Taking Learning to New Heights
- School Year: 2016-2017
- Applicants: Mary Bohn, Lead Teacher Ellen Cercone
- School: Braeburn
- Subjects: Language Arts, Math, Science, Social Studies
This grant for Safeco AlphaBetter® standing desks for students in grades 3-5 at Morley Elementary School will provide students an innovative working station in an effort to enhance students’ cognitive functioning, driving cognitive development and positively impacting educational outcomes. The Safeco AlphaBetter® standing desk can be set to a height appropriate for a child to stand at, thereby allowing students to stand and move as they work. The addition of these desks in classrooms throughout our school will directly impact students and their work habits across all curricular areas as they will be more available to focus on instruction and use their class time constructively. Additionally, working at these innovative desks will help students self-regulate their behavior thereby impacting their social interactions with their classmates and foster social emotional growth. In 2014, NEA Today (a publication of the National Education Association), published “Standing Desks Are Helping Kids Think on Their Feet”. In the article, Mark Benden, Texas University Associate Professor was quoted, “You can’t operate the brain without the body operating at its peak, and our bodies definitely are not operating at their peak when they’ve been lethargic for a while. Similarly,, authors of the book Fidget to Focus contend that “fidgeting is our body’s natural way of activating our under-stimulated brains to facilitate focus.”