Standing desks make students more attentive

Students with standing desks are more attentive than their seated counterparts, says a study, indicating we think better on our feet, literally.

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

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

The findings were based on a study of almost 300 children in second through fourth grade who were observed over the course of a school year.

The researchers found 12 percent greater on-task engagement in classrooms with standing desks, which equates to an extra seven minutes per hour of engaged instruction time.

Engagement was measured by on-task behaviours such as answering a question, raising a hand or participating in active discussion and off-task behaviours like talking out of turn.

Standing desks -- also known as stand-biased desks -- are raised desks that have stools nearby, enabling students to sit or stand during class at their discretion.

The key takeaway from this research, Benden said, is that schools that put standing desks in classrooms may be able to address two problems at the same time: academic performance and childhood obesity.

The findings were published in the International Journal of Health Promotion and Education.