Study Shows New Desks Helps Students' Grades, Fight Against Obesity

The Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health studied local elementary students using a new standing desk.

Elementary school students using the new standing desk were compared to students using the traditional ones.

Dr. Mark Benden with the A&M School of Public Health said, "It's not taking away from the class time, its enhancing the class experience with the academic, but experience. It's not above and beyond what the teachers need to do to focus on their primary mission, which is academics."

The study shows that the desk helps students be more engaged in class.

Like fourth grader Jackson Parrot. "I am definitely doing better in school with this desk." He has been using the desk for the past two years at Southwood Valley Elementary. "Standing helps me concentrate, and it helps me just focus on the paper instead of wiggling around at my seat."

Southwood Valley Principal, Kristiana Hamilton said, "Sometimes you know you're standing and you just got the opportunity to think freely as opposed to feeling constrained in a desk or in a chair."

She says they have noticed the students in the classes with the standing desks have had higher grades and test scores.

The movement has also been good for helping students burn more calories, which could ultimately help with childhood obesity.

"That group of kids is in fact getting more benefit," said Dr. Benden. "They're really benefiting, its really helping them a lot without causing any problems for the other kids who maybe don't need as much."

Southwood Valley 3rd grade teacher Laurie Kopetsky said, "Kids, they need to move around. They have a very short attention span, and they can work while they're moving."

The research shows the standing desk allows students to be more engaged and physically active, but the standing desks cost about forty to fifty percent more than the standard. So the next step is to incorporate dual desk, that fit two students, so that it would make more economic sense for the school districts.

"The cost per child comes right back down to the same level as what school are used to paying for a desk right now," said Dr. Benden. "I think that's really important piece, is to get the economics in line next, now that we've got kind of the science behind why."

Texas A&M School of Public Health is planning on putting the dual desk in classrooms next to see how students respond to them