Allowing kids to stand, sit, fidget, etc, seems so obvious. The whole sit still for hours at a time, is unnatural for kids and comes from the time when school was in a monastery and the monks thought fidgeting was devil's work. It is amazing how long counter productive rituals can persists. Requiring kids to sit eerily still, makes teaching them harder, for no good reason. And it has been that way for hundreds of yea…
"comes from the time when school was in a monastery and the monks thought fidgeting was devil's work" Did you just make that up or is there evidence that this is actually the case? Personally, I would have a hard time paying attention in meetings and lectures if most of the people in the room were constantly getting up, sitting down, playing with stuff, answering their phones, etc. Do you think maybe we ask kids to s…
And it is true that some task require quiet. Math is one of those tasks. But I as an adult have no need to fidget all that much.
And if I remember correctly, what you learn in the early grades doesn't need that much sensory isolation, I image things quiet down during exams.
So I think the degree of stillness can be slowly increased until you're expected to sit completely still in college.