28/1/2020 Too Hot, Too Cold?

Scientists Search For The Optimal Temperature For Learning

107 views | Jan 28, 2020, 12:00pm

Too Hot, Too Cold? Scientists Search

For The Optimal Temperature For
Learning
Mark Travers Contributor
Science
I write about human potential and the science of reaching it.

PIXABAY / PEXELS

Educators are always looking for ways to improve student engagement and learning —
whether that’s utilizing new digital tools in the classroom, incorporating multi-sensory
educational experiences, or trialing new pedagogical techniques such as “flipped
classrooms” and “co-teaching.”

But there’s still work to be done. Now, a team of researchers at Worcester Polytechnic
Institute is poised to take up the task — but from a new perspective.

“When we look at how student learning can be improved, a lot of researchers start from
the perspective of pedagogy and teaching materials,” says Shichao Liu, a professor of

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28/1/2020 Too Hot, Too Cold? Scientists Search For The Optimal Temperature For Learning

architectural engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. “As an engineer in buildin

sciences, I know indoor environmental quality is a big factor that affects people’s
comfort and cognitive performance.”

The National Science Foundation sees merit in Liu’s approach; they recently awarded
Liu and his team a $299,991 grant to study how temperature, lighting, ventilation and
other environmental factors influence student engagement.

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The research will unfold in three phases. First, Liu and his team plan to develop
computer vision software to measure moment-by-moment changes in student
engagement. “Understanding student engagement requires approaches to measure it,”
state Liu and his collaborators. “Our goal is to employ computer vision to detect
students’ disengagement especially when caused by poor physical environment.”

Once validated, the researchers will search for specific environmental factors that
promote learning. For instance, the researchers will examine how air temperature,
ventilation, CO2 levels, light, and air movement relate to student engagement and
learning. Past research, for example, has found that an average increase of 1 degree
Fahrenheit can decrease student learning by 1% over the course of a year if air
temperature is not properly controlled. Moreover, low ventilation has been shown to
reduce attention, vigilance, concentration, and memory.

Finally, the researchers will explore whether experimentally-induced environmental

changes can effectively combat lapses in student engagement. “Current indoor physical
environments are designed to be static and uniform,” state the researchers. “If students
satisfaction can be improved by creating a dynamic physical environment, we
hypothesize that such an environment could reengage students directly or indirectly
through enhanced satisfaction.” Liu cites research showing that momentary changes in
ambient light can have an “alerting” effect on people, similar to what happens when
someone takes a sip of coffee.

Liu’s research team also consists of Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Steven Van Desse
associate professor of architectural engineering, and Jacob Whitehill, assistant profess

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28/1/2020 Too Hot, Too Cold? Scientists Search For The Optimal Temperature For Learning

of computer science. Jianshun Zhang, professor of mechanical and aerospace

engineering at Syracuse University, will serve as a research consultant.

“In addition to the current focus on learning environments, insights from this study can
also lead to development of new tools to investigate how people and buildings interact
more general terms,” says Van Dessel. “Approaches developed as part of this project
may be adapted to also study, for example, the impact of environmental factors, such a
color or sound, and how they affect well-being.”

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Mark Travers

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Mark Travers is a contributor for Forbes and Psychology Today, where he writes about psychology,
human potential, and the science of success. Mark holds a B.A. in psy... Read More

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