An Assessment of Indoor Air Quality and Thermal Comfort in Educational Spaces (Case Study: Girls High Schools in Arak, Iran)

As s tudents spend one-third of their time at school, their health, comfort, and productivity are mos tly influenced by thermal condition and indoor air quality of classrooms. Regarding that manual windowopening is a common way for providing fresh air in classes and s tudents aren t allowed to change their uniform, position or control the windows during the lesson hours, providing thermal comfort in winters may cause a lack of fresh air and therefore, dissatisfaction. This article is trying to evaluate the indoor air quality, and thermal condition of the classrooms, in two typical classrooms for 15-16-year-old girls in Arak, Iran. The overall s tudy objective is to compare indoor microclimate measured parameters, with (1) s tudents subjective judgment, collected through a ques tionnaire, and (2) s tandards and to inves tigate the effects of microclimate on the indoor environmental condition of classrooms. According to the results, the thermal sensation of the s tudents depends on their clothing rate and their unders tanding of the thermal s tate. In contras t, their thermal satisfaction is affected by the amount of fresh air provided. In winter, because of closed windows, s tudents are mos tly dissatisfied with the air quality and, therefore, thermal comfort, while in spring that the indoor environmental conditions meet the s tandards; the s tudents feel satisfied with the conditions. The results of this research show that the indoor environment of the classrooms is mainly influenced by internal loads; consequently, its thermal condition is not a defining parameter.