Move Over Standing Desks: Kids Learn Better with Pedal Desks
Sitting still in class is a thing of the past. At least, that’s certainly the case for a few children at Oakridge Elementary School in Arlington, Virginia. The school recently added several of KidsFit’s two-person pedal desks to their special education classrooms, where children with attention issues can use the motion of pedaling to keep their minds more focused on learning.
While the program is new to Virginia, KidsFit desks can be found in classrooms around the country. "Most of what we hear is directly from teachers on the front lines. There are numerous experts who will tell you all the technical reasons why movement in the classroom works to enhance learning, but to hear it from a happy teacher will give you chills,” Lease says.
The pedal desk is a novel idea because it allows a child to fidget without creating a distraction. "In the past, when your teacher told you to sit still, stop fidgeting, and do your arithmetic, it was simply the way we all did it,” Lease says. "What your teacher should have said was ‘Let’s all get up, move around, and solve that division problem.’ What the research shows is that movement in the classroom enhances cognitive learning."
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We already knew that cycling is good for the brain, and KidsFit has more research to back it up. “Cycling anchors learning when more of the senses are involved to increase the executive function of the frontal lobe,” says Lease. “The frontal lobe is like the CEO of the brain; it’s where decisions are made!”
For children with attention disorders, cycling helps to put the brain and body back into hormonal balance, which also regulates mood and behavior.
"We constantly hear from teachers who have the desks in their classrooms that their kids pay attention better and that they can teach longer with fewer distractions,” Lease says. "The teacher's bottom line is that when the kids are moving, they learn and retain information more efficiently and are less prone to act out."
Intrigued? Check out this video to see how the desk works:
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