Over the next few weeks, school and university students will be sitting their end of year exams. Often an anxious occasion, these exams frequently impact a student’s future opportunities in their education and career.
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So with considerable pressure on a few evaluations, educators and students alike would want to optimise academic performance as much as possible – right?
Latest research shows these end of year assessments will likely prove to be challenging for one reason more than most – the heat. A study by several prestigious universities in the US examined test scores of millions of students all sitting the same standardised test. Those who were exposed to high temperatures for longer periods of time were shown to perform much poorer on the exam.
As the world warms due to climate change, students and teachers will be subject to more days in stifling classrooms, meaning ineffective daily learning, or in worse cases illness and heat stroke.
This builds on what has already been scientifically proven and what teachers have known for years – hotter classrooms result in poorer knowledge retention and decreased results in assessments. In fact, students are 12 per cent more likely to fail the same exam on a 32˚C day compared to a 22˚C day.
Simply providing air-conditioning in all learning environments is not the perfect solution. There is a significant cost associated with cooling classrooms.
In Queensland, the state government has spent millions of dollars to install and maintain air conditioning to 380 of its 1230 state schools. Plus, there is the additional energy cost of running those units.
Increasing energy demand from schools also exacerbates an already large carbon footprint, contributing to the underlying problem – man-made climate change.
The 2018 Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change report showed we are already seeing the consequences of 1˚C warming and will likely reach 1.5˚C of global warming between 2030 and 2052 unless we reduce emissions now.
The only way to do this is by putting an end to the burning of fossil fuels.
For the sake of future generations, we must prevent rising global temperatures.
Australia’s current students and future leaders depend on it.
Dr Beau Frigault is the Queensland chair of Doctors for the Environment Australia.
