TRACK AND FIELD SKILLS: ENHANCEMENT THROUGH MEDIA SYMBOL SYSTEMS

Abstract

In the world of technology, creativity has often been associated with the non-verbal. Through objects, pictures, or visual images, a new language developed with its fundamentals originating in art rather than science. Efforts by Marc Isambard Brunei to express his ideas in drawings were part of the intellectual history of technological development. He considered drawing techniques to be the 'alphabet of the engineer'. Similarly, Christopher Polhem, an eighteenth century Swedish technologist, constructed a 'mechanical alphabet' of machine elements: each element representing a functional unit in the total working machine. Such research had merit In attempting to identify structural differences of single entities in the visual perspective. Would it be possible to derive an 'alphabet for human movement' in a similar fashion? This question may be beyond the scope of this paper, however, it intrigues the mind to search for a system of fundamental elements and their respective relationships during movement. We would want to take the next step in analyzing the machine, making it necessary to look at, not only the physical parts of the human system, but the forces created by such parts. Initially, it may seem a simple matter to portray movement by a visual organization. However, forces which determine movement are invisible, and a system must be derived to visibly express them. The task then, will be to develop a process for conceptual development in human movement which adheres to sound theoretical tenets. Such guidelines will make it possible to derive a common ground for perspectives associated with both art and science.