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This conference paper was delivered at UKFIET 2023 (Oxford). IT was a joint presentation between Laterite, Fab Inc, and Open Development & Education, as well as FCDO.

Governments devote a large share of public budgets to construct, repair, and modernize school facilities. However, evidence on whether investments in the physical state of schools translate into better student outcomes is scant. In this study, we report the results of a large field study on the implications of poor air quality inside classrooms − a key performance measure of school mechanical ventilation systems. We continuously monitor the air quality (i.e., CO2), together with a rich set...

Children differ from adults in their physiology and cognitive ability. Thus, they are extremely vulnerable to classroom thermal comfort. However, very few reviews on the thermal comfort of primary school students are available. Further, children-focused surveys have not reviewed the state-of-the-art in thermal comfort prediction using machine learning (AI/ML). Consequently, there is a need for discussion on children-specific challenges in AI/ML-based prediction. This article bridges these...

Impairment in mental functions attributed to the effects of indoor air quality and thermal conditions has received considerable attention in the past decade, particularly for educational buildings where students’ cognitive performance is essential to foster learning. This study explores the combined effects of indoor temperatures and CO2 levels as markers for ventilation rates on cognitive performance among female students (16–23 years old) in Saudi Arabia. The longitudinal experiments...

In the hot climate of Saudi Arabia, people living year-round in air-conditioned spaces are likely to develop high expectations for homogeneity and cool temperatures, becoming potentially more sensitive if thermal conditions deviate from the comfort zone they expect. This paper presents the results from a field intervention investigating the association between participants’ thermal sensations with cognitive performance in a female university in Saudi Arabia. The climatic context plays a key...

High temperature makes the children uneasy during classroom activities. This study examines the effect of air temperature to children‟s cognitive performance. The school profile was determined such as: the total number of teachers, number of enrollees, land area (sq.m.), number of buildings and number of trees was determined to support the analysis of the data collected. The respondents were the Top thirty (30) Grade V pupils from public city elementary school in the Bicol Region. The...

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...

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...

Acoustic discomfort can harm the process of knowledge acquisition, interfering with attention and worsening student-teacher communication.

Children spend a significant proportion of their time at school and in school buildings. A healthy learning environment that supports children should be thermally conducive for learning and working. Here, we aimed to study the relations between indoor classroom temperatures and learner absenteeism as a proxy for children’s health and well-being. This one-year prospective study that spanned two calendar years (from June 2017 to May 2018) entailed measurement of indoor classroom temperature...

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 study investigates the conditions and the levels of satisfaction with indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in naturally ventilated (NV) learning environments in Bayero University, Kano and compares the results to international comfort standards’ thresholds. It examines the thermal and visual comfort, acoustic quality as well as the indoor air quality of six learning environments in the University consisting of four lecture theatres and two laboratories. Researches in IEQ have shown that...

The aim of the study was to examine the effect of the perceptions of students about classroom learning environment on their academic achievement at secondary level in the Mathematics classrooms. The participants were selected from the secondary and higher secondary schools located in Tehsil Rawalpindi and Islamabad (Federal Area), Pakistan. Twenty four schools were selected randomly. A total of five hundred sixteen students of 10th grade studying Mathematics in twenty seven classrooms, were...

Most of the studies investigating the effects of the external noise on children’s school performance have concerned pupils in schools exposed to high levels due to aircraft or freeway traffic noise. However, little is known about the consequences of the chronic ambient noise exposure at a level commonly encountered in residential urban areas. This study aimed to assess the relationship between the school performance of 8- to 9-year-old-children living in an urban environment and their...

Most of the studies investigating the effects of the external noise on children’s school performance have concerned pupils in schools exposed to high levels due to aircraft or freeway traffic noise. However, little is known about the consequences of the chronic ambient noise exposure at a level commonly encountered in residential urban areas. This study aimed to assess the relationship between the school performance of 8- to 9-year-old-children living in an urban environment and their...

Most of the studies investigating the effects of the external noise on children’s school performance have concerned pupils in schools exposed to high levels due to aircraft or freeway traffic noise. However, little is known about the consequences of the chronic ambient noise exposure at a level commonly encountered in residential urban areas. This study aimed to assess the relationship between the school performance of 8- to 9-year-old-children living in an urban environment and their...

Most of the studies investigating the effects of the external noise on children’s school performance have concerned pupils in schools exposed to high levels due to aircraft or freeway traffic noise. However, little is known about the consequences of the chronic ambient noise exposure at a level commonly encountered in residential urban areas. This study aimed to assess the relationship between the school performance of 8- to 9-year-old-children living in an urban environment and their...