Farmington Hills in Michigan is home to some of the best public schools in the state or even in the country.
Nova Community School District currently ranks first in the best school districts in Michigan, according to Niche. It scored A+ in academics and teachers, college prep, and health and safety. It also garnered an A in clubs and activities.
Northville Public Schools, meanwhile, has at least 7,000 students, of which 60% are proficient in math, and almost 65% are excellent in reading. It also maintains a small teacher-to-class ratio of 19:1.
Students perform well when they receive the right amount of support from their teachers, peers, parents, and the community.
But it is equally important that they are also in an environment that’s conducive for learning. To be more specific, classrooms may have to be maintained at certain temperatures to help maintain their concentration and keep these children healthy while in school.
What’s the Ideal Temperature in a Classroom?
Activities like an AC tune-up should be part of any district’s maintenance program. Many studies already show that students actually don’t thrive well in a too-hot or too-cold environment. The temperature in the classroom needs to be just right.
What’s the ideal temperature, then? It depends on the season. Some suggest that during summer, the ideal classroom temperature is between 73 and 79 degrees Celsius. However, in winter, it may have to be from 68 to 75 degrees.
But it may also vary. Take, for example, the result in a 2007 study that appeared in HVAC & Research.
For the research, the team experimented during the summers of 2004 and 2005. They controlled air temperature by turning on the split-type air-conditioning unit or setting it idle. They also regulated the air supply rate outdoors.
These conditions remained for a week wherein children between 10 and 12 years old performed several types of schoolwork that involved numbers and languages. They also rated their environmental perceptions.
Based on their analysis, the children rated their temperature between slightly warm to neutral. However, they performed better in their exams when the temperature was set from 77 degrees to 68 degrees Fahrenheit (remember, this was summer).
Meanwhile, a study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the best setting for educational learning revealed that temperature could affect a child’s attention span.
Children in too-hot or too-cold rooms rated poorly in this aspect compared to the control group who stayed in a space with a temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lastly, there’s an experiment conducted on students at Westview High School in Oregon. The researchers exposed ninth-graders to different temperatures while they answered tests that focused on memorization and mathematical equations.
The team tested six classes, and the teachers handed out incentives to motivate the students to do well. Although the experiment was in a science room, the group and the time of the tests were randomly chosen. The kids also stayed in the room for at least 10 minutes to adjust to the temperature.
Of the different tests, the second one showed a strong association between kids’ performance and temperature. Students exposed to extreme temperatures scored the seventies, while those in the control group fared better at an average score of 90.
Why Is the Right Temperature Essential?
Granted, these experiments had limitations. Certainly, they are not perfect. However, the similarities of results may suggest that temperature can directly affect the children’s performance in school.
The question is how. First, there’s the relationship with humidity.
When it comes to spaces such as schools, it’s hard to talk about air temperature without mentioning humidity, which refers to the water molecules suspended in the air. Both always go hand in hand.
For example, when the air temperature rises, the air can contain more water molecules. Relative humidity levels then decrease. The opposite happens when temperature declines.
Both are associated with the comfort levels humans feel. When the humidity is extremely low, the body loses too much moisture. The skin becomes dry, for example, and infections can spread more rapidly. This explains why influenza is more common during the winter months.
On the other hand, when humidity is high, such as in the summer, the body retains the sweat, so you feel sticky. It forces the body to work harder to cool off, raising respiration (or breathing rate), sweating, and blood circulation.
Moreover, when the body is exposed to extreme temperatures, it disrupts the internal regulation mechanism. In the process, the body may feel sleepy or be forced to stay awake, which requires more energy. In both situations, the body’s focus moves from the activity at hand to what it needs.
There’s no doubt that to maintain excellence, these schools in Farmington Hills need to have amazing teachers. But it may also boost their performance if the students are in the right environment, including the ideal room temperature.
Meta title:Create the Right Space for Learning by Regulating Temperature
meta desc: In places like Farmington Hills, many schools excel because of great teachers and amazing support from the community. But these places of learning can also benefit from one more thing: room temperature that’s ideal for learning.
