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Annotated Bibliography

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Will bouncy bands allow students to release energy/anxiety in class while also allowing them to focus and perform better on assessments?

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The same students demonstrate similar behaviors and remain unable to sustain focus.
They are also the same students who leave class on a daily basis. Can bouncy bands help?

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How can I help my fidgety and active students release energy and focus more during class.

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How does using Bouncy Bands affect student performance

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"Action researchers look at what they themselves are or should be doing." (p. 7)

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"Action research is conducted by people who want to do something to improve their own situation" (p. 7)

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How to Conduct Collaborative Action Research

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Student Survey Results
686 total surveys
98% say Bouncy Bands are fun
88% say Bouncy Bands help me focus in class
92% say that Bouncy Bands let me move so I can relax better
84% say Bouncy Bands make it easier to do my work
87% say Bouncy Bands help me feel calmer when I take assessments

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139 Teachers and 686 K-12 students from throughout the U.S. completed online surveys asking them about their results with Bouncy Bands.

88% of students reported that Bouncy bands helped them focus in class.

84% of students stated that Bouncy Bands made it easier to do their work.

87% of students felt calmer when they took tests.

92% of teachers reported that Bouncy Bands help students release energy.

76% of teachers stated that students using Bouncy Bands tend to stay on task longer.

91% of teachers said that Bouncy Bands are quiet.

71% of teachers reported that students using Bouncy Bands tend to be calmer when they take tests.

87% of teachers stated that movement helps students focus better.

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"It is unethical and unscientific to fabricate data in order to substantiate a personal belief or value." (p. 34)

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"Respect and concern for your own integrity and for your participants' dignity and welfare are the bottom lines of ethical research." (p. 29)

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"the most complex issue action researchers face is how to safeguard the rights and freedoms of the students in the classrooms." (p. 27)

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Mills, G.E. (2014) Action Reseach: A Guide for the Teacher Researcher.

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What Do You Do With A Student Who Fidgets?

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Our story last week about the connection between ADHD, movement and thinking struck a nerve with readers. We reported on a small study in which students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder performed better on memory tasks when they were allowed to spin and move around in a swiveling chair.

We got hundreds of comments, tweets and emails. Even the CEO of Donors Choose, a fundraising site for teachers, wrote in to say that there are 1,455 projects with the key word "fidget" on his site. More than 1,000 teachers requested something called a " Hokki Stool" - a backless seat that allows kids to sit and wiggle.

Movement breaks, movement paired with language activities, fidget "toys"... all a thumb's up in my book!! http://t.co/Yn550ynkNP
- RISpeech (@speechteachappy) May 15, 2015

On social media, meanwhile, we heard lots of ideas from teachers who've found creative ways to accommodate some students' need to fidget without disrupting the whole class. Among them:

Bike inner tubes: Wrapped around the legs of a chair, they allow kids to bounce their legs during learning. There's even a commercial version.

Chewing gum: Unjustly banned?

Coloring books: Stressed-out high school students love to color, several people reported. So do adults.

Desk placement: "I put my moving kids on the outside edges of desk clusters, just because they can move and not distract sitters," Donna Bernens-Kinkead, a fifth-grade teacher, posted on Facebook. "I also never keep them seated more than 15 minutes at a time."

Knitting: Many teachers wrote about the calming power of knitting, which is regularly taught in Waldorf schools. It can be done with fingers alone if needles are banned.

Pencil sharpening: Some said their students with ADHD were given special permission to get up and walk around, perhaps to sharpen pencils.

Stability balls: They're also known as "yoga balls," used as occasional or even continuous seating.

Standup desks: Increasingly popular, sometimes sold with adjustable stools and a foot board that wiggles. Julie Bishop commented on our story, "I always let the kids in my after-school program who had ADHD stand at the end of the tables while they did their homework. They'd bounce and wiggle and toe-tap without bothering the other kids and they always got their work done."

Stress balls: Many "fidget toys" are sold for use by students, such as "squeeze balls," "squeeze ducks" and Koosh balls. Sometimes their use is even written into an IEP, one teacher reported.

Do you have a favorite solution for a fidgeting student? Let us know.

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What Do You Do With A Student Who Fidgets?

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Our story last week about the connection between ADHD, movement and thinking struck a nerve with readers. We reported on a small study in which students with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder performed better on memory tasks when they were allowed to spin and move around in a swiveling chair.

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38% of students have moderate to severe test anxiety. 86% of students surveyed said that a new product called “Bouncy Bands” helped them feel calmer when they take tests; 87% of teachers said kids focused better.

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There are students who rely on the bands as much as their pencil and eraser.

Kids who get stressed-out taking tests can bounce and wiggle their way out of anxiety, according to new surveys.

Out of more than 400 students surveyed nationwide 86% reported that a new product called Bouncy Bands helped them feel calmer when they took tests. And their teachers agreed. From over 100 teachers surveyed, 92% said Bouncy Bands helped students release energy and 88% said that movement tended to give students sharper focus.

Bouncy Bands strap between the legs of chairs or desks allowing students to bounce their feet while they work and release some of their extra energy. They're a boon to students at any time of year but, with the end of school year approaching, parents and teachers are looking for any resource to help their children perform better, especially those who suffer from test anxiety.

