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Poster #85 - The Impact of Stability Ball Chairs on Urban Elementary Teacher and Student Behavior

Sat, March 23, 9:45 to 11:00am, Baltimore Convention Center, Floor: Level 1, Exhibit Hall B

Integrative Statement

Urban teachers can be in school sites that have higher rates of disruptions and students with behavioral challenges, unsupportive administration, racial disproportionality with regards to school discipline, and a lack of school resources (Pianta, La Paro, Payne, Cox, & Bradley, 2002). Research on stability balls indicates multiple physical and cognitive benefits (Schilling, Washington, Billingsley, & Deitz, 2003). However, few studies have investigated the use of stability balls in mainstream classrooms. This poster uses a mixed method approach to investigate whether using stability ball chairs (SBC) in a 2nd grade classroom.

Data was collected over a 3-month period in a low income, urban classroom in a public elementary school. Twenty 2nd grade students participated in this study ages six to seven years old (9 female). Students were of Latino/Hispanic and classified as English Language Learners.

After a detailed search of the current literature, we have yet to identify any pre-existing instruments regarding this topic that are age appropriate. Therefore, each data collection instrument was designed by the researchers specifically for this project. Three types of data were collected including: interviews with the teacher and students, pre and post (stability ball chair) student survey data, and pre and post observational videos (332 minutes of traditional chair use and 1346 minutes of video with students with stability ball chairs). The student surveys contained 11 questions that were rated on a 5-point Likert scale of agreement regarding their traditional chairs and then stability ball chairs. We used grounded theory and created analytic memos to qualitatively explore patterns by data and identify themes (Interrater reliability= 80 percent) (Creswell, 2013). Three types of teacher classroom management strategies were coded from the pre and post SBC observation video: positive narration, attention getters, and behavioral correction (Interrater reliability= 80 percent).

Findings from the quantitative analyses indicate that students prefer the use of SBCs over their traditional school chair (SBC was more comfortable (M=4.64) than the traditional chair (M=2.05). Second, students felt more focused in the stability ball chair (M=4.2) compared to their traditional chair (M=3.0). Three themes emerged from both the student and teacher interviews regarding students’ experience with the stability ball chairs 1) increase in learning, 2) positive student affect, and 3) decrease in behavior. Findings from the teacher observation videos revealed that post SBC positive narrations and attention getters decreased while behavioral corrections increased with stability ball chair.

The results suggest that overall stability ball chairs may be useful to increase positive student affect and create a more effective learning environment in this and potentially similar samples. Interestingly, the teacher observation coding revealed mixed findings with higher behavioral corrections with using SBC. This may reflect the need to use different classroom management strategies when introducing a new type of seating. Future studies could replicate this study determining whether there are similar impacts in other urban low-income schools or in other elementary grade levels. Student behavior observational data is currently being coded for child behavior pre and post SBC and will be presented in the poster.

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