ABL Labs ·

Putnam City Schools: Most ABL Labs in the State! - Oklahoma City, OK

OKLAHOMA CITY — When you envision an elementary school classroom, you probably think of sitting still, in desks organized in neat rows – not pedaling on exercise bikes or hopping, skipping, and jumping.

However, that’s exactly what students do at more than a dozen Putnam City Elementary schools in new, Action-Based Learning Labs. “What we do in here, we exercise, we say our letters,” said Destiny Sibrian, a kindergarten student at Lake Park Elementary School. “That’s what we do.”

The labs look more like a gym than a classroom, but the goal isn’t just to get exercise. Study after study shows that by pairing physical activity with learning, kids often do better in school. Each station also helps students develop important skills like balance, rhythm, and visual tracking.

“And every time they do this, it opens up neurological pathways in their brain for them to store education,” said Kimberly Hefty, the Action-Based Learning Lab Coordinator at Lake Park.

Combining movement with curriculum has been effective for kindergarten, first, and second grade students at the elementary school.

“My children have definitely learned their alphabet sounds, which is major in kindergarten,” said kindergarten teacher Shawnda Gilliam. “Their numbers have definitely improved on their testing.”

Down the hall, there’s a second lab for older students, where the exercise equipment is bigger and the lessons are harder.

“I like that it’s different than something you usually do in a classroom, and it has all this equipment we use to help memorize things by moving,” said Josiah Alleman, a fourth grade student.

An evaluation of Putnam City’s ABL labs show that students in third, fourth and fifth grades who use the equipment demonstrated greater improvement in math during the 2017-2018 school year, than students at schools with no ABL equipment. Academic studies also show children do learn better in a more stimulating environment.

“It’s hard to pay attention when your body’s still, and when you’re not actively involved with whatever you’re learning", said Dr. Laura Wilhelm, an associate professor of education at Oklahoma City University. “Children need to move.”

Putnam City Schools has more Action-Based Learning Labs than any district in Oklahoma.

“Getting up, getting active, stimulating the brain is the best way to get our kids to learn,” Hefty said. “So I think we’ve been going about it backwards for a very long time, and I think this is the future.”

For full article, written by Caroline Vandergriff of KOKH Fox 25 News, Read here.