This is important, says the product's creator, elementary school counselor, Scott Ertl, because the American Test Anxieties Association reports that a majority of students are more stressed by tests and by schoolwork than by anything else in their lives. About 20% of students have high test anxiety, making this the most prevalent scholastic impairment in schools. Another 18% are troubled with moderate test anxiety.

Ertl created Bouncy Bands in 2014 for his own students and since then they have already been enjoyed by more than 15,000 kids across the globe.

Ertl said, "Bouncy Bands help kids relieve their extra energy, anxiety, stress, and hyperactivity while they sit at their desks. Kids love being able to move instead of having to sit still for five to six hours every day. I like to say they can 'wiggle while they work.' Bouncy Bands enable high energy kids to fidget without distracting others. They discreetly soothe student anxiety, frustration, and hyperactivity and increase their attention so they can spend more time on tasks."

Made from a heavy-duty rubber rope that is stronger than bungee cord, inner tubes, and stretch bands, Bouncy Bands have been featured by Creative Child Magazine as a 2014 Product of the Year and named as a "Great Find" by AblePlay.

Over 120 teachers throughout the U.S. have been fully funded through DonorsChoose.org for every student in their class to receive a free Bouncy Band. Teachers who received grants for Bouncy Bands have been singing their praises.

Mike Adams, of R.H. Gettys Middle School, Easley, South Carolina, said, "The students are rushing to my classroom every day now in order to get a desk with the bouncy bands. Their focus has increased tremendously."

Renee Drake, fourth grade teacher at South Columbia Elementary School, Augusta, Georgia, said, "These bands have truly impacted my room in the best way possible. The noises in the room have gone down significantly because the students are able to silently bounce their feet and fidget without tapping or bouncing pencils on their desks."

Colleen Kennedy, school counselor at Camp Ellen Elementary School, Norfolk, Virginia: "Students are staying in their seats longer, completing tasks in their entirety, and very excited about their new desk accessory. They have very happy feet and if their feet could smile I'm sure that they would."

And Molly McCarthy, sixth grade teacher at Piedmont Open IB Middle School, Charlotte, North Carolina, said, "There are students who rely on the bands as much as their pencil and eraser."

Harlem Globetrotters star Julian "Zeus" McClerkin, who is normally seen bouncing around a basketball court, is also a fan. He said "I wish I'd had Bouncy Bands when I was in school. Even now, I like to bounce my feet when I sit. I can see a lot of kids who would love these!"

For more information please visit: http://www.BouncyBands.com.

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Bouncy Bands Reports that Students with Test Anxiety are Bouncing and Wiggling to Relieve their Stress

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Winston-Salem, NC (PRWEB) April 13, 2015 -- 38% of students have moderate to severe test anxiety. 86% of students surveyed said that a new product called "Bouncy Bands" helped them feel calmer when they take tests; 87% of teachers said kids focused better.

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Keeping students ‘on task’ – a new approach

So what you are all waiting for …. The Benefits …..

We have now used Bouncy Bands (both the chair and desk version) in Year 2, 3, 4 and 6 with students and these are the benefits that we have found:

Students were able to stay on task for a longer period of time

The Bouncy Bands were quiet and did not distract or disturb any other students (after our initial 2-3 days of use)

When tested, students were able to achieve higher scores, in particular scoring better in later parts of the test when focus is lowest

Less behaviour management issues during the trial period

Parents of students involved in the trial reported that their children were more attentive at home in the evenings and they found it easier to settle them in the evenings

I highly recommend the use of Bouncy Bands as an alternative method to help students focus.

-Craig Kemp

I am a passionate Head of Educational Technology at a large International School in Singapore. I am a lifelong learner, dream creator and thought leader. I love to inspire others and find inspiration.

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School counselor Scott Ertl has invented a product called Bouncy Bands for students that is bouncing upwards in sales.

Since January, he has sold more than 3,000 products on Amazon.com, through his own website and at educator conferences.

"Bouncy Bands attach to student desks so kids can stretch their legs and bounce their feet while they work quietly at their desk," Ertl said.

His goal is to promote learning through kinesthetic movement. Students at Ward Elementary School in Winston-Salem, where he is a counselor, have been using Bouncy Bands since late 2012.

This is not Ertl's first idea to engage students in active learning. In 2009, he started the country's first Read and Ride program at Ward Elementary for children to ride on exercise bikes while they read magazines and books.

Now, he said, there are "dozens and dozens of schools around the country and actually in other parts of the world that have started a Read and Ride program."

The Read and Ride program has a two-fold purpose - to promote literacy and get children more excited about reading, as well as to try to prevent childhood obesity.

"I love coming up with new stuff," Ertl said.

He initially developed Bouncy Bands for students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, known as ADHD, to help them release their extra energy.

He said that ADHD kids tend to be hyperactive "and they're constantly doing things that can get them in trouble, because they don't know what to do with all this extra energy. They're tapping their pencils on the desk or they're drumming on the table and making noises or leaning back in their chairs. They just need extra stimulation."

