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Education

The ‘Future of Education’ Could Mean a Big Change in Your Child’s Classroom

Feb. 20, 2013 11:07am Erica Ritz

Teachers Replacing Students Chairs With Bouncy Yoga Balls as the Future of Education

Robbi Giuliano teaches her fifth grade class as they sit on yoga balls at Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, in West Chester, Pa. (Photo: AP)

(TheBlaze/AP) — In 11 years of teaching, ditching students’ desk chairs in favor of yoga balls is one of the best decisions Robbi Giuliano thinks she ever made.

Replacing stationary seats with inflatable bouncers has raised productivity in her fifth-graders at Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School, making students better able to 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 asserted.

Robbi Giuliano teaches her fifth grade class as they sit on yoga balls at Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, in West Chester, Pa. (Photo: AP)

Stability balls, frequently used in yoga, Pilates and physical therapy, have even begun appearing in offices in the wake of 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. But now the equipment has gone mainstream.

“It takes away the taboo of wiggling, which most kids do anyway,” Rowe, who also is a professor of health services, explained:

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.

Some health experts cautioned against the possibility of horseplay and falling off the balls, but Giuliano’s 24 students know that if they keep their feet on the floor at all times they can 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.

Students in Robbi Giuliano’s fifth grade class sit on yoga balls as they complete their assignments at Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School Monday, Feb. 4, 2013, in West Chester, Pa. (Photo: AP)

“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.”

WXII profiled another teacher who says he successfully implemented the same change back in 2008:

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Comments (31)

Bah-Zing
Posted on February 23, 2013 at 12:55pm
Just a note regarding IB World schools…I came across this on the internet…have just started, but what I have found is fairly creepy. http://store.ibo.org/educating-for-global-citizenship-p-1264.html?currency=USD
You may want to check this out. I haven’t seen any reference yet to the fact that this is a United Nations affiliation, which I found interesting.

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midnightsun
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 3:38pm
Yeah just wait……I used one of these balls to work out with and it slipped out from under me and I hit my head on the concrete floor….so one of the kids will end up doing this and then there will be a lawsuit. Let’s put the money towards the teachers pay and not some stupid ass yoga balls.

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moreteaplease
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 1:18pm
Gonzo
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 12:22pm

After that, they called your parents and you knew the worst was yet to come. I needed a yoga ball to sit on after that!
——————————–
You ain’t kiddin!!!

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media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 1:00pm
The answer to your kid fidgeting is home schooling?

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media-bias-steals-elections
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 12:59pm
Oh sure, until one of them “multi-tasks” then rolls backwards and cracks their skull open on a hard floor?

Who would want to jeopardize their teaching career, get paraded in front of the televion screens for the media to gawk at, then spend endless hours talking to child protective services, then endless more hours training for a new career after you have been black listed by the community?

Wait, we could use the ratings, great idea, that’s a news story waiting to happen?

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The-Monk
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 12:25pm
When one bursts and a Child gets injured, who gets sued? The school or the ball company?

Should fat kids really be sitting on balloons instead of chairs?

Is this Michele and Oprah approved? They should know…. having fat butts.

Is this just so whoopie cushions can’t be used or to replace them?

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wilbstal
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 12:15pm
zz

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wilbstal
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 12:12pm
All school kids need mandatory Gun training all years in school. The left wing fear is Hillarious

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wilbstal
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 12:11pm
I got a pair of Balls the Left Wing Teachers Unions can have right in their Mouths

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soybomb315_II
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 12:09pm
warn your son that if this spreads to high school, the girls will no longer be wearing skirts

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wilbstal
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 12:09pm
Bunch of BS here teach the kids the US Constitution and Bill of rights all kids must passs a test on these items before they can graduate from HS learn it well or you stay in school or go no wheres

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cassandra
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:54am
this is stupid how abot getting back to teaching math,science,english, more progressive experiments with our children

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IAMMADDOG
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:35am
I think they should use hoppity hops…at least they have a handle.

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IAMMADDOG
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:35am
So what happens when one of these kids loses their balance, rolls off the yoga ball and cracks their head open on the corner of the desk?

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Skee
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:31am
No more leaning over and sneaking a squeaker out.
The reverberation from the ball would intensify the sound.
Students holding their gas because of embarrasment, would
focus more on the tightness of their sphincter, and intestinal discomfort,
than their schoolwork. But if it works, it works.

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- BenInNY
  Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:43am
  Eh, no reason to hold it.
  
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- pragmaticpatriot
  Posted on February 20, 2013 at 3:18pm
  id think these would increase gaseous output because of the echo and reverb causing more global warming… progressive experiment gone horribly wrong
  
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Gamaliel
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:31am
How nice. . . can they also stop brainwashing the youth and teach them to read?

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huey6367
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:26am
If they replace my leather chair at work with a yoga ball …

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denkat56
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:25am
Maybe having to keep their balance while sitting on the ball also helps them focus on their assignments.

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Calm Voice of Reason
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:20am
Making the best of a poor educational system. This doesn’t necessarily threaten the Unions, so it’s likely to be accepted, but any attempts at real reform in education can not happen while teacher’s unions are involved. On this, I would say I am in agreement with most of the Blaze’s audience.

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carhouse
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:17am
I think thats great, I use one at home too.
but how long before a kid falls off and their parents sue the school.
unfortunately it is only a matter of time, this is the world in wich we live.

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gyro
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:15am
This is stupid
* Local Teacher Replaces Desk Chairs With Yoga Balls *

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Cabo King
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:14am
Whats next balloon animals

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- angelcat
  Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:43am
  About 15 years ago, teachers in our district were required to do learning styles training. We were encouraged to have children listen to music, drink, eat, lay and sit on the floor and bean bags while instruction was going on. Different colored lights were recommended too. It worked for a few students. For most, it was either a big distraction or an excuse NOT to pay attention. The crumbs and spilled drinks resulted in an infestation of roaches and ants in some of the schools. After a fortune was spent on the training and lights, etc. , the idea was pretty much abandoned not only because it didn’t work, but also because of the problem of keeping floors sanitary and getting rid of the insects.
  
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Gonzo
Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:13am
Funny, they didn’t need yoga balls to make us behave when I was a kid.

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- huey6367
  Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:27am
  When we were kids, they used to discpline us. That’s how we paid attention – fear.
  
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- chucksue351
  Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:37am
  you bet i had a first grade teacher and you knew what she would do just by the look in her eyes, we all Behaved
  
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- Ben__Franklin
  Posted on February 20, 2013 at 11:54am
  Our first grade teacher had a chalk stick with notches for each victim it warmed. In six grade our teacher had a paddle with holes drilled into it. I asked what the holes were for and i was told it allows the air to escape when it smacks your **** so their is no cushion.
  
  I have a paddle at home made for the kids. It has holes drilled into it…..
  
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- Gonzo
  Posted on February 20, 2013 at 12:22pm
  After that, they called your parents and you knew the worst was yet to come. I needed a yoga ball to sit on after that!
  
  Report this comment
- TheIggies
  Posted on February 20, 2013 at 5:14pm
  Yeah. Cuz beating children always makes for better learners, says no one in the research fields of childhood development ever.
  
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