Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Oct;32(10):e13116.
doi: 10.1111/ina.13116.

A systematic approach to quantify the influence of indoor environmental parameters on students' perceptions, responses, and short-term academic performance

Henk W Brink  1   2 , Marcel G L C Loomans  2 , Mark P Mobach  1   3 , Helianthe S M Kort  2   4
Affiliations

A systematic approach to quantify the influence of indoor environmental parameters on students' perceptions, responses, and short-term academic performance

Henk W Brink et al. Indoor Air. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Several studies found that classrooms' indoor environmental quality (IEQ) can positively influence in-class activities. Understanding and quantifying the combined effect of four indoor environmental parameters, namely indoor air quality and thermal, acoustic, and lighting conditions on people is essential to create an optimal IEQ. Accordingly, a systematic approach was developed to study the effect of multiple IEQ parameters simultaneously. Methods for measuring the IEQ and students' perceived IEQ, internal responses, and academic performance were derived from literature. Next, this systematic approach was tested in a pilot study during a regular academic course. The perceptions, internal responses, and short-term academic performance of participating students (n = 163) were measured. During the pilot study, the IEQ of the classrooms varied slightly. Significant associations (p < 0.05) were observed between these natural variations and students' perceptions of the thermal environment and indoor air quality. These perceptions were significantly associated with their physiological and cognitive responses (p < 0.05). Furthermore, students' perceived cognitive responses were associated with their short-term academic performance (p < 0.01). The observed associations confirm the construct validity of the systematic approach. However, its validity for investigating the influence of lighting remains to be determined.

Keywords: classrooms' indoor environmental quality; health; higher education; performance; quality of learning; student responses.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
The systematic approach, based on Wang and Degol and Bitner
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Screening process of literature for systematic approach development
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Indoor environmental quality indicators grouped by category
FIGURE 4
FIGURE 4
Perceived indoor environmental quality categories and subcategories. LE,Lighting environment; IAQ,Indoor air quality; TE,Thermal environment; AE,Acoustic environment
FIGURE 5
FIGURE 5
Categories covered in the systematic approach and their mutual relations. The figures in the parentheses indicate the number of items in the questionnaire that cover these categories
FIGURE 6
FIGURE 6
Layout of the classrooms A and B along with four photographs of the A and B interiors (left to right respectively)
FIGURE 7
FIGURE 7
Observed indoor and outdoor thermal environmental conditions (in red color accents) and indoor air quality (in blue color accents) during the 12 observed lectures at the moment students filled in the questionnaire. The line graphs show the natural variations in the classrooms during the experiment; the boxplots show the conditions in classrooms A and B Note : RHi = indoor relative humidity; RHo = outdoor relative humidity; ta = air temperature; to = outdoor temperature; CO2 = carbon dioxide; PM10 = particles < 10 µm; PM2.5 = particles < 2.5 µm; TVOC = total volatile organic compounds
FIGURE 8
FIGURE 8
Perceived indoor environmental quality, cognitive response, and quality of learning scores and academic performance test scores Note : APT = academic performance test score; PCR = perceived cognitive response; PIAQ = perceived indoor air quality; PLC = perceived lighting comfort; PTCpref = thermal preference; PTCsens = thermal sensation; PTC = perceived thermal comfort
FIGURE 9
FIGURE 9
Significant multivariate linear regression R 2 values between independent and dependent variables. See footnote to Figure 5 for explanation of symbols and shading Note : APT = academic performance test score; PCR = perceived cognitive response; PIAQ = perceived indoor air quality; PLC = perceived lighting comfort; PPHC = perceived physiological health complaints; PTCpref = thermal preference; PTCsens = thermal sensation; PTC = perceived thermal comfort; 1 = only exponentiated values of coefficient could be calculated, see Table 5
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Cohen J, McCabe L, Michelli NM, Pickeral T. School climate: research, policy, practice, and teacher education. Teach Col Rec. 2009;111(1):180‐213.
    1. Frontczak M, Wargocki P. Literature survey on how different factors influence human comfort in indoor environments. Build Environ. 2011;46(4):922‐937. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2010.10.021 - DOI
    1. Wang M, Degol JL. School climate: a review of the construct, measurement, and impact on student outcomes. Educ Psychol Rev. 2016;28(2):315‐352. doi:10.1007/s10648-015-9319-1 - DOI
    1. Brink HW, Loomans MGLC, Mobach MP, Kort HSM. Classrooms' indoor environmental conditions affecting the academic achievement of students and teachers in higher education: a systematic literature review. Indoor Air. 2021;31(2):405‐425. doi:10.1111/ina.12745 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wargocki P, Wyon DP. Ten questions concerning thermal and indoor air quality effects on the performance of office work and schoolwork. Build Environ. 2017;112:359‐366. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2016.11.020 - DOI

Publication types