group B (experimental group) - learning in the random form - worked to the following schedule: task a - 1 min 15 sec.; task b - 1 min 15 sec.; task c - 1 min. 15 sec., repeated five times. Each group consisted of 28 children. Main findings. Statistically significant differences appeared in retention tests (p = 0.007). There were no differences in statistical analysis during the acquisition phase (two trials after each lesson). Conclusions. The data we obtained permitted us to formulate the following conclusions: Children learning in the random form had better results in retention tests. Learning curves showed that children learning under blocked conditions learned faster. However, only considering task b we observed a statistically significant difference. Those learning in random conditions learned faster (task b) and recalled the tasks better in retention tests. Children learning in the random form displayed greater involvement in physical activity than children learning in the blocked form.
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