The link between student engagement and air quality

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How schools can solve the problem of student fatigue and poor concentration, giving a boost to overall learning performance

WE'VE ALL experienced the ‘afternoon lull’, or post-lunch slump. Your eyelids droop, your energy levels are low, and concentrating on your work somehow feels much more difficult than it did a few hours ago. Far from being an imagined phenomenon, the afternoon lull is the very real result of several physical factors. Temperature, humidity levels and particulate matter all contribute to feelings of fatigue and poor concentration. But one of the most significant factors affecting cognitive abilities is the quality of the air you’re breathing – and with Australians spending 90% of their time indoors, that air quality may well be worse than you think.

Thinxtra, Enabler of Massive IoT, connects physical assets with the digital world in the most energy-efficient way, at scale, and at a fraction of the conventional cost. As the owner and operator of the only public, national 0G network dedicated to the IoT in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Macau, Thinxtra teams up with a broad ecosystem of partners to help organisations create new business models, optimise asset utilisation, monitor indoor air quality (IAQ) and unlock new customer service offerings.

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“While keeping windows ajar and buying purifiers is a positive step, it’s only with monitoring that we can understand whether those measures are having the intended impact and keeping us safe”

Nicholas Lambrou, Thinxtra

The importance of air quality in classrooms According to research from the University of New South Wales, the impact of poor air quality on student learning can be particularly significant. One of the key indicators of poor air quality is a high level of CO₂ – a problem that can lead to fatigue, loss of concentration and, ultimately, poor learning performance. With large numbers of students sharing indoor spaces every day, the need to maintain healthy air quality in classrooms is increasingly recognised, with initiatives like Queensland’s $477m Air Quality Assurance Program and NSW’s $100m Cooler Cleaner Schools Program investing heavily into ventilation education. However, according to experts, relying on short-term measures won’t be enough in the long run. Instead, schools should be looking to invest into air quality monitoring technology – the only way to get a reliable assessment of the air quality inside your classroom. “While keeping windows ajar and buying purifiers is a positive step, it’s only with monitoring that we can understand whether those measures are having the intended impact and keeping us safe,” says Thinxtra CEO Nicholas Lambrou.

“Often overlooked is the reality that air quality is incredibly dynamic, can change from good to bad very quickly, and can vary significantly in different rooms and buildings. “You can’t manage what you can’t understand, and it’s impossible to understand indoor air quality without first measuring it,” he explains. “In fact, Lidia Morawska – a distinguished professor at the Queensland University of Technology and one of the world’s foremost authorities on the impact of airborne particles on human health – has flagged the first step in addressing poor air quality is to measure the state of ventilation in schools.”

What measuring tools are available? The COVID-19 pandemic raised a lot of awareness around the air we breathe, as well as the link between poor indoor air quality and the spread of airborne viruses. As a result, air quality monitoring tools have grown in popularity over the last several years. One of the most popular tools has been the hand-held CO₂ monitoring device. However, according to Lambrou, these devices can be fairly limited in terms of their overall capability, as well as the data analysis they can provide. A quicker, more cost-effective solution has been developed with the Internet of Things (IoT). Thinxtra’s Indoor Air Quality Solution is an all-in-one tool that monitors CO₂, temperature and humidity, as well as particulate matter and other harmful air pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds. It allows teachers to quickly identify poor air quality, and will send out alerts when maximum thresholds for factors like CO₂ are reached.

“As well as needing a permanent power source through a typical outlet, they typically also require specialists to be physically present to read them, make meaningful decisions about the information available, and then alert teachers on what to do about it. That’s a laborious and costly process. “Instead, with battery-powered sensors that are connected to the internet, schools can monitor indoor air quality around the clock, across many rooms, at any time and from anywhere,” he says. “This means teachers and principals can continuously and reliably measure CO₂, humidity, temperature and particulate matter, and set alerts and reporting to make timely decisions to ventilate, filtrate and/or purify. “Crucially, all this information is provided in a format that’s incredibly easy to understand,” he adds. “In many cases, the data can be configured to simply advise the best course of action unique to a specific room so that teachers can take informed action right away.”

“With battery-powered sensors that are connected to the internet, schools can monitor indoor air quality around the clock, across many rooms, at any time and from anywhere”

Nicholas Lambrou, Thinxtra

Thinxtra’s Indoor Air Quality Solution has already proven its worth in schools. The Take The Gap Montessori Childcare Centre uses internet-connected air monitoring devices across all of its classrooms, offices and corridors, and students are already seeing the benefits of having access to detailed information on air quality. Teachers receive real-time alerts when preset CO₂ levels have been reached, allowing them to take the necessary steps to improve conditions. In an industry that is already facing significant staff shortages, Lambrou says IoT solutions take a lot of legwork out of air quality monitoring, and eliminate the need to manually check all devices, replace batteries, record measurements and compile reports.

“Feeling safe about the air we breathe is arguably the most basic human right,” Lambrou says. “Where there is an affordable, convenient and low-tech solution to ensure the safest and most comfortable environment for children as they learn, it should be implemented as a priority.” To find out more about Thinxtra’s Indoor Air Quality Solution for classrooms, click here.

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Hours Australian students spend indoors

per week in classrooms

HOURS

,075+

Per year indoors

Lambrou says that while other solutions have been a great start, the processes behind them are often costly and time-consuming, and the basic tools haven’t made full use of the vast amounts of data that can be gathered every day. “Although hand-held monitoring devices can help inform teachers about the conditions of a room, they are limited in the overall capabilities and data they can provide,” he explains.

Thinxtra Indoor Air Quality Solution: Key features

CO₂, temperature and humidity monitoring

Quick and easy installation

5-year battery life

No Wi-Fi connection needed

24/7 air monitoring