Philadelphia school replaces chairs with yoga balls

Bouncing through fifth grade

When students at Westtown-Thornbury Elementary School in West Chester, Pennsylvania, work diligently at their desks, they aren't exactly sitting still. The fifth-graders in Robbi Giuliano's class learn while bouncing on brightly colored yoga balls — traditional chairs have been banished entirely.

Giuliano calls it one of the best decisions of her 11 years of teaching. "I have more attentive children," she told the Associated Press. "I'm able to get a lot done with them because they're sitting on yoga balls." The idea came from her husband, who noticed the balls boosted productivity at the holistic wellness company where he worked; she introduced them about three years ago.

Why it works

The giant rubber spheres — also called stability balls — force the sitter to engage muscles to stay balanced, increasing blood flow and alertness. "It takes away the taboo of wiggling, which most kids do anyway," said Michelle Rowe, executive director of the Kinney Center for Autism at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia, noting the balls first entered schools as aids for children with attention problems or autism before going mainstream.

John Kilbourne, a professor of movement science at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, called the trend part of a larger modernization of schools — adjustable-height desks, footrests, standing desks — built on research linking physical activity with better learning. "It's the future of education," he said.

The students agree. Ashley Hasson admitted her dark pink ball took some getting used to: "But once you get used to it, it's not that hard because basically you're just sitting down." Kevin Kent said the ball helps him concentrate and keeps his back from stiffening: "Sitting in a chair feels weird now because you're all bent up."

Rules of the ball

There are rules, and they're strict: bottoms on the ball, feet on the floor at all times — though bouncing and bobbing are freely permitted. In a nearby district, fourth-grade teacher Dannielle Doran uses the same system at Merion Elementary, with a built-in deterrent: misbehave and you lose the ball, back to a regular chair. "They like sitting on them so much, they don't want to lose the privilege," Doran said. "It almost seems to motivate better behavior."

Not every expert is sold — at Chicago's Namaste Charter School, principal Allison Slade noted the balls work as seats only case by case: "Fifth-graders are so restless that, for some kids, this really works. But for others, it could be too distracting." And some health experts worry about horsing around and falls. In Giuliano's room, the balls aren't mandatory — but in three years, she said, only one student has ever chosen to go back to a chair.

Archive summary, February 2013, of the Associated Press report by Kathy Matheson.