Cool makes smart

A few degrees make all the difference

Recent research in Denmark and other countries show that there is a direct relation between academic performance and class room temperatures.

Thomas Grotkjær Nielsen, Advisor to Ministry of Education and Sports, Nepal

01. August 2008

Why are classroom building designs that consider thermal objectives needed and appropriate for Nepal as a nation to invest in?

The CSEB classroom design piloted by BASE and Sonam Wangchuk in Bardiya district has as its primary aim to make the thermal indoor climate more pleasant for teachers and students – i.e. reducing the classroom temperature in the warmer months while increasing the classroom temperature in the winter months.  

This classroom building design objective is indeed important as international research has documented that classroom temperature influences students’ academic performance.  

Recent academic research, for example in Denmark, indicates that a temperature reduction from 25°Celsius (considered "hot" in Denmark!) to 20° Celsius resulted in an improved academic performance of primary level students of between 10% and 20% - all being equal and with other necessary educational resources available and good air circulation in place.  

So international academic research has documented that a situation like in Bardiya, as Sonam Wangchuk has described, with students freezing in periods of time in the winter months while feeling hot in the summer months does indeed influence students' academic performance.   

Theoretically, the relationship between academic performance (depicted on the vertical axis of the figure below) and thermal condition in a classroom (depicted on the horizontal axis) can be described as in the figure below (where 100% denotes “most optimal performance). 

So within a range of "comfortable temperature" like from approximately 18° to 25°  (depending on the local context) the classroom environment is most optimal for students’ academic performance, whereas the colder or hotter it gets, the more the academic performance falls. 

The Danish Study

In the recent Danish study, the results from reducing the classroom temperature from a constant 25° to a constant 20° – where all other factors are kept equal - were extrapolated over a number of years.   

The resulting conclusion was that students’ improved academic performance could – hypothetically – save the Danish education system one whole school year for every seven school years. Hence, the results indicate that a thermal classroom design can help to reduce wastage of resource within the educational system.  

The current focus of research on indoor climate’s influence on students’ academic performance is primarily from relatively well-developed school systems and classrooms. But there is no obvious reason to suggest that the findings do not hold true for Nepali classrooms, teachers and students who struggle with even more extreme thermal conditions – even if all our classrooms are not fully equipped with necessary educational materials and resources.

As the above graph shows, the relationship between temperature and performance simply becomes more profound, the more extreme the temperature becomes.   

And schools, teachers and students in Nepal are likely to benefit on other related aspects like:

• Better comfort of teachers, leading to better motivation of teachers to teach, leading to better quality teaching
• Students getting a greater motivation to actually get to school every day, leading to higher participation, which again lead to lower retention rates
• Better comfort for students, leading to better motivation by students to engage in learning activities
• Better indoor climate, leading to easier/less maintenance, leading to less costs on physical repairs
• School buildings that can be used during the whole day - and 365 days a year   

Now that Ministry of Education and Sports Nepal is considering piloting new classroom designs for Nepal, it is important to include the thermal aspect in a cost-benefit analysis of what classroom design is needed and appropriate for Nepal. 

It turns out that a good thermal design will not only increase the everyday comfort level of teachers and students but there is strong indication that in the medium and long-term it will help to reduce educational wastage, leading to substantial cost savings within the educational system.  

Considering that classrooms are estimated to last approximately 40-50 years, the medium and long-term perspective should receive its appropriate proportional consideration and weight.