“Environmental factors such as lighting, air quality, physical comfort, and distractions can influence concentration and academic performance.”

There is evidence that modest changes in room temperature affect student's abilities to perform tasks requiring mental concentration. Research links key environmental factors to health outcomes and students’ ability to perform. Improvements in school environmental quality can enhance academic performance, as well as teacher and staff productivity and retention.

Models show statistically significant evidence of associations between lower carbon dioxide concentrations and higher cognitive test scores over the low range of carbon dioxide exposures in these classrooms (~440-1630 ppm). The effect estimates are strongest for 95th percentile class carbon dioxide concentrations, representing peak class carbon dioxide exposures. Higher outdoor air ventilation appears to provide additional benefits by reducing indoor air exposure and supporting student performance.

We found statistically significant declines in cognitive function scores when CO2 concentrations were increased to levels that are common in indoor spaces (approximately 950 ppm). On average, a 400-ppm increase in CO2 was associated with a 21% decrease in a typical participant’s cognitive scores across all domains after adjusting for participant. Cognitive scores were 61% higher on the Green building day and 101% higher on the two Green+ building days than on the Conventional building day.

This study reports the outcomes of a systematic literature review, which aims to determine the influence of four indoor environmental parameters — indoor air, thermal, acoustic, and lighting conditions —on the quality of teaching and learning and on students' academic achievement in schools for higher education. By applying the Cochrane Collaboration Method, relevant scientific evidence was identified by systematically searching in multiple databases. Moreover, lighting conditions, for example, can affect mental alertness and cognitive performance; and annoyance and distraction can be caused by poor acoustic conditions. Furthermore, a poor IEQ can cause adverse health outcomes, which can cause sick leave and impaired academic achievement.

The reviewed studies document harmful effects of noise on children's learning. Children are much more impaired than adults by noise in tasks involving speech perception and listening comprehension. Non-auditory tasks such as short-term memory, reading and writing are also impaired by noise.

IAQ significantly influences cognitive functions, particularly in learning environments like schools. Exposure to elevated levels of indoor pollutants, including CO₂, PM, and VOCs, has been linked to declines in cognitive performance among students. Elevated CO₂ levels and exposure to PM₂.₅ negatively impact student concentration, problem-solving, and standardized test performance.

This study investigates the relationship between classroom thermal environment and student learning performance in a controlled university setting using Arduino-based temperature and humidity sensors. The experiment was conducted over two weeks with 53 undergraduate students at controlled temperatures of 20°C and 27°C. Results demonstrate significant correlations between student thermal satisfaction, GPA, and learning outcomes. Multiple regression analysis reveals that thermal environment satisfaction and student GPA together account for 23.15% of the variance in student grades (p < 0.001). Students reporting higher thermal satisfaction achieved better exam performance and maintained higher motivation levels.

Recent systematic reviews have highlighted the crucial role of classroom acoustics in students' learning and wellbeing, with specific reference to the negative effects of noise on these factors. For instance, Gheller et al. (2024) emphasized that both speech, such as classroom activity noise or multitalker babble, and non-speech, such as road traffic, noises negatively affect children's academic performance, particularly their verbal working memory and reading ability.

Lower CO₂ concentrations are associated with higher cognitive test scores, even over the low range of CO₂ exposures measured in the classrooms. Peak CO₂ exposures, also corresponding with other indoor air pollutants, showed the strongest statistical evidence of associations. Higher ventilation rates appear to have benefit beyond infection risk reduction by reducing indoor air exposures and supporting cognitive performance.

The results indicate a positive influence of the lighting system on pupils’ concentration. The findings underline the importance of lighting for learning. Research has indicated that both natural and artificial lighting affect people’s health, mood, well-being and alertness.

The results show that poor indoor air quality hampers cognitive performance significantly. We find that an increase in the indoor concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) by 10 μg/m3 increases a player’s probability of making an erroneous move by 26.3%. Overall, our results show that indoor concentration of fine particles significantly deteriorates cognitive performance.

