A team of researchers at the University of Oregon’s NetZED Laboratory are taking a deep dive into how school buildings affect the learning outcomes of students.
NetZED’s work reviews the literature on school facilities and details the relationships between students and the physical school environment, looking at indoor environmental quality, spatial environment, and community health and connection.
First, a few definitions for the curious:
Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) refers to the “sensory experience of a place”, or the relationship between the student and the perceived atmosphere. Physical measurements of temperature, air quality, lighting, and acoustics can be taken and matched with qualitative data such as student perceptions and behaviors.
Spatial Environment refers to the characteristics of the physical spaces and operations that effect those spaces in schools. For example, physical spaces in a school include the buildings, classrooms, individual desks, and the grounds or green spaces. Maintenance and operation also influence the functioning of these spaces, impacting the environment for students, and are considered part of the spatial environment.
Findings:
The NetZED team found that classroom environments that are close to nature may be one of the best ways to improve student learning. The more airflow, the better the students perform, and with access to daylight and windows, students score higher on tests. Views of nature are significantly associated with better learning outcomes, and even indoor plants seem to help.
Students also benefit from flexible, well maintained, well ventilated, and well-designed spaces. For example, smaller class sizes are related to better student-teacher connections, and classrooms that have re-arrangeable, ergonomic furniture can allow students to be healthier, less sedentary, and may even help them be more creative. Students need accommodation for different learning situations, including access to quiet and private spaces as well as social ones. Buildings that are poorly maintained are associated with lower student performance and absenteeism, and ventilation improvements are vital for student health, especially as a long-lasting measure to prevent COVID-19.
While there is no consensus on what temperatures are optimal for students, thermal discomfort or distraction may decrease student performance. Students are also at a high risk for chronic noise exposure, and poor acoustics can affect learning and communication.
More research needs to be conducted in assessing the connections between Indoor Air Quality, absenteeism, and performance, as well as how pollutants and microbes might be affecting students.