13 Jun 2013
Working in hot, stuffy conditions is never pleasant for anyone but now new research suggests that badly ventilated and overheated classrooms can hit pupil performance.
Studies carried out in identical classrooms in Denmark found that boosting the supply rate of fresh outdoor air and turning down the heating helped children work quicker and make less mistakes.
Researchers found that doubling the air flow in the classrooms speeded up the time it took pupils to undertake a selection of everyday academic tasks by between 8% and 14%.
Doubling the flow of fresh air also cut mistakes by around 5% while a cut in classroom temperatures of just one degree increased the speed pupils worked at by up to 4%. A cooler classroom also resulted in marginally less errors being made by the children.
The results of the study have now been published in the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers’ journal.
Copyright Press Association 2013