Stand-up desks provide a firm footing for fidgety students Teachers report improved focus, behavior

Fifth-grade reading teacher Pam Seekel thinks maybe she did kids a disservice over the years when she told them to sit still, to quit fidgeting so they could focus.

“As a teacher, I never sit down,” said Seekel, who works in the School District of Somerset, near the Minnesota border. “I started to think: Why should I make the kids sit down?”

This year, many of Seekel’s students are using new, adjustable-height stand-up desks produced by a Wisconsin company, as well as a big, tall table that lets students work in groups while standing and shifting their weight, leaning, stretching, wiggling and generally doing everything but sitting still.

As part of a small but growing movement in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota that many teachers say is bound to gain popularity elsewhere, several schools are experimenting with their physical learning environments by incorporating stand-up workstations in the classroom, or, in one school, stability balls instead of traditional school desk chairs.

By Erin Richards of the Journal Sentinel

Full Story: http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/32501809.html