Robbi Giuliano thinks ditching students' desk chairs in
favor of yoga balls is one of the best decisions she ever made in 11 years of
teaching.
Replacing stationary seats with inflatable bouncers has
raised productivity in her fifth-graders at Westtown-Thornbury Elementary
School, helping students focus on lessons while improving their balance and
core strength, she said.
"I have more attentive children," Giuliano said.
"I'm able to get a lot done with them because they're sitting on yoga
balls."
The giant rubber spheres, also called stability balls, come
in different sizes, colors and degrees of firmness. By making the sitter work
to stay balanced, the balls force muscle engagement and increased blood flow,
leading to more alertness.
The exercise gear is part a larger effort to modernize
schools based on research linking physical activity with better learning, said
John Kilbourne, a professor of movement science at Grand Valley State
University in Allendale, Mich.
Traditional classroom setups are being challenged as
teachers nationwide experiment with yoga balls, footrests and standing desks,
which give children outlets to fidget without disrupting class.
"It's the future of education," Kilbourne said.
Stability balls, frequently used in yoga, Pilates and
physical therapy, have even begun appearing in offices after recent studies
stressing the dangers of sedentary work environments.
The balls first began to surface in schools as aids for kids
with attention problems or autism, said Michelle Rowe, executive director of
the Kinney Center for Autism at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. The
equipment has since gone mainstream.
"It takes away the taboo of wiggling, which most kids
do anyway," said Rowe, who also is a professor of health services.
Giuliano began using the balls in her class in West Chester,
a Philadelphia suburb, about three years ago after her husband mentioned how
they increased productivity at the holistic wellness company where he worked.
Student Ashley Hasson conceded that adjusting to her dark
pink ball was tough at first.
"But once you get used to it, it's not that hard
because basically you're just sitting down," she said.
Another student, Kevin Kent, said the ball makes it easier
for him to concentrate and keeps his back from getting stiff. Now, he said,
sitting in a chair is "weird, because you're all bent up."
Some health experts cautioned against the possibility of
student horseplay and falling off the balls. But Giuliano's 24 students know
they must keep their bottoms on the balls and feet on the floor at all times,
though they can bounce and bob as much as they like.
The same goes for Dannielle Doran's fourth-graders at Merion
Elementary School in a nearby district, where misbehavior risks loss of the
ball and a return to a four-legged seat.
"They like sitting on them so much, and they don't want
to lose that privilege," Doran said. "It seems to almost ... motivate
better behavior."
At Namaste Charter School in Chicago, which is guided by the
philosophy that healthy and active kids perform better in class, all students
learn to use stability balls during physical education.
Yet they're used as seats in academic settings only on a
case-by-case basis, principal Allison Slade said.
"Fifth-graders are so antsy that, for some kids, this
is really good for them," Slade said. "But for others, I think it
could be really distracting."
To be sure, the balls are not mandatory in Doran's or
Giuliano's classes, but Giuliano noted only one student in three years has
opted to continue using a chair.
Parents have been supportive as well, voluntarily purchasing
the $5 balls for their kids. Some even ended up buying balls for themselves to
use at home and work, said Giuliano, who wants to spread the word to other
teachers.
"I don't like sitting on a chair all day ... so I
started sitting on a yoga ball, and I find I'm more alert," Giuliano said.
"And my message is to try it with your class and see if it works for
you."
No comments:
Post a Comment