Students take adventure education to new heights

BY JOHN DECOSTE

The Advertiser

NovaNewsNow.com

Since it first began at the school more than 10 years ago, adventure education has become a big part of the annual curriculum at Evangeline Middle School in New Minas.

Each school year, EMS students participate in an interdisciplinary unit (IDU) centered on their ropes adventure apparatus (the school is the only one in our area to have an indoor ropes assembly).

“It’s all under an educational umbrella called adventure education,” says Keith Moores, one of several teachers at EMS qualified as ropes course instructors.

The IDU begins with “two weeks on the ground,” during which the students learn the basics of adventure education, with emphasis on “trust, co-operation, communication and following directions,” as well as “a big dose of staying focused without being distracted.”

The students then progress to the ropes apparatus itself, where they take part in a number of activities, some of which require climbing to heights of more than 10 metres, walking a horizontal surface several metres above the ground, and even flying through the air.

While doing these activities, they are supported throughout - literally and figuratively - by their fellow students. That, Moores suggests, “is where the trust, co-operation and communication part comes in.”

‘Challenge by choice’

While climbing, the students are kept from falling by ropes held taut by groups of students working in tandem on the ground. In the case of the flying exercise, the students provide the impetus for the actual “lifting” and keeping their classmates aloft.

“It’s mandatory they take part and be part of the experience,” Moores said, “but it’s not mandatory that they climb.”

The philosophy, he explained, is “challenge by choice” which “also helps them learn to set goals. They choose their level of participation and the goals they want to reach, and the rest of the group supports them in their choice.

“How high they go, what they choose to do and whether they choose to do anything at all is their choice.” No one is penalized for choosing not to do the climbing, but those who don’t “are encouraged to choose some other role.”

EMS teacher George Forsyth, another qualified ropes instructor on staff, says most of the student body takes part in the unit.

“We do the Grade 6s and 7s while we have student teachers here so we (teachers) are able to take part” without missing classroom time.

Massive cooperation

A total of six current EMS teachers are able to instruct, he says, though Moores “is more highly trained in things like high-level rescue” in order to serve as lead instructor.

“Other schools have adventure education initiatives, but we’re the only school in the province that has an indoor high-level ropes course.” (Acadia has an outdoor apparatus.)

The ropes assembly “is inspected on a yearly basis” for wear and potential defects.

Moores notes, in addition to the six current instructors on staff, some former EMS teachers who have since moved to other schools have been able to take their knowledge and expertise with them. As a result, classes from other schools (such as Coldbrook in early December) take the opportunity to book a week or so with the apparatus and visit EMS.

Moores stresses the ropes adventure IDU requires “a massive amount of co-operation by the entire staff to make up schedules and support each other.”

As a result, the experience is as beneficial to teachers and staff as it is to the students.

“The kids not only get to learn cooperation, they get to see how the whole school works together to make this work -without everyone on board, it doesn’t happen.”

Homeroom teachers often accompany their students to the gym, “even if they’re not coaches,” and, afterward, “schedule follow-up activities in the classroom.”

Moores and the other teachers can see the difference in the students after taking the course, even before they leave EMS after Grade 8 and certainly in high school.

“The real power comes when they leave the gym, in terms of all the things they’ve learned.”