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How Air Conditioning Affects Learning

Sitting through a lesson on a hot summer’s day is a challenge that students from all over Australia are familiar with. As education becomes more important to our daily lives, more and more research is being done into ways that learning environments can be improved. Scientists have understood for a long time that hot days can have a major impact on students’ ability to learn. As temperatures climb, attention spans drop and classroom performance falls. Air conditioning provides a simple solution to the problem. By maintaining classroom temperatures at between 22-25C, both students and teachers can see a few major benefits.

Improved Concentration

Do you remember your school days? Being expected to sit still and listen to the teacher for hours at a time was a challenge, and summer temperatures made it much harder. That’s because high indoor temperatures have a massive impact on your ability to concentrate and learn. Heat places stress on your body and brain, making it difficult to sit still and keep your mind on a task. Using air conditioners to keep classrooms cool improves concentration and allows teachers to deliver more complex lessons without having to worry about whether their students can keep up.

Cleaner Air Quality

Air conditioners work using a simple principle. They draw in air from a room, circulate it over cooled pipes that absorb excess heat, and then they blow the cool air back into the room. There’s an important part of this process though – split systems and ducted air conditioners both filter the air they’re cooling.

Brisbane’s summer heat often comes along with stagnant air. As temperatures increase, air movement slows and pollution and pollen become trapped. The effects are even worse in places where hot days dry out the ground and increase the amount of dirt and dust in the air. The filters in air conditioners can drastically improve indoor air quality by removing the dust, pollen and pollution from the air. In Australia, asthma is on the rise, with about 11.2% of the population now suffering from breathing difficulties. By improving air quality, air conditioning helps to look after the health of students and avoid the distracting symptoms that come with asthma and polluted air.

Better Academic Performance

Each year the mercury climbs and academic scores fall. Research has shown that every degree of temperature increase comes with a real effect on classroom and exam performance. Every day that indoor temperatures are over 32C reduces students’ overall performance for the year, and days over 37C have an even bigger effect. It’s important to note that these effects are only seen in the classroom. Hot summers only impact performance on the days when students are expected to sit down and pay attention. The decrease in academic performance is mostly due to a lack of productivity in the heat which affects both students and teachers. A study from Harvard highlighted these negative effects, and it also showed that school air conditioning offsets nearly all of the damage that heat does to performance.

Improved Moods and Health for Students and Teachers

Because the heat has a real effect on our bodies, even classrooms that are a little bit warm can cause a drop in academic performance. The same Harvard study mentioned above showed that heat impacted learning by directly altering our bodies and our ability to think. This is mostly thanks to the way our bodies deal with heat. When you’re working in an uncomfortably hot room, your brain continuously interrupts your train of thought as it tries to remind your body to stay cool.

This doesn’t just result in lower academic and exam scores, it worsens moods and causes irritation in both students and teachers. Put that together with the extra strain heat puts on your body and it’s a recipe for tired, cranky classrooms.

Want to Manage the Heat and Improve Performance? Contact Technicool Today!

Education doesn’t end at the classroom. In fact, any setting where people are expected to concentrate for long stretches of time can see the benefits of air conditioning. Air conditioners are an excellent investment in school and commercial settings, but they’re also good for improving at-home concentration for those homework or work-from-home days. The expert team from Technicool can help! We tailor split systems and ducted air conditioning installs for residential>, school and commercial settings. If you’re looking to improve performance and comfort with the help of air conditioning, get in touch with us to arrange an appointment.