Researchers have been studying the adverse noise effects on academic performance. Participants attempted to learn novel information in both noisy and quiet surroundings. Results from this study demonstrated that participants in noisy environments had shorter attention spans and were less likely to retain information.

Indoor air quality problems in schools have been linked to drowsiness, headaches, concentration problems, academic performance, asthma and COPD symptoms. Poor ventilation and air flow leading to headaches, drowsiness, poor academic performance, and increased absenteeism. Uncontrolled classroom temperatures which can have health and performance impacts.

Low outdoor air ventilation rates and thus high indoor concentrations of CO2 impairs attention span and increases concentration loss and tiredness. There is evidence that increasing ventilation rates from 5 L/s-p to 15 L/s-p was associated with a 7% improvement in academic performance. Further there is evidence that cognitive performance may be affected at CO2 levels as low as 1000 ppm.

We also found effects of CO2 (a proxy for ventilation) on cognitive function. For every 500ppm increase, we saw response times 1.4-1.8% slower, and 2.1-2.4% lower throughput. We found 0.8-0.9% slower response times for every 10ug/m3 increase in PM2.5. Throughput (correct responses per minute) was 0.8-1.7% lower for the same concentration increase.

It is well documented that thermal discomfort, whether caused by high or low temperatures, can have a negative impact on student learning and performance. Lower temperatures and higher ventilation rates were associated with higher math and reading scores (Haverinen-Shaughnessy, 2015). This is consistent with previous studies that have shown high room temperatures increase fatigue.

Several studies conducted in the 1950's and 1960's found that students performed better in thermally conditioned classrooms than in classrooms without heating or air conditioning. Thermal discomfort caused by high or low temperatures negatively impacts student learning and performance.

Chapter 2 investigates the impact of moderate verbal noise (single-talker noise) and multi-talker classroom noise on reading comprehension, text recall and mathematics performance, among a sample of children in Years 4 to 6. Noise had a detrimental effect on text recall and mathematics, but only when the noisy session was presented before the silent session.

Yang et al. (2013) examined how classroom learning environments, such as temperature, air quality, artificial lighting, and room layout, impact students. They found that student perceptions of the learning environment were affected directly by both physical aspects. Singh and Arora (2014) found that high levels of light in the classroom led to excessive glare, which caused eye strain, headaches, and back/neck pain; lower lighting levels can cause drowsiness and elevated stress.

Human-made sound, particularly background speech, was most disruptive, though some students found moderate noise beneficial. Nature sounds and instrumental music improved concentration by reducing cognitive load, while music with lyrics impaired performance due to attentional conflict.

Sleep efficiency was significantly lower at high ventilation with CO2 at 700 ppm which is considered to be a chance effect. No other effects were seen, and no significant differences in next-morning cognitive performance were found between conditions. Children exposed to a well-ventilated environment during sleep did not exhibit better next-morning cognitive performance compared to high CO2 conditions.

Studies show that inadequate ventilation can lead to increased pollutant exposure, negatively impacting cognitive performance, student learning. This review evaluates evidence on how improving school ventilation affects cognitive outcomes and asthma rates in children.

Lighting is an important factor affecting performance in the classroom. There is evidence that light affects physical growth, cognitive functions, dopamine and melatonin levels, blood pressure, sleep quality, visual and dental health, productivity, accuracy, alertness, and social behavior. There is some evidence that blue light (lower CCT) is conducive to concentration, and warm light (higher CCT) can be relaxing and promote social behaviors.

Multiple peer-reviewed studies, including those from WHO and CDC guidelines on school health, confirm that environmental factors like lighting, air quality, temperature (physical comfort), and noise (distractions) influence student concentration and academic performance. For instance, the COGfx study by Harvard found CO2 levels above 1000 ppm reduce cognitive scores by 15-50%. No major health authority refutes this established link.

Scientific studies from recent years have shown that classroom lighting can significantly affect student success. If lighting in classrooms is too dim or flickers overhead, students may have trouble focusing and retaining information. Dimly lit rooms reduce the brain’s cognitive function of effectively processing and remembering data.