William H. Farquhar Middle School, Olney, MD. Photo credit: Patrick Ross
School Health Research Library
We have curated a library of peer-reviewed scientific studies from around the world published since 2016, focusing on the school built environment and occupant health and performance. This research builds on the 2017 Schools for Health: Foundations for Student Success report released by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health that synthesizes foundational research about school indoor environmental quality impacts on students and staff.
To help translate this research into action in schools, we have compiled School Health Research Highlights to help school staff and leaders access key findings and actionable strategies on priority topics.
Displaying 11 - 20 of 355 | Export entire research library
Indoor soundscape in primary school classrooms
Visentin, Chiara
The results of the study indicate that the most frequent sounds in classrooms are generated by the students themselves (voices, movements) followed by the traffic. The urban context of the school modulates the children's perception when windows…
Keywords:
Heat-Resilient Schoolyards: Relations Between Temperature, Shade, and Physical Activity of Children During Recess
Lanza, Kevin
Temperature ranged 11 C to 35 C. Each 1 C higher temperature was associated with a 0.7 percentage point lower time spent in MVPA, until 33 C (91 F) when the association changed to a 1.5 lower time (P < .01). Each 1 C higher temperature was…
Keywords: Latino, Climate change adaptation, green schoolyards, Low-income, shade sail structures, urban tree canopy.
The role of weather conditions on time spent outdoors and in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity among Norwegian preschoolers
Ylvisaker, Einar
Associations for MVPA depended on whether the analyses were adjusted for outdoor time or not. In unadjusted analyses, rainfall, wind, and wet, icy, and mixed playground conditions were negatively associated with MVPA, while temperature, snowfall,…
Keywords: Weather, accelerometry, Kindergarten, outdoors, playground, preschoolers
COVID-19 Mitigation in a K-12 School Setting: A Case Study of Avenues: The World School in New York City
Iyengar, Ananya
The school's mitigation measures successfully reduced the prevalence of COVID-19 among its students, staff, and faculty. The school also established a consistently high level of indoor air quality safety through various ventilation mechanisms,…
Keywords: COVID-19, Indoor air, Pandemic preparedness, SARS-CoV-2, Schools, Transmission mitigation, Ventilation
Indoor radon concentration in state schools of four Bulgarian districts
Ivanova, Kremena
The results are higher than those referred from the National Radon Survey in dwellings. In 9.4% of the rooms, the radon concentrations were above the reference value of 300 Bq/m3. The difference between indoor radon concentrations in the districts…
Keywords:
The impact of a mine fire and smoke event on academic outcomes for primary and secondary school students
Berger, Emily
The longitudinal analysis found that secondary students, who attended schools in the town most exposed to particulate matter from the mine fire, experienced an 18.5-month delay in academic progress (95% CI [13.6, 23.5]) after the mine fire, relative…
Keywords: academic outcomes, mine fire, posttraumatic stress, smoke, Students
Analysis of indoor air pollution with radon in the kindergartens of two Bulgarian districts
Djounova, Jana
The measured radon concentrations in the children's rooms were between 10 and 1087 Bq per m. The evaluation of the results showed that in 10% of the kindergarten rooms, the radon concentration is above the national reference level of 300 Bq per…
Keywords: Radon
Diurnal variation and potential sources of indoor formaldehyde at elementary school, high school and university in the Centre Val de Loire region of France
Hu, Dawei
Indoor average formaldehyde concentrations at those three educational institutions were observed to be in the range 10.96-17.95 ?g/m3, not exceeding the World Health Organization (WHO) guideline value of 100 ?g/m3. As expected, ventilation was found…
Keywords: Indoor air quality, Formaldehyde, School classrooms, Seasons
Spatial heterogeneity in health risks of illness-related absenteeism associated with PM2.5 exposure for elementary students
Wu, Yangyang
With an interquartile range (IQR, 32 ?g/m3) increase in PM2.5 concentration, the relative risk of absence rate for a given school ranged between 1.00 and 2.81. Factors including high economic development level, low health expenditure, dense road…
Keywords: particulate matter, Spatial difference, Illness-related absenteeism, Elementary students
Risk of illness-related school absenteeism for elementary students with exposure to PM2.5 and O3
Zhang, Ting
An increase of 10 ?g/m3 in the current-day concentration of PM2.5 and O3 was positively associated with illness-related absenteeism overall. The excess risk of absenteeism was 4.52 % (95%CI 4.37-4.67 %) for PM2.5 and 0.25 % (95%CI 0.01-0.36 %) for…
Keywords: Fine particulate matter, Ozone, Children's health, Illness-related school absenteeism, Hospital visit record