Thermal Comfort and Indoor Air Quality in Low Socioeconomic Status Classrooms
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Date
2025-02-24
Authors
Coronado Cabrera, Maria
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon
Abstract
Indoor air quality and thermal comfort influence student performance and wellbeing in schools. Most studies in this area have concentrated on measuring classroom environmental conditions and comparing them with student’s perceptions of comfort, specific academic tasks, or measures associated with health, like absenteeism. This approach, though valid, ignores the influences that modify and dictate classroom indoor conditions. For example, most adaptive opportunities (such as window operations or thermostat) are in the immediate control of the teacher, not the students. Additionally, facility maintenance and operations managers have specific policies and mandates that regulate and control the indoor environmental conditions of classrooms; many of these related to aging school facilities and limited funding. This is most pressing for schools located in disadvantaged communities, which often do not have sufficient funds to maintain or modernize their schools and may suffer more from chronic exposures to unhealthy environmental conditions.
The objective of this dissertation is to characterize the environmental performance of low-socioeconomic classrooms in different contexts and investigate how teachers, facility maintenance and the classroom physical environment influence their indoor environmental conditions. The dissertation presents five chapters that investigate different aspects of indoor air quality and thermal comfort. The first chapter describes the mixed-method case study approach used in the subsequent chapters to study thermal comfort and indoor air quality in schools. The methodology aims to construct a holistic understanding of the building, occupant, and maintenance factors that influence indoor environmental quality in educational settings.
The following chapters present three case studies that took place in schools in different locations in the Americas: Eugene, Oregon, Southern California, and Gran Concepción in Chile. The Oregon case study assessed the efficiency of ventilation strategies and protocols in one classroom during the COVID-19 pandemic for CO2 and particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) concentrations. The study found that since the outdoor air quality and temperatures were relatively ideal during the study period, occupancy levels, and teachers’ adaptive behaviors and activities were the major influences on indoor air quality. While the results are not generalizable, the case study showed that, on average, during mild weather seasons like the spring, natural ventilation could provide adequate ventilation rates for the classroom during normal use, and near optimal ventilation during emergency use, if all doors and windows remained open.
The following case study investigated particulate matter concentrations (PM2.5 and PM10) in three schools in the Gran Concepción region in Chile, along with a survey of self-reported health symptoms from teachers. This area is characterized by high levels of energy poverty, so wood stoves are widely used to heat residences. In the three schools, indoor and outdoor PM2.5 and PM10 surpassed the World health Organization’s (WHO) air quality guidelines (AQG), and in some cases reached environmental emergency levels according to Chilean local regulations. Also, outdoor air pollution stemming from wood stove burning smoke and traffic didn’t appear to be an important health concern for teachers. The symptoms teachers reported more frequently matched those related to teaching in previous literature. The case study portrayed the urgency of improving IAQ in the region and showed the disconnect between air pollution concentrations and the chronic exposure concerns of teachers in a context of energy poverty.
The final case study investigated the ways in which classrooms’ physical environment, teachers, and maintenance managers, influenced thermal conditions and IAQ in low socioeconomic status Southern California schools using a mixed-methods approach. The qualitative portion of the case study found that the construction of indoor environmental conditions in classrooms depended on 1) the effective communication between teachers and maintenance managers, 2) the adaptations to the classroom environment resulting from comfort, teaching and learning influences, and 3) managers’ ability to plan and execute maintenance, and respond to emergencies. These findings were complemented with the quantitative portion of the case study, where permanent classrooms of all ages and conditions outperformed portable classrooms regarding thermal comfort and ventilation. In addition, the thermal performance of classrooms directly reflected each school district’s temperature policies, and the results suggested that including controlled adaptive opportunities for teachers could be beneficial for energy efficiency and occupant comfort. The case study showed that teacher awareness, education, and training on indoor environmental quality are vital for the optimum use of building systems and the creation of ideal environmental conditions in classrooms.
This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished co-authored material.
Description
Keywords
Case Studies, Classrooms, Indoor Air Quality, Indoor Environmental Quality, Schools, Thermal Comfort