Standing Helps Children Learn Better

A new study published in the Journal of Health Promotion and Education suggests that standing could be a better way to help facilitate learning and concentration.

For the study, researchers looked at almost 300 children in second through fourth grade and found that students assigned to standing desks were more attentive and interacted more than their seated counterparts.

"Standing workstations reduce disruptive behavior problems and increase students' attention or academic behavioral engagement by providing students with a different method for completing academic tasks (like standing) that breaks up the monotony of seated work," researcher Mark Benden, Ph.D., CPE, associate professor at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Public Health, said in a news release.

Further analysis showed that standing desks resulted in 12 percent greater or seven minutes more per hour of learning time, engagement in classrooms.

Researchers measured engagement via the monitoring and recording of on-task behaviors like answering questions, participating in active discussion, raising hands and off-task behaviors such as talking out of turn.

"Considerable research indicates that academic behavioral engagement is the most important contributor to student achievement. Simply put, we think better on our feet than in our seat," he concluded.