Educator Uses $12,000 Grant to Transform Her Classroom - Owensboro, KY

OWENSBORO, KY. (AP) — By KEITH LAWRENCE, The Messenger-Inquirer

Remember those classrooms with desks — like the ones in "A Christmas Story" — all lined up in rows.

That's so 20th century.

Owensboro Public Schools now has classrooms with pedal desks and standing desks.

At Estes Elementary School, kindergarten teacher Faith Harralson won a $12,000 grant from the school system to install "pedal desks" in her classroom. The top looks like a traditional desk. But there are bicycle pedals down where the students' feet can move at their own pace, pedaling while they work.

Harralson said the pedal desks allow the students to move more, which she said is good for the mind and body "because it activates cells in the brain."

It also helps when kindergartners get tired of sitting still.

Harralson said, "I've seen a shift in my students' behavior and engagement since the bikes arrived. Thanks to good engineering, the pedals are essentially noiseless and don't interfere with instruction or activities."

The desks were purchased from Action Based Learning.

At Sutton Elementary School, Gina Davis was awarded $25,000 to replace her classroom's traditional worktables with standing desks. The desks are higher and more comfortable for students who want to stand while they work.

"The desks make it more flexible to provide individual attention because the desks move," Davis said. Although they're called standing desks, they come with stools, giving students an option of standing or sitting.

Brady Lanham, a Sutton student, said, "Whenever you're standing, it keeps you alert and makes you want to work harder."