In earlier research many workers have examined differential effects of one or two factors and provided bases for improving instruction in important ways. This article deals with an effort to organize and then apply simultaneously a large number of current relevant concepts from biomechanics, motor learning, psychology, and studies of teaching style, to the task of teaching nonswimmers. This approach, in contrast to most earlier efforts, is concerned as much with the social-psychological dimensions ofleaming environments as with matters of the nature and sequence of tasks set for learners. The major aspects of the study (Smith, 1974) on which this article is based included: a) a review of relevant literature from which a multidisciplinary theoretical rationale was developed; b) the expression of the important concepts from the rationale in a series of 16 "critical characteristics" that became guidelines for developing detailed curriculum materials; c) videotaping classes of nonswimmer children, 7 to 10 years old, taught by the investigator. The tapes were analyzed both by observation and by use of a modification of a widely used system of verbal interaction analysis, Hough's OSIA (Amidon and Hough, 1967), for evidence of the presence of the 16 critical characteristics in the experimental classes; and d) training four neophyte instructors and then analyzing videotapes of classes taught by those individuals. The present article is limited to a discussion of the critical characteristics extracted from the theoretical rationale. The original16 have been reduced to nine characteristics which will be stated and briefly discussed.
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