CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT IN HIGH SCHOOL BUILDINGS AND STUDENT’S PERFORMANCE
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Date
2015
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PROFESSOR JAYASHANKAR TELANGANA STATE AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY. HYDERABAD
Abstract
A school is an institution designed for the teaching of students (or "pupils") under
the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is
commonly compulsory in these systems, student’s progress through a series of schools. The
names for these schools vary by country but generally include primary school for young
children and secondary school for teenagers who have completed primary education.
The present study aims at exploring the classroom environment and checks its closeness to
the standards. The study has been framed with the following objectives:
To assess the existing classroom environment of selected high school buildings in
the twin cities.
To find the student’s performance in response to the classroom environment.
To suggest suitable guidelines for the improvement of classroom environment.
An exploratory research design had been framed for this study where 10 schools
purposively were selected from five different zones of twin cities of Hyderabad and
Secunderabad. From each school one classroom belonging to 8th or 9th standard were
selected for measuring the classroom environment using light meter, 3M sound level meter,
and 3 in 1 Anemometer to measure artificial light, daylight, glare, noise levels and relative
humidity respectively. Ten students had been randomly selected for testing the academic
performance and also to check their perception on glare inside the classroom. Observatory
and interview schedule were used to record the readings in each classroom.
The schools selected belonged to different management types and locations. Sixty
percent of the sample belonged to private schools, 30 percent belonged to Government
schools and the remaining 10 percent to aided schools. It was noticed that 40 percent of the
schools don’t have space for playground, 30 percent of them have huge playgrounds and 20
percent have small and remaining 10 percent have medium playgrounds.
The classroom location of the selected sample of 8th or 9th class was observed, it
was inferred that 30 percent of sample were in third floor, 30 percent in first floor, 20
percent in second floor and 10 percent each in fourth and fifth floor of the building
respectively. The classroom area per student was calculated and compared to the standard.
This had shown that 60 percent of the sample fell under the recommended area per student
and remaining 40 percent had less area per student Space allocated per student also plays a
key role in the thermal and visual comfort of the students. This can in turn affect the
concentration of the students.
The study had shown interesting variations and results among the measurable
variables like artificial light, daylight, glare, noise and relative humidity. Artificial lighting
was mainly wall mounted and FTL’s were present in the classroom to serve the purpose of
artificial illumination. The illumination levels were checked to the standards proposed by
IGBC and it was inferred that 70 percent were above standard and remaining 30 percent
were within the standard. Daylight factor calculated showed a maximum value of 7.4
percent and optimal level of 2.6 percent but the penetration of daylight were not very
appreciable and was less than 50 percent of the classroom area. Noise levels were also
recorded higher than recommended levels by WHO and it was seen that classrooms facing
the main road had recorded the highest noise levels (62.6dB). It was interesting to know
that relative humidity during the study period was recorded less than the outside reading in
60 percent of the sample. The mean difference among the different schools in the
independent variables didn’t show remarkable difference but the artificial lighting in
Government schools was recorded higher than the remaining schools. Daylight also showed
an inversely proportionate relation where increase in daylight reported decrease in
academic performance. Though the relation was weak among the five independent
variables three variables i.e. artificial light, glare and relative humidity have shown a
positive relation on students’ performance indicating a direct influence on the students’
performance. Similarly the other two variable noise and daylight have shown negative
correlation, indicating inverse correlation with the students’ performance, that means higher
the noise lesser the performance and brighter the day light lesser the performance. Based on
the results obtained guidelines regarding the optimal levels of lighting, noise levels and
daylight factor were suggested. Along with these few architectural features like taller
windows than wider windows were recommended for better daylight penetration, louvered
floor ventilators were suggested for better thermal comfort and creating buffer zones to
reduce the internal noise levels, proper designing of the shading devices to reduce glare and
also increase the daylight harnessing inside the classroom. For optimal distribution of
artificial lighting ceiling suspended T5 or LED fixtures were recommended.
The study had given way for further research in the field of daylight in classroom
and acoustical material to reduce noise levels inside the classrooms. A classroom where
students spend major time listening, reading and writing needs to be lively, welcoming,
bright, and acoustically sound to concentrate on learning and help them to develop the zeal
to learn and achieve their goals.