THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CHALLENGE COURSES AND THE

There has been an increasing demand among education agencies to utilize challenge courses, also known as ropes courses, for personal growth opportunities among students of all ages. Teachers often tell students how they want students to work as a “team” and “get along” without providing the experiences for them to practice such behaviors. A low ropes experience allows students to practice cooperative skills. The focus of garnering participants for this study was to identify a specific target of first-generation college students from two separate classroom settings. The research focused on identifying the relationship between first-generation college students and low ropes course experiences regarding the views of self-concept. Self-Concept was measured using nine sub-scales from the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale 2 (TSCS:2). The data revealed that the main effect of time was significant, F(1,89) = 10.28, p = 0.002. This valuable finding suggests that time on a ropes course increases Total self-concept. The interaction between time of TSCS:2 survey administration and condition was significant, F(1,89) = 6.71, p = 0.01. The implication of findings suggests that when these students were exposed to low ropes course experiences positive change in self-concept occurred