School Buildings Influence Student Health, Thinking and Performance
At graduation, students will have spent more than 15,000 hours in school, the second longest indoor exposure time after the time we spend at home. With our research, we aim to disseminate information on how school buildings impact the health and productivity of students during critical physiological, social, and emotional growth and development.
The team works to answer critical questions related to the environmental and contextual factors that influence chronic absenteeism, academic performance, and short- and long-term health indicators.
Discover the Latest Studies, Reports, and Guides at Schools.ForHealth.org
Foundations for Students Health
The COVID-19 pandemic showed that keeping schools closed comes with massive, long-term individual and societal costs. Many children cannot effectively learn, grow, engage, socialize, be active, eat healthy food, or get support until schools reopen. Additionally, many parents and caregivers cannot return to work until children go back to school. The Harvard Healthy Buildings team’s “Schools Report” provides guidance on strategies schools should consider to reduce the spread of infectious diseases and improve disease control.
View the COVID-19 report for reopening schools
The Impact of Buildings on Cognitive Function
What if indoor air quality could improve decision-making? Studies from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, SUNY Upstate Medical University and Syracuse University have found that improved indoor environmental quality doubled occupants’ cognitive function test scores. Additionally, occupants in high-performing, green-certified buildings had higher cognitive function scores than occupants in similarly high-performing, non-certified buildings. This is why focusing on the air you breathe could turn your building into your business’ strongest human resource tool.
The COGfx studies, fill critical knowledge gaps, linking indoor environment with decision-making test scores. As it turns out, intelligence really is in the air.