The impact of artificial wall climbing as a recreational activity on children's locus of control

Abstract

The aim of this research is to determine the effects of artificial wall climbing - which was performed by primary school students- as a recreative activity on children’s locus of control. Artificial wall climbing represents itself as a learning point beyond a sportive activity while creating an opportunity for participants to discover the limits of their own and that of others’, and opening a path for learning through experience by rendering the participants active rather than passive.The research was designed as one group pre-test – post-test model. The sample of the study is the same as the study population. 40 (15 female, 25 male) students studying in 7th and 8th grades of primary school attended voluntarily in this study. Climbing practices were determined according to students' free time. Climbing practices were planned to be 90 minutes each. It is organized two days in a week between at least twenty-four hours. The test lasted 6 weeks in total. The activity which started with warm-up exercises suited for the age group was configured as a developmental schema as it started with top rope and extended to lead climbing route again on the climbing routes suited for the age groups. During the practice, it was ensured to provide knowledge and skills for not only climbing skills but also for other topics such as basic knowledge of climbing techniques, basic knots and belaying. The practice lasted six weeks and the questionnaire was applied before and after.To determine whether participants had a tendency towards externalizing or internalizing bias, "Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale" was used.As a result of the statistical analysis, it was observed that there are significant differences between pre-test and the difference of differences regarding the gender discrepancy and between pre-test and post-test scores regarding the total scores (p<0.05).The group of activities carried out for the artificial wall climbing led to a positive development in the children’s perception of locus of control and it was seen that children's beliefs on what’s happening around them is under their control and they can turn their lives in whichever direction they want were positively influenced.