Ever since the Russians beat us into space in 1957 with the launch of Sputnik, Americans have been tinkering with our educational system, trying to find just the right combination of classroom learning, technology and discipline that will give us a world class educational system.

After Sputnik came the New Math; the Women’s Movement brought a recognition that we, as a nation, were wasting the potential intellectual contributions of half our citizens. The Civil Rights movement focused attention on educational disparities between races and, later, between wealthy and poor communities.

But each success seems to create or reveal new needs. Today we are concerned with childhood obesity — and we should also be concerned about falling achievement rates for boys.

We can’t help wondering if the two are, at least marginally, related.

There’s hope, however, in an idea brought to life at Southington’s Hatton Elementary School — the pilot location for the “active classroom.”

In an effort to help kids stay healthy, the active classroom would replace with active participation the traditional lesson plan of sitting and listening. Teachers will be asked to connect learning and motion in an effort to get the kids to burn calories.

The concern is, of course, that one in three children in America is overweight or obese — at a time when schools are eliminating physical education classes and recess to allow for more learning time. But that good intention might be backfiring — and the concern goes beyond weight control.

Recent research shows that sitting, in and of itself, is a problem — at least in adults.

“New research shows that adults should sit no longer than a half hour without getting up and moving; failure to do so could have grave health implications,” according to WebMD. Being sedentary has been linked to diabetes and death from heart disease or stroke.

While the research didn’t look at children’s health, other studies have focused on how they learn.

Research shows that boys, in particular, learn best when active.

“Give boys lots of opportunities for physical activity and don’t expect them to sit still for long periods of time,” advises PBS.org. “Play is the work of childhood, it’s how kids learn social skills and develop verbal skills, and it’s vanishing from the classroom.”

The Southington experiment aims to encourage activity, even replacing the traditional desk and chairs with adjustable lecterns that allow students to stand or sit on big exercise balls — and burn calories.

That sounds like an ideal place for boys to fidget.

— The New Britain (Conn.) Herald