Does the use of movement-producing classroom furniture improve children's learning, behavioral, and health outcomes?

Backed by David Lang and Amy Collette
$15
Raised of $7,035 Goal
1%
Ended on 5/14/22
Campaign Ended
  • $15
    pledged
  • 1%
    funded
  • Finished
    on 5/14/22

Methods

Summary

I will study the potential impact kinesthetic classroom furniture has on students' learning, behavioral, and health outcomes. I will attempt to control variance by deliberately seeking two classrooms on the same grade level at the same school with similar student characteristics (e.g., number of boys, number of Black students, number of students receiving special services, number of students who qualify for free- or reduced-price lunches) and similar teacher characteristics (e.g, length of time teaching, experience on this grade level). 

Additionally, I will work with the study teachers to ensure that there are no other differences in their typical instructional approach besides the classroom furniture available. For example, teachers typically work with small groups of students for targeted reading or math instruction. In the treatment classroom, students will sit at a kneel and spin table instead of a standard table. Students often work in small groups to do independent practice at learning centers. In the treatment classroom, students may be able to sit on a pedal stool at these stations while children in the control classroom will use standard seating. 

To measure student outcomes, the following tools and protocols will be used.

  1. Physical Activity/Sedentary Behavior - ActiGraph GT9X Link accelerometers
  2. Executive Function - The Behavior Rating Inventory of Executive Function, Second Edition (Teacher and Parent Reports)
  3. Reading/Math Achievement - District- or State-Level required assessments (TBD by the district and the grade level)
  4. Attendance and Behavior - School attendance data (e.g., absenteeism, tardies) and behavioral data (e.g., disciplinary referrals)
  5. Video-recorded classroom observations.
  6. Artifacts of teaching and learning (e.g., lesson plans, student work samples).
  7. Teacher and student interviews/focus groups.

To further control for potential variance, I plan to use a pre-test/post-test design to look for mean changes over time rather than raw outcomes. For example, I will analyze behavioral and attendance data from the prior school year as the pre-test and similar data from the current school year as the post-test. Parents and teachers will complete the BRIEF2 at the beginning and end of the school year, and academic achievement data will similarly come from beginning and end of the year data. The only exception to this will be the accelerometers. Because of the number of accelerometers available, students in both classrooms will wear the accelerometers in consistent (e.g., the same number of days in school) rolling 7-day cycles (exclude data from the first day of wear from analysis). The same number of students in each class will participate in cycles of data collection (e.g., 5 treatment students and 5 control students in Cycle A, 5 each in Cycle B, etc.). 

Procedures:

  • Purchase furniture within the constraints of the budget.
  • Work with Metro Atlanta area district partners to identify potential Title I elementary schools.
  • Recruit willing principal and teachers (K-2) to participate in the study.
  • Deliver kinesthetic furniture to the school site and do initial orientation with the relevant educators about the study, how to use the furniture, etc. prior to the beginning of the school year.
  • Recruit families and secure parental consent for students to participate in the study and to collect student data for analysis.
  • Get student assent to participate in the study.
  • Collect pre-test data in August/September.
  • Collect movement data and conduct classroom observations throughout the year.
  • Collect post-test data in April/May.
  • Analyze data.
  • Share findings.

Challenges

Based on prior studies I have conducted, I can anticipate the following challenges:

  • lack of parental consent for students to participate (or to participate fully)
  • lack of parent response to BRIEF2 surveys at pre- and post-test
  • lack of sufficient quality data from accelerometers (e.g., parents do not consent to student wearing accelerometer, student wear time is inconsistent)
  • teacher reluctance to complete BRIEF2 surveys at pre- and post-test because they are having to report on their entire class
  • teacher reluctance to participate as the control classroom because there is more work on them without any perceivable benefit
  • student attrition
  • teacher attrition

To mitigate these potential challenges, I plan to do the following:

  • Communicate thoroughly and using multiple formats/opportunities to explain the purpose of the study and answer questions to alleviate potential concerns (including translation services if necessary).
  • Use digital BRIEF2 surveys to make it easier for parents and to "resend" as many times as necessary, incentivize parents and students for completed surveys (not for how they answered).
  • Conduct more product demonstrations for families to show them how the accelerometer works, what the data looks like, and what needs to happen to ensure quality wear time (e.g., use researcher provided plastic pencil cases to hold accelerometers during bathing), and stress families will not be financially responsible for lost accelerometers.
  • Incentivize teachers to complete BRIEF2 surveys with small gift cards as an acknowledgement of the time investment required to do so.
  • State from the beginning of the study that the kinesthetic furniture will remain with the school at the conclusion of the study, and the two teachers will divide the stools and the small group table equitably between them at their discretion.
  • Student attrition is more of a risk and less controllable, but I will collect as much data as possible from both new students who appear mid-year and those who leave mid-year to maximize the data for analysis (e.g., I may not have pre-test behavioral data or executive function data, but the student may still be able to be part of the physical activity data analysis).
  • The district, principal, and teachers will not be allowed to participate if they anticipate not spending the entire year at the study site, but if there is unforeseen teacher or principal attrition, I will work to get consent from new faculty to participate with as little disruption as possible, although that will be a limitation to the study should it occur.

Pre Analysis Plan

I will use inferential statistical tests to test the hypothesis that kinesthetic furniture positively impacts students and to compare means between the treatment classroom (the one with the kinesthetic furniture) and the control classroom (the one with the standard furniture) to explore the impact the independent variable has on student outcomes. The dependent variables will include students' executive function, physical activity, reading/math academic achievement, behavior, and attendance. Students' demographic characteristics, such as socio-economic status as determined by free- or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) eligibility, may be used as covariates in the analysis to explore the extent to which, if any, these characteristics alter any of the findings in any way. 

While the type of data I am able to collect will determine the type of tests (e.g., parametric or nonparametric), my pre-analysis plan is to use multiple analysis of variance (MANOVA) or multiple analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) to compare mean results by class condition. I also plan to run correlational tests to explore the extent to which variables are associated. I also plan to use regression tests to begin to understand whether changes in classroom furniture cause changes in an outcome variable. While I hypothesize the kinesthetic furniture will positively impact students, i may find it does not (null hypothesis) or that there are different results by outcome (e.g., executive function, academic achievement, physical activity, etc.). 

Protocols

This project has not yet shared any protocols.