The Santa Ana Student Center’s Quest Academy was awarded funding through the website www.DonorsChoose.org for seven “wiggle chairs” valued at $578 which were placed in teacher Caroline Look’s room.
Wiggle chairs are stools with slightly rounded bottoms that allow students to wobble back and forth without falling over. The students were using stability balls, reported Principal Monica Lopez, but at the beginning of the year as students were still learning to use them correctly “they get excited and try bouncing as high as they can.” Ms. Look showed students different options for flexible seating and they all agreed that they wanted the stools. The stools benefit the students because they like to lift their feet off the floor while they are sitting and wiggle around; the stools are designed to allow students to sit without forcing them to keep their feet on the floor and they will never fall over or hit their heads.
Ms. Look wrote the grant request. Ms. Lopez noted that the project was posted in conjunction with the school’s Project-Based Learning (PBL) project of helping students identify learning styles and comfortable spaces.
Quest is a PBL school that offers a unique small-school environment where everyone knows every student’s name. Its focus is on personalizing each student’s learning based on their interests, passion and learning style. Its personalized learning model creates a classroom environment that engages and accelerates learning for all students by building the following areas: culture, accountability, voice and choice, student collaboration and authentic experiences.
