Assessment on the Climbing Wall

Is assessing climbing progress part of your climbing program? Since rock climbing is a dynamic sport that involves physical skills, along with cognitive and social-emotional skills, be sure your assessments are holistic and don’t just focus on climbing skill. Additionally, consider multiple forms of assessment including peer assessment and self-assessment. We offer the following two activities and resources to assist with climbing wall assessment.

CLIMBING WALL PEER EVALUATION ACTIVITY

Activity Objective: Participants positively and accurately evaluate each other’s climbing technique.

Grouping: Partners

Materials:

• Copies of the Peer Evaluation Form, one per person
• Pencils

Advance Set Up: Make copies of Peer Evaluation sheet

Activity:

Choose a climbing wall activity that is familiar to participants and one that is not too challenging. Simply climbing from one end of the wall to the other is one example of an activity that could be conducted. Or choose one that is a favorite with the group.

Before beginning, explain to participants that they’ll be climbing and evaluating each other. Review with them the Peer Evaluation Form and expectations for the reviews. Divide group into partnerships and have them determine who climbs first. All climbers should travel across the wall while their partner observes and makes notes on the Peer Evaluation Form. After the climb, the partner should review the sheet with the climber and discuss what the climber did well and positively communicate one way the climber could improve. Partners then switch roles.

Group Reflection Questions:

• How did the evaluation process go? Was it hard to evaluate the climber? Why or why not?
• If you are comfortable, share one tip you got for improving your climbing.

Differentiation/Modifications:

• Modify the form based on participants’ ages/abilities/goals.

Tips:

• Carefully consider participants’ personalities when establishing partnerships.
• Since not many participants can be on the climbing wall during this activity, be sure to have additional activities or stations set up in the gym.

CLIMBING WALL SELF-EVALUATION ACTIVITY

Activity Objective: Participants evaluate themselves after participating in a climbing wall activity.

Grouping: TBD based on the climbing activity chosen

Materials:

• Self-Evaluation Form, one per person
• Pencils
• Any materials needed for the activity.

Advance Set Up: Make copies of Self-Evaluation Form

Activity:

Decide on a climbing wall activity. Consider one that involves teamwork or competition.

Before beginning, review with participants the Self-Evaluation Form and expectations for completing them. Next, have participants complete the climbing wall activity, leaving time for self-evaluation or send the form home to complete outside of the climbing program. If choosing the latter, be sure to provide instructions for how and when forms should be returned.

Differentiation/Modifications:

• Modify the form based on participants’ ages/abilities/goals.

If you are interested in more assessment resources, check out our Traverse Wall® Assessment Guide which features a variety of tools to holistically assess climbing progress.