Amperstand Dynamically Adjustable Desks

When we consider change in Education, we think tablets, cloud computing and virtual reality. Yet unlike our offices and homes, when it comes to furnishing our learning spaces, there has been little change for hundreds of years. The human body is not designed to sit, yet the default position for learning remains the same - Teachers Stand. Students Sit. This is despite the Physical and Cognitive benefits of movement being universally accepted. We have an opportunity to change the way Students learn, by challenging the notion that sitting is normal. Helping this generation of students break the sedentary cycle - Amperstand

The primary objective was to allow the user (initially Students) to actuate desk between sitting and standing without the need for the Teacher or other staff involvement. No screws, no difficult to engage locking pins, no powercord. A patented actuation and dual locking mechanism was designed, to allow the user, with minimal effort, to release the upper frame and move it to an ergonomically correct seated or standing height. Further optionality was provided for with respect to the product being static or mobile, to cater for different learning environments. All workspace surfaces were required to have and E0 emission rating.

Federal/State/Local governments all offer employees advice on being more active whilst at work. Most new office fit-outs now include sit/stand desks and workstations. Yet there is little recognition of the same benefit to children, society's most vulnerable, who are required and expected to sit and learn. Equally important are the cognitive benefits of increased movement, in the mainstream, as well as for those who just cannot sit still. Not only does the ability to select sitting or standing offer the user an opportunity to be more comfortable in their learning environment, whilst standing the body requires greater concentration and focus.

Creating something new brings an opportunity to reconsider whether the past best serves the needs of the future. Our past guides how we look toward the future, though in the Education space, it perhaps counts for less given the pace at which technology is changing the way students learn. To that end, those involved in conceptualising, designing, developing and funding the future of Education have an absolute obligation to ensure that the result is not just a reinventing the past. Failure to do so would be, at the very least a waste of time and money. And at worst, opportunity foregone to change the way hundreds of thousands of students interact with their learning environment. At the end of the day, fundamentally enhancing something as seemingly mundane as a school desk shows how as a society we should continue to question what, why and how we do things. Feedback from our users has validated the decision to embark upon this enterprise, to the extent where we are seeing interest from hospitals and other allied healthcare professionals.