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 241 - 250 of 355 | Export entire research library
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in Conventional and High Performance School Buildings in the U.S.
Zhong, Lexuan
Aromatics, alkanes and terpenes were the major compound groups detected. Most VOCs had mean concentrations below 5 µg/m3, and most indoor/outdoor concentration ratios ranged from one to 10. For 16 VOCs, the within-school variance of concentrations…
Keywords: Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), Formaldehyde, School, Indoor/outdoor (I/O) ratio, Air change rate (ACH/AER), High performance
Association of multimedia teaching with myopia: A national study of school children
Hinterlong, James
Age, parental myopia and hours of near work increased the odds of myopia and predicted greater severity. Physical activity and outdoor time predicted lower risk and severity. Multimedia exposure in a relatively bright classrooms was associated with…
Keywords: Myopia, Nurses, Children, Prevention, School nursing, Taiwan, Vision screening
Assessment of formaldehyde levels in relation to respiratory and allergic symptoms in children from Alba County schools, Romania
Neamtiu, Iulia
The indoor formaldehyde levels for a school week varied between 15.5 and 66.2 μg/m3, with a median value of 34.8 μg/m3. The adjusted odds ratios for allergy-like, asthma-like, and flu-like symptoms were 3.23 (95% CI 1.31–8.00), 2.69 (95% CI 1.04–6.…
Keywords: Exposure, Formaldehyde levels, Indoor air quality, Respiratory and allergic symptoms, School children
Review and Extension of CO2-Based Methods to Determine Ventilation Rates with Application to School Classrooms
Batterman, Stuart
VRs during the school day fell below recommended minimum levels, and VRs during evening and early morning were on the order of 0.1 h1, reflecting shutdown of the ventilation systems. The transient mass balance method was the most flexible and…
Keywords: Ventilation, Air change rate (ACH/AER), Carbon dioxide (CO2), School, Classrooms, Indoor air quality
Survey of radon testing and mitigation by Wisconsin residents, landlords, and school districts
Denu, Ryan
35.1% of Wisconsin school districts (78/222) have tested their schools for radon. Of
homeowners with elevated radon, about 60% mitigated. School districts whose radon levels tested high most commonly did not mitigate, with costs and/or lack of…
Keywords:
Indoor particle dynamics in a school office: determination of particle concentrations, deposition rates and penetration factors under naturally ventilated conditions
Cong, X.C.
The particle size distribution ranged from 0.3 to 2.5 lm, and the experimental period was from April to September, 2016. Based on the experimental data, the dynamic and mass balance model based on time was used to estimate the penetration rate and…
Keywords: Dynamic mass balance, I/o ratios, Air change rate (ACH/AER), Penetration factor, Deposition rates
Application of data science methods to identify school and home risk factors for asthma and allergy-related symptoms among children in New York
Deng, Xinlei
The top contributing factors identified for asthma were family rhinitis history (relative importance: 10.40%), plant pollen trigger (5.48%); bedroom carpet (3.58%); environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) trigger symptom (2.98%); and ETS exposure (2.56…
Keywords: Asthma, Allergy, Home and school environment, Machine learning, Risk factors
SARS-CoV-2 aerosol transmission in schools: the effectiveness of different interventions
Villers, Jennifer
The most effective single intervention was natural ventilation through the full opening of six windows all day during the winter (14-fold decrease in cumulative dose), followed by the universal use of surgical face masks (8-fold decrease). In the…
Keywords:
Longitudinal development of the dust microbiome in a newly opened Norwegian kindergarten
Nygaard, Anders B
Significant changes in the microbial community composition were observed over time (PERMANOVA, P < 0.05). Particularly, changes in the abundance and the proportions of human associated bacteria were found. A decrease in the prevalence of…
Keywords: Kindergartens, Indoor microbiome, Dust analysis, Antibiotic resistance, Built environment