Wendy Brewington, the principal at Ward Elementary, said she is always looking for different ways to help students.

"A lot of our kids have a lot of energy," Brewington said. This is one more way they can let out energy in the class without being disruptive."

Linda Bohland, an exceptional children's teacher at Ward, said that some of her students, especially the ones who move a lot, started using the Bouncy Bands immediately.

"The funny thing about it was I started using them and didn't even realize it," Bohland said.

She said that Bouncy Bands is a good outlet for ADHD students who have to move.

"This is an amazing way to keep them focused, able to work and move at the same time," Bohland said.

Not long after ADHD students at Ward Elementary started using Bouncy Bands, other students at the school asked for them.

"It just depends on who needs it," Brewington said.

As more and more requests came in, Ertl decided during the summer of 2013 to start a business selling his Bouncy Bands. His company is Bouncy Bands LLC, based in Winston-Salem.

He got the idea for Bouncy Bands while reading a National Education Association article about different forms of active learning. In the article, a teacher commented on using bicycle inner tubes on tables so that children could bounce their feet on them.

Ertl started going to local bike shops, requesting donations of recycled inner tubes.

"But the problem with the recycled inner tubes is that they kept coming untied all the time," he said.

When students put their feet on the device to bounce, it would come untied then slide down to the floor.

While inner tubes were plentiful during the summer when customers visited bike shops for flat tires, Ertl couldn't get many donations during the winter months.

"As an inventor, sometimes it's great to be able to create the concept from origination or create it from scratch," Ertl said. "But sometimes it's better to refine something that's already out there and make it better. "

In January 2014, Ertl started using a heavy duty rubber to make his Bouncy Bands. The rubber has loops on both ends so that the device won't come untied.

"Then I use this little support pipe so that it doesn't slide down to the floor," he said. "It keeps it right at the level that's best for kids. It's about 8-inches off the ground, so kids have plenty of room to stretch it to the floor. It's also not too high that their knees are going to be hitting the top of the desks."

Ertl provides Bouncy Bands free to classes at Ward Elementary to avoid having a conflict of interest, but sells them to other customers.

To help schools get funds for students who cannot afford Bouncy Bands, Ertl has launched a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign. Interested folks can go to Kickerstarter.com and search for Bouncy Bands. The campaign will provide Bouncy Bands for students throughout the country from teacher, counselor, and principal requests.

His favorite Bouncy Bands story is about a teacher in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., who got one, then three, then enough for an entire class. After she asked her school's PTA to buy enough Bouncy Bands for all seventh-graders, teachers in other grades also wanted them.

"So they ended up having their entire school equipped with these Bouncy Bands," Ertl said. "Every kid in the school has one."

At Amazon.com, the price is $10.95 with free shipping. Of that amount, Ertl gets about half.

"It's not much profit left, but they fulfill the shipping," he said of Amazon.com.

In June, Ertl auditioned for the Shark Tank TV show in Denver, Colo.

He said there was a little over 500 people at the auditions in Denver, but Shark Tank holds auditions throughout the country and has online submissions.

"They have 20,000 people that are applying and auditioning for their show, but they only have about 100 slots," he said.

Although Ertl didn't get on the show, he said that a producer for the show described Bouncy Bands as a "solid 8" product on a scale of 1 to 10. Producers suggested that Ertl consider getting his product made in China to save on production costs.

He said they are probably right from a business perspective, but "I want this to be American made with supplies that come from America."

His trip to Denver, which cost him about $1,000 out of his own pocket, produced ideas from various people, and he is considering them. He was told that he needed a similar product for adults and that he should add a special feature such as beads that provide foot massages.

A manufacturer in Lexington is currently working on a prototype of a free-standing Bouncy Bands model for adults that would fit under a desk. The price has not been determined.

"In the next week or two, that will be ready for production," Ertl said.

In addition to the professional market, Ertl hopes to reach the parent market.

Darrish Barnette of Clemmons called Bouncy Bands a unique product. He has two children at Ward Elementary - Elijah, 9, and Arianna, 10.

Elijah, a rising fourth grader, has had a Bouncy Bands since January.

"I like to use it to wake my foot up," Elijah said.

Arianna, 10, a rising fifth-grader, has tried Elijah's Bouncy Bands and hopes to get one of her own.

"It's hard for me to sit still," Arianna said. "I always have to be doing something."

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Ward Elementary counselor's bouncy product promotes learning

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School counselor Scott Ertl has invented a product called Bouncy Bands for students that is bouncing upwards in sales. Since January, he has sold more than 3,000 products on Amazon.com, through his own website and at educator conferences.

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School children with ADHD should be encouraged to fidget in class, two new studies suggest.

The research showed that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder perform better on cognitive tasks when allowed to fidget or move more freely than is typically allowed in many classrooms. The theory: Moving increases their alertness.

"Parents...

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The Benefits of Fidgeting for Students With ADHD

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School children with ADHD should be encouraged to fidget in class, two new studies suggest. The research showed that children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder perform better on cognitive tasks when allowed to fidget or move more freely than is typically allowed in many classrooms. The theory: Moving increases their alertness.