A flexible seating classroom is one in which traditional seating charts are replaced with seating arrangements that allow the students to sit where they choose. One of its principal objectives is to reduce the number/duration of

sedentary Sedentary lifestyle is a lifestyle type, in which one is physically inactive and does little or no physical movement and or exercise. A person living a sedentary lifestyle is often sitting or lying down while engaged in an activity like soci ...

periods of time, which research has identified as a danger to health. The

Albemarle County Albemarle County is a county located in the Piedmont region of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Its county seat is Charlottesville, which is an independent city and enclave entirely surrounded by the county. Albemarle County is part of the Charl ...

Public School system in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography an ...

adopted this approach with reported success and studied and taken into consideration also in Europe: more in details, a Flexible seating classrooms could improved an inclusive education.

Health impacts

Studies have found that extended sitting affects the development of the

musculoskeletal system The human musculoskeletal system (also known as the human locomotor system, and previously the activity system) is an organ system that gives humans the ability to move using their muscular and skeletal systems. The musculoskeletal system prov ...

, leading to health disorders such as

cardiovascular The blood circulatory system is a system of organs that includes the heart, blood vessels, and blood which is circulated throughout the entire body of a human or other vertebrate. It includes the cardiovascular system, or vascular system, tha ...

problems,

poor posture Spinal posture is the position of the spine in the human body. It is debated what the optimal spinal posture is, and whether poor spinal posture causes lower back pain. Neutral spine Looking directly at the front or back of the body, the 33 verteb ...

back pain Back pain is pain Pain is a distressing feeling often caused by intense or damaging stimuli. The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with, or resembling ...

and

neck pain Neck pain, also known as cervicalgia, is a common problem, with two-thirds of the population having neck pain at some point in their lives. Neck pain, although felt in the neck, can be caused by numerous other spinal problems. Neck pain may arise ...

. According to Dieter Breithecker at Germany's Federal Institute for Posture and Mobilization Support,

brain activity Electroencephalography (EEG) is a method to record an electrogram of the spontaneous electrical activity of the brain. The biosignals detected by EEG have been shown to represent the postsynaptic potentials of pyramidal neurons in the neocor ...

slows down when the body becomes stationary, for example when sitting in a traditional classroom.Breithecker, D. (2006, November).
Beware of the sitting trap in learning and schooling
DesignShare nline (October, 2016) Breithecker recommended flexible seating arrangements to remedy these dangers. Flexible seating classroom designs include: *stools *couches *beanbag chairs *chairs *beds *mats *inflatable balls *standing *laying on the floor *pillows *benches *hanging chairs

References

* Todino M.D., Aiello P., Sibilio M. (2016). FLEXIBLE CLASSROOMS FOR INCLUSIVE EDUCATION. In: Proceedings of ICERI2016 Conference 14th16th November 2016, Seville, Spain. p. 1674-1678, {{ISBN, 978-84-617-5895-1, Seville, Spain, 14th-16th November 2016 https://library.iated.org/view/TODINO2016FLE Education theory