Children's thermal comfort and adaptive behaviours; UK primary schools during non-heating and heating seasons

Abstract

This paper aims to study children's thermal comfort and related Adaptive Behaviours in UK primary schools. The study was carried out in 32 naturally-ventilated classrooms during Non-Heating (NH) and Heating (H) seasons. Alongside collecting environmental data, a self-reported questionnaire and an observation form were employed to record children's thermal comfort and adaptive behaviours. From eight primary schools, 805 children aged 9-11 were surveyed and 1390 questionnaires were collected. Children's Thermal Sensation Votes (TSVs), Thermal Preference Votes (TPVs) and adaptive behaviours were compared against temperature offset from comfort temperature by EN 15 251 (T diff = T op -T C (CEN) ). Results suggest that children's thermal comfort (T C (children) ) is 1.9 K and 2.8 K lower than that for adults (T C (CEN) ) during non-heating and heating seasons, respectively. Children have lower comfort temperature and higher sensitivity to temperature changes during heating seasons. This can be attributed to children's lower practice of personal behaviours and more consistent indoor conditions during heating seasons. The proportion of children engaged with personal behaviours is one-third lower during heating seasons. As indoor temperature goes above children's thermal comfort band, the proportion of children practising personal behaviours increases during non-heating seasons. Around 80% of window operation is carried out by teachers who have a higher comfort temperature than children.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) in naturally-ventilated primary schools in the UK: Occupant-related factors

“…In total, 29 naturally ventilated classrooms in eight primary schools were selected and studied during non-heating (NH) and heating (H) seasons, Table 1. Further details on the selection of the school buildings can be found in an earlier study by authors [52].…”

“…Window's operation: Windows' operation method affects occupants' practice of ABs; it is shown that manual operation of windows helps to improve IAQ significantly [20,30,40,72,73] and makes people feel more comfortable in manually-controlled buildings [20]. Based on children's physiology, safe windows designed at lower heights are more accessible for children's window operation [20,52]. Therefore, classrooms that provide windows at accessible heights with manual and easy operation for children can potentially increase occupants' practice of ABs.…”

“…Among primary school students, children in their late middle childhood (9-11 YO) compared to their peers in early middle childhood (6-9 YO) were selected as the main respondents of this study. Children in late middle childhood compared to their peers have a better understanding of their environment [52] and have higher heights according to UK-World Health Organisation growth charts [42] which let them be more engaged in environmental adaptive behaviours. Furthermore, older children are allowed to move around during classroom breaks and operate controls, whereas younger children are kept under stricter supervision inside the classrooms [74].…”

“…Around half (52%) of window openings in this study occur when CO2 levels>1000 ppm which can be attributed to following reasons: 1. Window operation can be affected by inappropriate design of windows and controls, as supported in [20,52]. Furthermore, some openings are not designed based on children's ergonomics [51,52].…”

“…Physiologically, children have higher metabolic and respiration rates [48], which results in children producing heat at a rate of 85% of that for adults [49,50]. 2) Due to above-mentioned differences and also teachers' role in controlling classrooms [51,52], children's environmental adaptive behaviours are more limited than that for adults [53][54][55]. The impact of poor IAQ on children is exacerbated because they usually do not complain about it [55,56].…”