Ms. Stella Albanese's first grade class at Southgate Elementary sit on their exercise balls while doing desk work.

June 8, 2010 - If students from Southgate and Boght Hills Elementary School looked like they had a little bounce in their step recently, there was good reason.

No, it is not because the school year is winding down and summer fun is a few short weeks away. Rather it was due to an innovative experiment involving giant exercise balls, those typically used in yoga and Pilates classes that may one day revolutionize the way we look at classroom learning.

Southgate certified occupational therapy assistants Lynn Washock, Deb Mosher and Terri Schaefer and physical therapy assistant Deb Shea were seeking creative ways to help improve student concentration in the classroom and stumbled across a story out of Chicago, Ill., where students from a fourth grade class tried a revolutionary experiment.

Instead of having students sit on chairs, where they have a tendency to slouch and relax on their desk, the teacher from Chicago had her students sit on giant exercise balls, which she thought could help improve their focus, while giving them enough exercise to improve concentration.

 

Southgate certified occupational therapy assistants Lynn Washock, Deb Mosher and Terri Schaefer and physical therapy assistant Deb Shea.

“The results (from the Chicago classroom) were almost immediate,” Mosher said. “The students’ concentration improved, as did their attention and posture. We realized that it was an experiment that was catching on around the country.”

Washock, Mosher, Schaefer and Shea sent home a research article and a permission slip to each family whose child was in the designated trial classroom . Every permission slip was returned signed.

“We did not know what to expect,” Shea said. “There was no telling whether the exercise balls were going to work or just be a distraction to the students.”

They monitored the students for over a month, spending about three weeks watching the students’ performance while sitting on the exercise balls, and another three weeks monitoring them without the exercise balls. The results were simply amazing.

“Their focus level was tremendous (when sitting on the exercise balls),” Washock said. “They are sitting upright and the bouncing time gives them an outlet to get the wiggles out. Then, when it is work time, they can come right back to reality.”

According to Harvard University professor, Dr. John Ratey, the tiny movements students make while balancing, stimulate their brains and help them focus. Children with attention disorders, he said, have “a sleepy cortex,” and exercise combats that mental disengagement.

Stella Albanese, first-grade teacher at Southgate, whose classroom was chosen as the trial room, was amazed by how attentive and focused her students were.

 

A Southgate student focuses in on his work.

“It was really amazing,” she said. “They were totally invested in this. When we took them (the exercise balls) away [as part of the trial], they were sad to see them go.”

Even Albanese sat on the exercise balls during this experimentation.

“Sometimes the kids want me to stop bouncing when we’re doing group reading because it distracts them,” she joked.

First grader Colin Kilmer, a student in Albanese’s class smiles and laughs when asked if he likes sitting on an exercise ball.

“They’re fun,” he said. “They help me work.”

Parent reaction to this trial has been overwhelming.

“We have had a lot of parents ask if we are bringing them back next year,” Shea said. “Even those parents whose children weren’t a part of this experiment want their kids to experience this.”

Albanese commented that other teachers and staff members not involved with the process want to participate.

“It’s catching on throughout the building,” she said.

One of the most impressive factors in this process was the cost-effectiveness of the project. The average elementary desk chair costs approximately $45, but typical exercise balls are reasonably priced, costing anywhere from $15-$40, depending on the type and size.