Methods of Instruction

Public and officer safety and the integrity of policing in our society is dependent upon ‘rightful policing’ practices. These practices depend strongly upon the ability of police officers to demonstrate exceptional judgment and the appropriate and professional application of force if and when necessary. Police officers are required to assess situations and make decisions on how to respond in the most risk-effective manner. Often, these decisions must be made in extremely short periods of time; frequently, fractions of a second. Under these conditions, typically accompanied by heightened degrees of stress arousal, how humans observe unfolding events, make sense of them, select a motor response and ultimately respond, involve very complex processes. Crisis decision-making involves vastly different neurological processes than decision-making in times of low emotional intensity.

How individual officers respond during rapidly unfolding, time-compressed violent encounters, is heavily underpinned by how those officers are trained. Therefore, law enforcement firearms and use of force instructors have an immense responsibility. As we discover more about human performance and decision making in complex, high-consequence, rapidly unfolding events, there is an absolute nexus between the quality of an officer’s decision-making and survivability and the manner in which the officer was trained. Since we do not “rise to the occasion” in the midst of a crisis but default to the level of our training, the law enforcement trainer literally holds officer’s lives in their hands.

There is such a thing as bad training. Bad training would be categorized as training that is not built upon defendable foundations of the research and science of neurology, cognition and motor learning principles. Training is both art and science. The responsible law enforcement Trainer’s focus and efforts must therefore build training programs that reflect comprehension of the current research regarding correct skill selection, training design and delivery for optimal learning and retention of critical police skills.

Traditionally, in many LE academies and agencies, training models are often based more upon history and tradition (the way ‘we have always done it’), or upon the deeply held personal opinions of the trainers themselves. Frequently, these training models are not based upon an empirical research-based and scientific understanding of human learning and instructional principles, biomechanics and decision making. Current research has demonstrated that despite the millions of dollars that police agencies and academies spend on police training every year, almost none of this training has been validated and very little of it is retained by the officer or transferred to the operational environment where it is most needed. In fact, even basic motor skills have been shown to deteriorate post-academy training to non-functional within six weeks of the officer leaving the academy.

The Methods of Instruction – Advanced Training For Practical And Professional Law Enforcement Skills course fills a critical vacuum that has existed in law enforcement training for decades. During this intensive course, students will be deeply challenged by the exploration of paradigm-breaking, scientific principles which they will be able to apply immediately and directly to their setting in the Academy or Agency’s training programs.

Through the use of pre-course directed study, in-class instruction, facilitated group work and analysis, case studies and practical application, you will learn about effective training methods and procedures that are well established in the scientific literature and how they might be incorporated into existing academy and/or agency in-service training programs.

This student-centric course utilizes an adult learning, problem-based approach. The course consists of a minimum of 20 hours of pre-class reading / viewing and assignments and 40-hours of in-class instruction. It should be understood that successful completion of this course requires the student to be able to demonstrate comprehensive understanding of the material and its application in a variety of contexts. The evaluation of this comprehension will be conducted by the course facilitator through intensive student commitment involving pre-course study, evening study during the course, individual and group participation, class presentations and both oral and written evaluations.

At the end of this course, the successful student will have a fulsome understanding of how to identify critical training needs, and build and instruct a defendable, scientific-based training program to address the critical skills required. In addition, the course of instruction will include the development of realistic, verifiable and defendable course training standards (CTS) which will guide future instruction, protect the agency and the trainer.

The course is immensely challenging. It requires a willingness of the student to leave behind strongly held biases and traditionalism and embrace a growth mindset. The fruit this approach will bear is going to be worth the effort – for both you and more importantly for the law enforcement officers whose lives you hold in your hand.

