With nearby peaks above 40° in different parts of the country
, the heat wave does not take a break.
Thermal sensation and social sensation.
In response to the thermometer and a deficient infrastructure, school closures
were registered
in different districts of the Buenos Aires suburbs, with the epicenter in La Matanza.
Schools of Avellaneda, Tres de Febrero, San Miguel, Tigre and Bahía Blanca –to name a few cases– joined the measures.
The
lack of ventilation and air conditioning
affects teaching and learning tasks in multiple ways.
As an American study published in 2018 showed,
notes
are not spared from this heat stroke.
Researchers from Harvard, the University of California, and Georgia State University looked at the performance of more than 10 million students on the PSAT, a type of standardized test: they concluded that exposure to high temperatures cumulatively impacts
the
development
of cognitive habilyties.
According to measurements, students' performance on tests drops
1 percent
for
every degree Fahrenheit
it goes up.
This variation is equivalent to
1.8 degrees Celsius
.
So -to measure it on the local scale- for every degree Celsius that the yield rises, it falls by
0.55 percent
.
Low-income families
and
/or families belonging to black and Hispanic communities were up to three times more affected.
For this reason, experts speak of
"racial gaps" and related to socioeconomic condition
, which can be extrapolated to other latitudes.
The heat does not let up and is felt in the schools.
Photo: Andrés D'Elia
The authors make a
comparison between countries.
They emphasize that the warmer territories tend to be poorer;
and, in turn, often score lower on measures of academic achievement.
According to the publication, the benefits of having adequate equipment substantially outweigh the costs of installation and operation.
In this sense, it is verified that
"the acquisition of air conditioning in the classrooms reduces the adverse effects of heat by 78%."
In addition, high temperatures not only make students more likely to show irritable behavior, but also negatively influence the perception that teachers have of them.
And they result in a lack of motivation and concentration.
Those who suffer from
chronic respiratory diseases
are doubly handicapped by the lack of infrastructure and have higher no-show rates.
On the contrary, the incorporation of modern ventilation systems is consistent with an improvement in image memory and more precise word recognition.
Recently, the Johnson Controls-Hitachi
company
stressed the importance of measuring air quality (replacement, particles it contains, temperature, among other variables) in schools and universities.
“When measuring or monitoring indoor air quality, there are some key indicators to take into account.
The most common is the presence of
air pollutants
and volatile organic compounds.
Some of these are chemical substances released by cleaning products, pesticides and paints, such as formaldehyde and benzene”, explained Daniel Sandoval, Marketing Manager for Latin America.
Sandoval stressed that they should aim to achieve better
thermal comfort.
“This concept refers to the fact that the thermal sensation is adequate, neither too cold nor too warm.
According to the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, classrooms must have a minimum temperature of
22º in winter and 24º in summer
, with a relative humidity of 40% to 60%”.
Air exchange, through natural or mechanical mechanisms, becomes essential.
High concentrations of
CO2
, for example, are common in rooms with high occupancy.
Other contaminants are mold spores, which thrive
in damp environments such as bathrooms and changing rooms.
In educational establishments, humidity
, kitchen fumes
,
paint materials
and detergents
accumulate
, which make the use of extractors necessary.
However, the condition of most buildings makes it difficult to optimize the HVAC system.
The optimal conditions of indoor air quality (IAQ, for its acronym in English) are part of
educational public policies
around the world.
Sandoval emphasizes that it aims for an appropriate thermal comfort.
In other words, he points out that “classrooms must have a minimum temperature of 22° in winter and 24° in summer, with a relative humidity of 40% to 60%”.
PS
look also
Heat wave: the drastic measure decided by some schools and reminiscent of another era
Heat wave: when the thermometer will drop below 30 degrees