BP 2.3 Indoor Environmental Comfort: School provides comfortable learning spaces in terms of natural and artificial lighting, temperature, humidity, acoustics (sound quality), window views to nature, furniture, and equipment.

About

The overall environment of a classroom can affect how students perform academically. Prioritizing healthy Best Practice Actions can help a school act more sustainably and provide a better experience for its student body. This project examines how classroom spaces affect learning, specifically how environmental practices influence students’ memory, retention, and overall comfort. Students can be impacted by physical aspects of the classroom, and understanding this can be helpful to the school while also being sustainable.  This page will only focus on the physical aspects of Indoor Environmental Comfort.

Vision and Benefits

The vision for Indoor Environmental Comfort is to create learning spaces that promote learning and sustainability. Research suggests that students with a variety of natural practices in the classroom perform better than those who don’t. Additionally, focusing on a building's indoor environmental health can minimize liability risks. Generally, students and staff enjoy themselves more when comfort is taken into consideration in room design. This practice can also lead to more sustainable outcomes by enhancing community health. This Best Practice highlights aspects of learning spaces and actions to improve the school environment.

Examples from the Green Ribbon school list to be added!

Implement Best Practice Actions in a Project

Select Best Practice Actions (BPAs) to work on and complete.

Review the list of actions to improve Health Resources and Planning in your schools. Start by recording the practices already implemented in the school. To become more involved, begin by selecting new best-practice sets from the three categories listed below and document your progress over time.

Take Action: 

Select Best Practice Actions (BPAs) to complete

The following best practices can be utilized for all regularly occupied spaces, including but not limited to classrooms, staff rooms, lunchrooms, and common areas. 

A. Management Process BPAs  (Where are you at now?)

A1.  Student Comfort Identification Survey 

• Find what students like and dislike about the indoor environment. 

• The survey should ask the following questions for each topic listed under (B) Indoor Comfort Sourcing BPAs: 

  • What is working 

  • What isn’t working

  • What to change and ways to change 

A2. Staff Comfort Identification Survey

•  Find what students like and dislike about the indoor environment. 

• The survey should ask the following questions for each topic listed under (B) Indoor Comfort Sourcing BPAs: 

  • What is working 

  • What isn’t working

  • What to change and ways to change 

A3.Identify a Baseline 

• Using the data from the Staff and Student surveys, identify issues in indoor comfort.

A4. Light Monitoring

• Use electricity bills to identify and analyze current energy consumption. 

• Look into which rooms utilize the most artificial lighting

B. Indoor Comfort Sourcing BPAs

B1.Natural and Artificial lighting 

• Have windows with natural light. Utilize this by having students use a common area so it is accessible to light 

•  If a classroom lacks access to natural light, incorporate outdoor learning into your lesson. 

  • For example, a history class could reenact military strategies instead of reading about them 

• Install LED lights rather than fluorescent lights 

  • Light dimmers are also an option to change light fixtures according to the amount of daylight

B2. Window exposure and access to Nature

• Keep the light from windows accessible to every student. 

  • Placing common areas in spaces with windows 

• Have blinds or curtains to adjust light intensities

B3. Temperature 

• Keep temperatures at a comfortable level, considering the weather

B4. Humidity 

• Keep humidity between 40% and 60%, leading to better comfort and a lower chance of airborne infection

• Adjust accordingly for climate or population comfort

B5. Air movement

• If the identification surveys indicate that there needs to be a change in air movement, possible options include:

  • Ensuring vents are not blocked

  • Fan, portable works as well 

  • Opening windows if the weather permits 

B6. Acoustics (sound quality) 

• When using speakers, they should be distributed around the classroom, allowing accessibility for all students 

• Turn off any noisy equipment when not in use 

• Place rugs or carpet in the room 

• Keep seating arrangements at an angle rather than rows 

• Keep noisy lights off 

• Place cushioning tips on the bottoms of tables and chairs 

B7. Furniture and equipment 

• Non-restrictive seating arrangements and chairs 

• Have accessible furniture near areas with and without light 

• Consider whiteboard markers with weaker scents 

D. Comprehensive Indoor Environmental Comfort BPAs

D1. Identify Changes from Baseline 

• Using the information from (A) Management Process, BPAs identify what changes have been made 

D2. Identify Future Goals 

• As sustainability is an ongoing process, plan to review Indoor Comfort each year. 

• Repeat both Identification surveys in future years to identify a new baseline 

  • It is recommended that this be repeated every 2-4 years 

D3. Performance Planning

• Humidity 

  • Check each room once each semester 

• For all other sourcing subjects, check comfort levels once a year

Submit Annual Review

The annual review for this best practice includes

• Confirming that Best Practice Actions are still active. (Eg, are programs still in operation and working? Are event or time-based actions repeated each year?)

• Amending the documentation with any changes

• Adding any lessons learned from the prior year to share with others.

To submit the annual review, send in the BP 2.2 Datasheet with the updated calendar year in the update column to reflect which BPAs are still active.

GreenStep Advisor

• Contact mngreenstepschools@gmail.com for assistance

Online Resources:

• See links in text above for resources relevant to specific actions, also see resources consulted or cited for sources.