the effect of goal setting on throwing skill learning in 10-year-old boys

Background: learning is a phenomenon that has interested humans for a long time. research on the factors influencing learning has always interested psychologists and all those dealing with education, particularly sports coaches. objectives: this study aimed to investigate the impact of goal setting on learning a skill targeting 10-year-old boys. patients and methods: for this purpose, forty 10-year-old male children were selected as the study sample and were assigned to one of two groups: goal-setting (n = 20) and non-goal setting (n = 20) groups. in the acquisition phase, each group participated in 8 sessions for 8 continuous days, and then participants in each group conducted 40 (4 blocks of 10 attempts per session) attempts separately. finally, after 24 hours, the groups performed a retention test. the scores of each group at each phase were obtained and compared using anovas and independent t-tests. results: the results of the statistical analysis did not show differences in the acquisition phase between the two groups (p > 0.05). in the retention phase, there was a significant difference between the two groups, and this advantage was in favor of the goal-setting group (p < 0.05). conclusions: in general, it is recommended that teachers and sports coaches use goal setting when teaching skills to children.