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Summary of the research on how thermal, air quality, noise reduction, lighting, and daylighting improvements in classrooms benefit children’s educational attainments

This report summarises published research on how children’s performance of schoolwork in primary and secondary schools and their subsequent educational attainments are affected by classroom temperature, air quality, noise, and lighting. The main conclusions (Items 1-20) are set out below as unequivocal statements that are validated by the findings of the detailed reviews of research published that form the bulk of the report, or by the findings of research published since those reviews were...

The relation between electroencephalogram signals, thermal comfort, and cognitive performance in neutral to hot indoor environment was investigated. The experiments were carried out at four temperatures: 26ºC, 30ºC, 33ºC, and 37ºC, and two relative humidity levels: 50% and 70%. Thirty-two subjects were exposed for 175 min. The electroencephalogram signals were measured for 30 min 25 min after the onset of exposure while the recruited subjects performed neurobehavioral tests and rated their...

In a business as usual scenario, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration (CO2) could reach 950 parts per million (ppm) by 2100. Indoor CO2 concentrations will rise consequently, given its dependence on atmospheric CO2 levels. If buildings are ventilated following current standards in 2100, indoor CO2 concentration could be over 1300 ppm, depending on specific ventilation codes. Such exposure to CO2 could have physiological and psychological effects on building occupants. We conducted a...

Building ventilation standards use indoor carbon dioxide (CO2) levels as a proxy for air quality, acknowledging that at typical indoor levels, CO2 itself is not a pollutant. By 2100, outdoor CO2 levels may reach 900 ppm. With current ventilation standards, that would nearly double the levels of chronic, indoor CO2 exposure, raising concerns for its potential effect on occupants. In the last 15 years, an effort to gain this understanding, particularly regarding cognitive performance, has been...

Climate models imply that by 2100 atmospheric CO2 levels could exceed 900 ppm. At these levels, subscribing to current ventilation rates would lead to indoor CO2 levels ≥1,400 ppm, possibly impacting our physiology and other responses. We ran a randomized, within-subject study with 15 participants to examine the physiological effects of 2,5 hour exposure to three CO2 levels: 900 ppm, 1450 ppm (reduced ventilation), and 1450 ppm (pure CO2 added, ventilation same as 900 ppm). End-tidal CO2 and...

The present paper reports a meta-analysis of published evidence on the effects of temperature in school classrooms on children's performance in school. The data from 18 studies were used to construct a relationship between thermal conditions in classrooms and children's performance in school. Psychological tests measuring cognitive abilities and skills, school tasks including mathematical and language-based tasks, rating schemes, and tests used to assess progress in learning including...

The present paper reports a meta-analysis of published evidence on the effects of temperature in school classrooms on children's performance in school. The data from 18 studies were used to construct a relationship between thermal conditions in classrooms and children's performance in school. Psychological tests measuring cognitive abilities and skills, school tasks including mathematical and language-based tasks, rating schemes, and tests used to assess progress in learning including...

This chapter describes the evidence of the effects of indoor air quality (IAQ) on learning of children and gives an overview of the size of the effects expected. The results from the published experiments on the effects of classroom air quality on the performance of schoolwork do confirm that these effects are systematic and show that improving classroom air quality will have a significant positive effect on some aspects of learning, both on cognitive skills and academic attainment, as well...

This chapter describes the evidence of the effects of indoor air quality (IAQ) on learning of children and gives an overview of the size of the effects expected. The results from the published experiments on the effects of classroom air quality on the performance of schoolwork do confirm that these effects are systematic and show that improving classroom air quality will have a significant positive effect on some aspects of learning, both on cognitive skills and academic attainment, as well...

The data from published studies were used to derive systematic relationships between learning outcomes and air quality in classrooms. Psychological tests measuring cognitive abilities and skills, school tasks including mathematical and language-based tasks, rating schemes, and tests used to assess progress in learning including end-of-year grades and exam scores were used to quantify learning outcomes. Short-term sick leave was also included because it may influence progress in learning....

The data from published studies were used to derive systematic relationships between learning outcomes and air quality in classrooms. Psychological tests measuring cognitive abilities and skills, school tasks including mathematical and language-based tasks, rating schemes, and tests used to assess progress in learning including end-of-year grades and exam scores were used to quantify learning outcomes. Short-term sick leave was also included because it may influence progress in learning....

This study managed to create thermal comfort conditions at three temperatures (24°C-­T24, 26°C-­T26, and 28°C-­T28) by adjusting clothing and air velocity. Thirty-­ six subjects (18 males and 18 females) were exposed to each of the three conditions for 4.5 h in a design balanced for order of presentation of conditions. During each exposure, they rated the physical environment, their comfort, the intensity of acute subclinical health symptoms, and their mental load, and they performed a...

This study investigated whether adjusting clothing to remain in neutral thermal comfort at moderately elevated temperature is capable of avoiding negative effects on perceived acute subclinical health symptoms, comfort, and cognitive performance. Two temperatures were examined: 23°C and 27°C. Twelve subjects were able to remain thermally comfortable at both temperatures by adjusting their clothing. They rated the physical environment, their comfort, the intensity of acute subclinical health...

Several relationships between air temperature and work performance have been published. We reanalysed the one developed in 2006 by Seppänen et al.; which is probably the best known. We found that even when significant, its prediction accuracy is very low (R2 = 0.05, MAE = 1.9%, RMSE = 3.1%). We consequently reviewed the literature and found 35 studies on the effects of temperature on office work performance. We used Seppänen et al.’s approach to normalise the data reported in these studies...

There is good evidence supporting the airborne transmission of many respiratory viruses (measles, influenza A, human rhinovirus and the novel SARS-CoV-2). Relative humidity (RH) is an important factor in understanding airborne transmission as it may impact both airborne survival, inactivation by biological decay, and the gravitational settling of the virusladen droplets. This study aimed to estimate and compare the impact of indoor relative humidity on the airborne infection risk caused by...

The TAIL rating scheme was developed to assess indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in offices and hotels undergoing deep renovation and was recently extended by the PredicTAIL method allowing prediction of IEQ through modeling. TAIL provides the methodology for rating the quality of the thermal, acoustic, and luminous environments, the indoor air quality, and the overall quality of the indoor environment. The present work is an extension of the use of TAIL rating scheme for school classrooms...