Semper Reformanda!
— Chris Butler

Topics covered in the Methods of Instruction – Advanced Training For Practical And Professional Law Enforcement Skills course include:

• Scientific Foundations for Learning
• Skill Retention and Perishability
• ‘Skill Perishability’ studies
• Block vs. Interleaved Training and the ‘Illusion of learning’
• Training Myths – What They are and What to Do About Them
• Applicable Neuroscience
• Mind Model
• Vision, Perception, Attention, and Performance
• Stress Arousal and Performance
• Decision Making Models
• Decision Training and Behavior Training
• Implications of Memory on Learning / Applying Offline Modulators to Enhance Learning and Retention
• Principles of Motor Learning and Performance
• Types of Motor Movements; Motor Skill and Motor Learning Principles
• Memory and Motor Learning
• The Role of Exercise to Enhance Learning
• The Role of Sleep and Learning
• Mirror Motor neurons – what they are and why they matter
• Feedback Methods: types and timings for best retention and skill transfer
• Training ‘Specificity’
• Contextual Interference, Effortful Retrieval, Spacing Effect, and Desirable Difficulties
• Skill Transfer to Novel Settings
• Skill Boosting and Priming
• Types of Performance Errors, ‘Training Scars’ and how to avoid them
• Identification and Validation of critical officer skills / gap analysis
• The Role of Student Motivation and Instructional Techniques to Enhance Learning
• How Imagery and Visualization Techniques Enhance Learning
• Course Training Standards – Design and Defense; Protecting the agency and validating the training program

This course is delivered over a series of 12 modules. The course is designed in such a way that the material is both scaffolded and interleaved, utilizing the very same research-based learning methods that the students are taught and encouraged to utilize. In addition, each day consists of both ‘priming’ and ‘booster’ sessions to reinforce and cement the critical aspects of the course into long term memory. Throughout the course, the instructor will utilize various learning tools in order to create ‘desirable difficulties’ and ‘effortful retrieval’ of the information.

Course overview / structure

Current training issues

• Emphasis on technical skills rather than goals, principles and outcomes
• Little translation of skill into the motor learning environment
• Inability to integrate skills into a ‘combat system’
• Silo training effect
• Cognitive dissonance and performance
• Incorrect feedback methods (heavy emphasis on external augmented feedback)
• The ‘Illusion’ of learning
• Skill type and instructional methods not validated scientifically
  

Current training myths.

• Change means learning has occurred
• Everyone knows good training techniques
• Practice makes perfect
• Perfect practice is best for motor learning
• Instructor feedback should be heavily guided
• ‘Tunnel’ vision is always bad
  

Blocked and Interleaved Training

• Role of Distributed Practice
• The ‘Spacing Effect’ and motor learning
• Transference of skills to novel settings
• Contextual Interference – what it is and why its good for learning
• Blocked practice – what it is and where its helpful and not.
• Interleaved practice – what it is and how to incorporate it.

What are Human Factors and why they are critical to training design and development

The current ‘Threat Environment’

• Spontaneous and rapid threats at close range
• Current LEOKA Studies
• Weapons – types
• Distances of attacks
• Offender hit accuracy
• Speed of Attack
  

Non-Weapon Attacks

• Empty hand / fisted
• Kicks
  

Weapon Attacks

• Impact weapons
• Edged weapons
  

Firearm Attacks

• Time to shoot
• Firing cadence
• Traffic stop attacks

Hidden hands and Prone subjects

• Types of Muscle Fibre – Fast Twitch vs Slow Twitch
• Methods of Conditioning Fast and Slow Twitch Fibre
• Types of Motor Actions
  • Discrete motor movement
  • Continuous motor movement
  • Serial motor movement
• Types of Motor Skills
  • Closed
  • Open
• Motor Skill vs. Motor Learning
  • Role of Retention and Transfer
  • Adaptation and problem solving
• The Critical Role of Learner Motivation
  • Early context relevance
  • ‘Technique within Tactics’ training
  • Random and Variable practice
  • Emotional Intensity
  • Guided Error
  • Narrowed bandwidth Feedback
• Hebb’s Law
  • Firing and Wiring
  • Neuroplasticity and Hebb’s Law
  • Long Term Potentiation
• The Role of Repetition in Motor Skill and Motor Learning
  • Automation of cognitive and motor skill
  • Spatial and Temporal aspects of automaticity
  • Training speed and motor skill development
  • Introduction to performance (skill based) error
• The importance of early contextualization in motor skill development
  • Learning the skill but not learning the ‘game’
  • The role of ‘Game Intelligence’
  • The disastrous effect of non-integration
  • Importance of ‘Hard First’ Instruction
  • Technique within Tactics Training methods
• Perception and reaction times
  • Kinesthetic
  • Auditory
  • Visual
    • Foveal RT
    • Ambient RT
  • P300 Event Response Potential
• Time to Start and Stop motor movements
• The Psychological Refractory Period (PRF)
• Hicks Law – what it actually means

