MARINE ON ST. CROIX, MINNESOTA, USA, February 25, 2009: At Marine Elementary School, the pupils are being studied as much as they are studying. In several classrooms, here and in neighboring schools, students are using a type of adjustable-height school desk which allows them to switch between sitting and standing while they work. The ability to shift position seems to enhance alertness and concentration. Teachers using the desks in their classrooms maintain that the desks help give children the flexibility they need to expend energy and, at the same time, focus better on their work rather than focusing on how to keep still.
Two studies are under way at the University of Minnesota evaluating the new desks as they affect physical activity and academic achievement. Given the rise in childhood obesity and the decline in physical education and recess, there has been much concern about children’s declining physical activity. But Lynn Borman, principal of Marine Elementary, isn’t waiting for the research results. “We just know movement is good for kids,” Ms. Bormann said. “We can measure referrals to the office, sick days, whatever it might be. Teachers are seeing positive things.”
At Somerset Middle School in Somerset, Wisconsin, the children in Pam Seekel’s fifth-grade class rotate in their use of both traditional and stand-up desks. “At a stand-up desk,” Ms. Seekel said, “I’ve never seen students with their heads down, ever. It helps with being awake, if they can stand, it seems. And for me as a teacher, I can stand at their level to help them. I’m not bent over. I can’t think of one reason why a classroom teacher wouldn’t want these.”
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