The passive solar heated school in Wallasey. VI. Thermal sensation and comfort in the classroom: A year-long study of the subjective and adaptive responses of children

Abstract

In order to examine relationships between thermal parameters and subjective response, a class of 33 13-year-old children was studied over a period of 63 weeks. Children completed 7 point rating scales of thermal sensation, air movement and dryness and 5 point scales of perceived comfort and wakefulness. Information was collected about clothes worn, windows open and lights in use, as well as data on concurrent thermal variables. In general the classroom was perceived as warm, dry and airless. Children were found to maintain thermal neutrality down to globe temperatures of 17°C by adjusting clothing, windows and lighting. The adaptive responses served to moderate the effect of physical fluctuations on thermal sensation but appeared to be ineffective at globe temperatures over 24°C. A theoretical model of adaptive control of the environment would suggest low correlations between thermal sensation and variables which the children could adjust (clothing, ventilation, heating), and high correlations between these moderator variables and objective room temperatures. The observed set of correlations supports this model. Children seem to be sensitive to differences between mean surface and air temperatures but not to ceiling-floor temperature differences within the ranges studied. There are low correlations between thermal sensation and ‘comfort’. This has implications for energy conservation.