Maintaining a steady, comfortable temperature in the classroom is essential to providing students with an environment that supports optimal academic performance. If the temperature inside the classroom is too hot, students may have trouble focusing. If the temperature is too cold, their minds are more likely to shift into hibernation mode.
Schools can achieve consistent, comfortable temperatures by replacing outdated HVAC systems with efficient single zone mini split units to regulate temperature and airflow better. Explore five ways temperature control in school is important to understand how student performance is affected by the classroom temperature:
Mood Regulation
When the temperature rises, so do stress levels. In general, hot environments cause humans to feel irritable, stressed out, uncomfortable, and even angry. When 20 or more students are packed into a hot classroom, it is no surprise that motivation to learn goes down and feelings of anxiety, irritation, and anger go up. Anxiety, anger, fear, and stress can increase a student’s body temperature, doubling down on the hot temperatures and their negative mood.
When the classroom is kept at a lower, stable level, it can help decrease anxiety. This leads to kids who feel less moody and irritable and more calm and centered. Studies show that temperatures between 68℉ and 77℉ are optimal for people performing work in indoor settings. This temperature supports comfortability and cognition, which can help keep students calm and motivated rather than irritated and rebellious.
Cognitive Function
Heat has a significant effect on cognitive function. Sustained heat, above about 80℉, can impair students’ thinking, reasoning, memory, and other mental abilities. The body strives to maintain a comfortable internal temperature. When it begins to heat up, it responds with predictable physiological reactions. One cannot stop it even you put kids in the barcalounger recliner because the heat gets unbearable.
One of these reactions is to decrease blood flow to the brain and send it to the skin instead. As this occurs, students may experience headaches, nausea, fatigue, and even dizziness and confusion, which are not ideal for trying to learn and retain information. When schools fail to regulate classroom temperatures to comfortable levels, it creates an environment that prevents students from performing academically.
Cognitive function improves as the indoor temperature moves closer to the mid-70s. If schools maintain this temperature level, they can expect students to be more engaged in their coursework, perform better on assessments, and retain the information they learn more efficiently.
Physiological Comfort
Abraham Maslow, one of the fathers of modern psychology, posited that people have a hierarchy of needs that must be met to function at the highest level. His theory says that before people can engage in cognitive functions effectively, their physiological needs must be met. Physiological needs are typically known as survival needs, including basic physical comfort, water, food, and sleep.
When schools keep their classrooms at too-high temperatures, they endanger their students and deny them basic physiological needs. Depending on the temperature, students may not simply feel uncomfortable; they might be suffering from the early stages of heat emergencies such as heat exhaustion or heat cramps.
Schools have a responsibility to maintain reasonable temperatures for their students to ensure their physical safety and wellbeing. By installing a ductless air conditioning system in their building, schools can keep students safe and focused on learning.
Physiological comfort includes providing students with the best infrastructure that can help them succeed in their education. It involves getting the best desk for school, chairs, boards and AV materials. All this together with the right air temperature helps in creating a productive ecosystem of learning.
Better Behavior
Angry, irritated, restless students cannot focus on academics; they can also prove to be problems in the classroom. When kids are stressed and uncomfortable, they tend to act out in disruptive ways. They might bother other students, start arguments with students or teachers, or even openly rebel against classroom rules as a way of managing the stress heat brings to their body and mental state.
Comfortable students are less likely to act out in these destructive ways. Average temperatures calm the body and mind, making the classroom a peaceful environment for all students.
Caring, Controlled Environment
When students attend a school that lacks temperature control and consistency, they often feel restless and uncared for. This leads to resentment toward those in charge of the students and creates an uncomfortable environment that doesn’t support productivity and learning.
One hallmark of an outstanding school is the balance of care and control applied by the administration. Strategic management of the climate of the building shows both the staff and students that the administration cares enough about them to provide a comfortable setting for them and highlights a structured school environment in which learning can take place.
How Schools Can Better Control Classroom Temperatures
Schools fail to maintain optimal temperatures for students due to various factors. Often, schools are located in old buildings with outdated ductwork, which either doesn’t work efficiently or simply doesn’t work. In other cases, school buildings lack adequate ductwork or have remodeled spaces into classrooms with no access to air conditioning systems from different parts of the school.
To solve this problem, schools can move to updated, cost-effective air conditioning units like mini split systems that are easy to install and use. This air conditioning system allows schools to control multiple classroom temperatures with one outdoor unit, making it energy-efficient and cost-effective.
Mini split systems also work great in schools because of the different climates in classrooms around the building. A classroom located in the basement with no sunlight doesn’t need the same amount of air conditioning as an upstairs room that sits in full light all day. Therefore, a mini split unit allows for classroom temperature adjustment based on individual spaces.
Choosing the best ductless air conditioner to maintain a comfortable classroom temperature is an important task for administrators who seek to support their students and staff in achieving social and academic success.
Create a Controlled, Caring Environment for Students
Students learn best in comfortable, temperature-controlled climates. When classrooms sit between 68℉ and 77℉, students experience less moodiness, show fewer behavioral issues, and feel supported and well taken care of. They can also show higher levels of cognitive functioning, which allows them to participate in the learning activities going on in class.
One of the best ways to support students in school is to ensure classrooms stay at a reasonable temperature so students can focus on their academic tasks rather than the heat.
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