• Basic introduction to vision and visual processing
• Foveal, Parafoveal and Ambient vision
• Visual Accommodation / Ciliary Muscle function and role
• Object Recognition – what we know and don’t know
• Vision in Mesopic and Scotopic environments
• Ambient / Reflexive vision – critical role in survival
• The critical role of ‘gaze anchoring’ in threat perception
• Optical Flow and perception
• Visual reaction time and techniques to improve it
• Gaze / Action Reaction Time research and training
• Visual Reaction time tools
  • Virtual tools
  • Reaction Balls

• Myths about Human Attention
• The role of Attention and excellent decision-making and performance
• ‘Game Intelligence’ (Stratton, et al)
• Nideffer’s Quadrants of Attention
• Selective Attention
• Funnel Theory of Attention
• The ‘myth’ of multi-tasking
• ‘Situational Awareness’ – we’ve been teaching this concept all wrong
• Tunnel Vision – what it is and isn’t
• Gaze – Action Coupling
  • Officer performance
  • Offender performance
• Bottom Up vs. Top Down Attentional processing
  • Attentional Control Theory
  • Signal vs. Noise
• Sensory Gating (Yantis, et al)
• Colavita Effect (Colavita, et al)
• The Setchenov Phenomenon

• Introduction to memory
• Implicit and Explicit Memory
  • Role of procedural memory
  • Semantic memory
  • Episodic memory
  • ‘Trauma’ events and memory
• Confabulations
• Decision Making Systems ‘System 1 and System 2’ (Kahneman)
• Rational vs. Naturalistic (RPD) decision making
• Training Scars – How and Why and What do we Do?
• Thin Slicing and Cue Utilization
• The role of Heart Rate – or not?
• Physiological Arousal, ‘Stress’ and Long-Term Potentiation (Sapolsky, et al)
• Yerkes Dodson Law
• Catastrophe Model of arousal and performance
• The Psychological Refractory Period
• Role of Drills, Contextualization and High-Fidelity Training

• Why the first 250ms is vital
• Examples and Case studies
• Role of NDM ‘reflexive’ responses
• Research study ‘Effects of Reflex-Based Self Defence Training on Police Performance in Simulated High-Pressure Arrest Situations” (Renden, et al)
  • Trained attentional control (top down)
  • Trained use of primary reflexive action (0 – 250 ms)
  • Continuing action hinged to reflexive action
  • ‘Single System’ approach to rapid threat at close range
  • Skills integrated into a combat system (not siloed)
• Critical importance of Moving head and neck as primary response to evolving threats at close range

• MMN’s – what they are and their role in vision and learning
• Visuo-Motor Observational Learning
• Implications for Coaching and Training
• MNN ‘Overload’ danger and learning impairment
• Role of student motivation and MMN activation
• Correct vs Incorrect demonstrations
• Right and Left hand dominate students

