The latest alternative to the traditional school desk is called the ‘Green Microcycle,’ a stationary bike equipped with a reading stand so kids can exercise while doing classroom reading.

But while many classrooms across the country have already experimented with subbing out stationary desks for some sort of pedal-desk, the Green Microcycle is unique in that it uses the student’s movement to produce energy.

"While students ride, the pedaling also generates a little electricity, enough to charge a tablet or phone or send a little power back into the grid. "It ticks all these different boxes—health, sustainability, education," says Adam Boesel, designer of the Green Microcycle,” according to FactsCoexist.com.

Boesel said he has received positive feedback from teachers who have used the bikes so far.

"One of the first things that happened was the special education teacher approached me and said, 'you know this is really fantastic for some of the kids who have either a lot of extra energy or some other stuff going on, where they can just climb on the bike and focus,” Boesel said, according to the article. Though pedal and standing desks are growing in popularity, writer and parent Maria Guido is unimpressed by the efforts to get kids moving.

“...we need to focus on the real problem: that the 20 minutes of recess our kids are being allotted is not enough,” she said in a post for ScaryMommy.com. 

"They’re restless for a reason. They’re not being given enough unstructured time at school to run around and burn off energy. We don’t need to be looking for ‘solutions' for restless kids: we need to let them out of the classroom again,” she said.

Regardless, standing desks and reading bikes are taking the classroom by storm. You might see one in a classroom near you soon.

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Article by Nicole Gorman, Education World Contributor

4/4/2016