Adventure Educational approach to children’s bouldering coaching

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to develop the commissioner’s youth climbing offering. A bouldering program was made for 6-8 years old bouldering groups, where characteristics from adventure education have been taken into consideration such as reflection and goal setting, group formation and skill transfer to see if or what type of benefit it can bring to bouldering coaching in this age group. This thesis was made to further develop one of the organisation's goals; offering climbing opportunities for youth. This study was carried out as a project, where a bouldering program was made for coaches to use on target groups aged 6-8 years old and was tested during the spring season of the training. Data was collected by participant observation of one of the target groups and by theme interviews made for 3 coaches. Results suggest that incorporating reflection, goal setting, and group formation and transfer of learning into climbing practice sessions resulted in better engagement, skill development, improved behaviour, and stronger group dynamics among children. To further understand the benefits and disadvantages, the use of relevant methods would need to be continued to better understand the long-term effects on children's learning and personal development. Using these methods had different benefits on the individuals of the groups which differ depending on the group, children and coach. The program should be altered with the needs of the group, but nonetheless the structure of the program could be used to enhance learning in children in a positive manner.