• Behavioural Training (BT) and Decisional Training (DT) Models
• Behavioural Training (BT)
  • Part to whole training
  • Simple to complex drills
  • Easy-first instruction
  • Emphasis on technique
  • Internal focus of attention
  • Little use of exemplars or video modelling
  • Little use of ‘observational’ learning
  • Typically, blocked type practice
  • Low variability
  • High trainer feedback
  • Low use of questioning
  • Little use of video review
  • Very low performer skill in self detection and correction of performance errors
  • Little cognitive effort
  • Low learner motivation
  • No ‘curiosity seeking behaviour’
  • Deficient understanding of performance principles and goals
  • Low ability to problem solve
  • Little transference of skills to novel settings
  • Poorest retention of skill
• Decisional Training (DT)
  • Tactical whole training
  • Competition like drills
  • Hard-first instruction
  • Technique within Tactics
  • External focus of attention
  • High use of exemplars and video modelling
  • High use of ‘Motor Observational Learning’
  • Use of variable and Random practice
  • Interleaved training models
  • Instructor uses reduced bandwidth feedback
  • High use of questioning
  • High use of video reviews
• Performer develops ability to self detect and correct errors
• High levels of performer cognitive effort
• High levels of student motivation to learn
• High levels of ‘curiosity seeking behaviour’
• Performer understands principles and goals of performance
• Very good problem solving and judgement
• High transference of skill to novel situations
• High retention of skills
• The Complete Training Paradigm
  • Biomechanical
  • Physiological
  • Psychological / Decision Training
• The Decision Training Model
  • Name the decision / cognitive skill
    • Anticipation
    • Attention
    • Focus & Concentration
    • Pattern recognition
    • Memory
    • Problem Solving
    • Decision Making
• Design a drill or progression of drills in a contextually relevant setting with at least one cognitive ‘trigger’ or cue
  • Object cues
  • Location cues
  • Visual focus
  • Reaction Time cues
  • Memory cues
  • Kinesthetic cues
  • Self -Coaching cues
• Select at least one DT Tool to train the decision
  • Variable practice
  • Random practice
  • Bandwidth feedback
  • Questioning
  • Hard First instruction
  • Observational learning
  • Video feedback
  • External Focus instruction
• SMART Variations
• SMART Combinations
• Tactical relevance
• The Role of Video in Training
  • Bio mechanical expertise
    • Exemplar model
    • Key Performance Indicators
• Tactical / Decision Making
  • Cue recognition
  • Consequential decision-making analysis
• Visual Reaction Time Training

• Offline learning and memory consolidation
• ‘Early Offline Boosting’
• Probabilistic Tasks and Sequences
• If / Then Judgment tasks are learned primarily offline
• The role of sleep and offline learning
  • Slow Wave sleep and consolidation
  • M1 Motor cortex activates during SW sleep / encoding
  • Implicit vs explicit memory tasks and sleep
• Learner Exhaustion and Fatigue and impact on learning
• Role of ‘Booster’ training to enhance offline learning

• Review of energy systems
• Acute vs ‘Lifestyle’ exercise
• Acute (High Intensity) ‘Functional’ Exercise (Milanovic; Afzalpour; Billat)
  • Positive impact on neuroplasticity / priming (Sing, et al)
  • Learning-related neurotransmitters (Rojas Vega, Et al)
  • Before or after motor skill training session (Roig et al)
  • Reduces both training and occupational injuries (prehabilitation) (Keller, et al)
  • Improves whole body structural integrity (J. Amtmann)
  • Reduces medical illness (Boni, et al)
  • Increases officer resiliency and mental wellness
• ‘Context Related’ or Functional HIT
  • Relevant law enforcement biomechanics (J. Amtmann; Advancements in Scientific Study)
    • Stand-up grappling
    • Stand-up striking
    • Ground grappling
    • Ground Striking
• The need for ‘Fight Specific Interval Training (FSIT)’

• The research on ‘Visuo-Motor Behavioural Rehearsal’ or Imagery
• Priming effect
• Intending / Imagining / Observing and Performing and the Motor Cortex
• Importance of full sensorial experience (Full Symbolic Poly Sensory Experience)
  • Visual
  • Auditory
  • Kinaesthetic
  • Emotional
  • Tactile
• Imagery and Elite Athletic performance
• Teaching a student to perform effective imagery
• The PETTLEP Model
  • Research review “Examining the Effectiveness of a PETTLEP Imagery Intervention on Football Skill Performance of Novice Athletes”; E Norouzi, et al; Journal of Imagery in Sport and Physical Activity.
• PETTLEP
  • Physical characteristics
  • Environmental
  • Task required
  • Timing necessary
  • Learning accessed
  • Emotion
  • Perspective

• There is both good and bad learning interference
• Contextual interference is the ‘good’ (Battig; Shea and Morgan)
• The ‘Constraints Led Approach’ (CLA) to Motor Learning Training
• Motor skill interference is the ‘bad’
  • New motor skills need time to ‘stabilize’ before similar types of skills are introduced (Doyon, et al)
  • First 8-hour phase learning is very susceptible to interference and learning impairment (De Beukelaar, et al)
• Implications for training design and deliver of motor skills