Clustering of Dutch school children based on their preferences and needs of the IEQ in classrooms

Background: It is well-known that indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in classrooms can have an effect on school children's comfort, health and performance. Unfortunately, information about the school children's perception of IEQ factors in their classrooms is still insufficient. The objective of this study was to better understand school...

Interaction effect of background sound type and sound pressure level on children of primary schools in the Netherlands

The acoustic conditions of classrooms received a lot of attention in the last decades because of its important role in school children's comfort and performance. In a previous field study of 54 classrooms from 21 schools in the Netherlands, more than 85% of the 1145 primary school children reported that they were bothered by noise in the...

Actions of primary school teachers to improve the indoor environmental quality of classrooms in the Netherlands

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) in classrooms can have an effect on school children’s comfort, health, and performance. In most classrooms, the teacher is the only one who can take actions to change the IEQ. The objective of this study was to identify what teachers usually do to improve IEQ in classrooms and how these actions relate to...

The effect of wall and floor colouring on temperature and draught feeling of primary school children

To investigate whether different colours of the indoor surfaces could have an effect on thermal comfort of children, 335 primary school children were invited to take part in a series of tests conducted in the thermal test chamber of the SenseLab. A three-way factorial randomized design was used to test the effect of three different colours of...

The effect of acoustical treatment on primary school children's performance, sound perception, and influence assessment

A previous field study showed that more than 85% of Dutch children reported they were bothered by noise in the classroom. To investigate the impact of acoustical treatment on children's phoneme identification, 335 school children (9 to 13 years old) from the previously studied schools were invited to take part in a series of tests in the...

Table top surface appraisal by school children under different lighting conditions tested in the Senselab

To find out whether a surface finishing was preferred under different lighting conditions by school children, in the light test chamber of the SenseLab, 335 children from previous studied schools were asked to assess a desk surface during different light conditions. A two-way randomized design was used to test children's assessments for six...

First SenseLab studies with primary school children: exposure to different environmental configurations in the experience room

To study the combined effect of different environmental factors on children in a classroom setting, 250 children from seven primary schools were exposed to 36 different environmental configurations (‘all’ and ‘fewer’ acoustical panels; ‘displacement’ and ‘mixing’ ventilation; sound type: ‘children talk’, ‘traffic’, and ‘none’; and ‘direct’, ...

Perceived Air Quality of different sources of smell evaluated by primary school children

Our sensory system (nose) could predict the perceived odour intensity of various materials relatively well and in many cases the nose seems to be a better receptor of pollutants than some equipment. To test this ability with children, odour tests were performed as part of a study performed with 335 primary school children in the air quality test...

Designing an Individually Controlled System based on children’s’ perception and preferences of IEQ in a classroom

This paper aims to design an “individually controlled system” (ICS) for children in class-rooms based on their preferences and needs. It is well known that a higher satisfaction of in-door environmental quality (IEQ), including thermal, air, visual and acoustical quality, can be achieved by giving occupants control over their local environment....

Self-reported health and comfort of school children in 54 classrooms of 21 Dutch school buildings

Background<br/>While the indoor environmental quality of classrooms is a potential issue because it may affect the wellbeing of school children, the relations are still poorly studied. This study aimed to investigate the relations between classroom characteristics and health and comfort of school children.<br/><br/>Material and methods<br/>A...