Question

Alex learned how to make three pointers in basketball by successfully making short shots from increasingly longer distances. His learning strategy shows the process of ____.

Answer 1

Alex's learning strategy of making short shots from increasing distances is known as shaping, a method used by professionals to improve basketball shooting accuracy. Shaping involves reinforcing successive approximations toward a target behavior, which is a valuable technique in sports training.

Step-by-step explanation:

Alex learned how to make three pointers in basketball by successfully making short shots from increasingly longer distances. His learning strategy shows the process of shaping.

Professional basketball players improve their shooting accuracy by practicing with a goal-oriented approach. The basket's diameter offers little room for error, as it is only 18 inches across and the ball is about 10 inches in diameter. Players often enhance their skills by starting with simpler tasks, such as making shorter shots, and gradually increasing the difficulty as they become more proficient. This step-by-step approach, known as shaping, is also mirrored in other areas of learning.

Shaping is a technique where an individual is guided toward desired behavior through positive reinforcement of successive approximations of the target behavior. This technique can be seen in basketball training, where a player starts with easy shots and progressively moves to more challenging ones, each stage acting as a stepping stone toward the ultimate goal - making three-pointers consistently.