Evaluation of indoor environmental quality and pupils’ satisfaction in Flemish primary schools

Children spend much of their time in classrooms, which often have an unsatisfactory indoor environmental quality (IEQ). Unsatisfactory IEQ conditions could hamper pupils’ learning performance. Therefore, it is important to provide IEQ conditions which meet the pupils’ needs. This study evaluates the IEQ and pupils’ satisfaction in 7 primary school classrooms. 6-week long data collection campaigns were performed during heating season and within the frame of a citizens’ science project. Data collection consisted of both IEQ monitoring and satisfaction assessments. The following IEQ parameters were monitored: CO2-concentration, air temperature, relative humidity, sound pressure level and lighting level. Pupils’ satisfaction and knowledge on nature of science (NoS) was assessed using both right-here-right-now and retrospective surveys. The collected data was used to (1) evaluate the classrooms’ IEQ, (2) asses pupils’ satisfaction with IEQ, and (3) validate a recent developed questionnaire to determine pupils’ NoS. Results show that the classrooms’ IEQ often violates guideline values, especially too low room temperatures were found. Furthermore, the satisfaction assessments indicate frequent dissatisfaction with the acoustic (18.4%), IAQ (16.5%) and thermal (11.7%) conditions in the classroom. Lastly, the validation of the NoS questionnaire showed insufficient internal consistency in the subscales of the questionnaire.