Bikepool-A School-Based Program to Teach Children How to Bike

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Sustainable Mobility
• Pedestrian and Cyclist Safety

Background:

• School-based programs offer equitable reach for promoting cycling skills in children and adolescents.
• Safe participation in active transport for youth relies on age-appropriate cycling competences.
• The study evaluates bikepool, a large-scale school-based cycling program in Hesse, Germany.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of the bikepool program in improving cycling competence among secondary school students.
• To assess the impact of the program on self-reported cycling frequency.
• To examine intervention effects based on initial skill levels.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental pre-post design with mixed-methods evaluation.
• Standardized cycling skills test administered to secondary school students (N=182).
• Self-reported cycling frequency assessed via questionnaires in intervention (n=109) and control (n=112) groups.

Main Results:

• Significant improvements in safety-related cycling performance observed across most test components post-intervention.
• Greatest absolute gains in cycling competence were among students with the lowest baseline skills.
• No significant association found between program participation and increased self-reported cycling frequency.

Conclusions:

• The bikepool program effectively enhances students' cycling competence in safety-related tasks.
• Competence improvements alone did not increase cycling frequency, indicating a need for multicomponent strategies.
• The study highlights gaps in research regarding standardized cycling competence assessments and children's active mobility surveillance.