Analysis of Examination Related Experiences of Students
under Varying Climatic Conditions
Mohd Kamil Vakil1, Afreen Khan2, and Abdul Rahman3
1
Department of Civil Engineering, Z. H. College of Engineering & Technology, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India 202002
2 Department of Computer Science, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India 202002
3
Department of Mathematics, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India 202002
kamil.vakil@zhcet.ac.in
Abstract. The impact of climate change can be easily recognized around the world. With the
sudden increase in carbon emission in recent years, it's been noted that working in an open environment is getting harder. To tackle with such severe weather, people are carrying out their work
in the air-conditioned ambience. Furthermore, it has been observed that they are emitting more
greenhouse gases, which add more to the climate change. Amid the substantial shift in the climatic condition, the students at schools and colleges of India are getting significantly affected.
Thus, the examination performed in different climatic conditions around the year resulted in an
adverse impact on these students' academic outcome.
A survey was conducted among the students of different standards at Aligarh Muslim University to record their exam-related experiences in a set of months- October, December, March, and
May. This study aimed to figure out their experiences of giving exams in air-conditioned and
non-air-conditioned classrooms.
The data generated from the survey was statistically analyzed. It was concluded that the students influenced during the polluted months of summer are appreciably higher than those uninfluenced. And the number of students that gave exams in AC rooms have relatively done better
in academics than those sitting in non-AC rooms. The optimized environmental conditions for
both school and college-based examinations are suggested. This paper also indicates the modification needed in the educational environment to achieve better efficiency of students.
Keywords: air-conditioned, HVAC, classroom, examination, climate, student
1. Introduction
Climate change is the havoc of present times. From Ocean to Land life, everyone is
getting affected. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) defines climate change as a "change of climate that is attributed directly or
indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and
which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable periods."
Human beings are not the sole threat to causing climate change. For millions of years,
continental shifts have influenced the global temperature, which has activated volcanic
eruptions. These shifts have released enormous volumes of carbon dioxide, which in
turn heated up the Earth. With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, human beings
have been acting as a menace to the climate, which has exposed our ecosystem at risk.
Since then, the average rise of 0.8 degrees Celsius in global temperature is recorded.
2
The increase in sea level by approximately 20 centimeters is another form of degradation of Earth due to climate change. A study performed by the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that global warming in the last few decades is attributable to the observed surge in greenhouse gases.
On the other side, the indoor environment is deeply affected by air pollution. According to research performed recently, indoor air can be deadlier than outdoor air [1].
On average, Americans spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors, where
the concentration of certain pollutants is often 2 to 5 times higher than typical outdoor
concentration [2]. The degradation of indoor air quality by harmful chemicals and other
substances can be ten times worse than outdoor air pollution [3]. The Indoor Particulate
Matter concentrations moderately depend on levels of meteorological variables like
temperature, relative humidity, and precipitation [4].
In most Indian schools & colleges, students spend almost one-fourth part of their day
in the classroom. The classroom setup generally consists of wooden furniture and
painted walls. The students are made to sit in this classroom setup. Most of the pressedwood products, such as particleboard, plywood and fiberboard, paper product coatings,
and particular insulation material emit formaldehyde, which may cause students to experience watery eyes, burning sensation in the eyes, nose, and throat, cough, wheezing,
nausea, and skin irritation [5]. The classroom without a proper Heating, Ventilation,
and Air-conditioning (HVAC) system cause ambient heat exposure, which adversely
affects students' performance and learning capacity at typical heat levels in tropical and
subtropical areas [6]. Different weather plays different roles in the efficiency of the
learning environment within a classroom. The Particulate Matter- PM10 and PM2.5
reached hazardous levels in November to February and then again in May and June in
New Delhi (2015). The long-term exposure of human beings to PM's increased levels
during winter may cause lung and cardiovascular-related diseases.
To understand the students' behavior and academic performance in different weather
conditions, a survey had been carried out at Aligarh Muslim University, India. The
study performed on the students of university schools, and colleges revealed that the
learning performance gets affected during summer. This study aims to assess the ergonomics of students in their exam giving environment to create awareness of ergonomics
and its application among these students. The paper is organized as follows: Section 2
involves the methods employed during the study involving the data collection and data
analysis technique. Section 3 discusses the results of the investigation. Section 4 introduces the discussion. Section 5 presents the conclusion, followed by a recommendation.
2. Methods
A survey was carried out at Aligarh Muslim University, India, in which the data of 110
participants were recorded. All the respondents were students from secondary school
and different departments of the university. Out of 110 forms received, five were omitted due to incomplete submission.
A questionnaire named "Comfortability in Classroom and During Examination: A
Student Survey" was distributed among these students.
Table 1: Categories and types of questions asked in the survey. The Head row states the categories and other cell contents hint the subject of a question.
3
Inside
environment
Outside
environment
HVAC
Examination
experience in-
Performance
obtained in-
(general experience)
(general experience)
(general
ence)
(with and without AC)
(Different
seasons)
Roof leakage/
Sun rays
Debris presence
AC installed/maintained
October
Summer
Mold visibility
Animals/ Greenery
Ventilation/windows presence
December
Winter
Rodents/pests
visibility
Dust/exhaust
Chemicals/vehicle
exhaust
March
Autumn
Wall
paint/
Furniture
polish smell
Disposal/ Chemicals
Humidity/moisture
May
Spring
experi-
The survey had questions (Table 1) on classroom and examination-hall related performance in Air-Conditioned (AC) and Non-Air-Conditioned (NAC) rooms; and learning
experience in October, December, March, and May (ODMM) and during different seasons- summer, winter, autumn, and monsoon.
The data recorded were statistically analyzed using SPSS Version 24.0.
3. Results
3.1 Demographic Outline of Participants'
The study comprised 105 students, out of which 65 (62%) males and 40 (38%) females
responded successfully. The age was within a range of 14-32 years, with a mean of
22.95 ± 0.55 (Confidence Level of 95%).
3.2 Academic Performance in ODMM
The students were asked about their range of percentages they score during their different terms of examination. The responses recorded were satisfactory. During the month
of ODMM, the students' responses varied according to the percentage of marks they
obtained. This is illustrated in Fig.1 below.
Fig.1. The percentage range of students during different terms of examinations.
The highest percentage is 72.26 ± 1.69 (CI 95%) in May, and the lowest is 69.43 ±
2.02 (CI 95%) in October. The skewness value of 0.13 in May is highest and positive
4
(left-modal), which depicts the degree of symmetry in the data distribution is slightly
concentrated towards the left side of the median. The lowest negative value of kurtosis
is-0.60 in May, which implies that the data distribution has a relatively lower
peakedness degree. This is described in Table 2 below.
Table 2: Moments of Distribution for the months ODMM
Oct
Dec
Mar
Parameters
Mean
69.4339
70.9434
70.3773
Standard Error
1.0216
0.8970
1.0224
Median
70
75
75
Mode
75
65
75
Standard Deviation
10.5180
9.2353
10.5265
Kurtosis
-0.2588
-0.4545
-0.5834
Skewness
-0.2232
-0.1347
-0.1263
Confidence Level (95%)
2.0256
1.7786
2.0272
May
72.2641
0.8534
75
65
8.7866
-0.6072
0.1388
1.6922
Other than descriptive statistics, the regression analysis has been carried out between
months: October–March, and May–December, is the former as the dependent variable
and later as the independent variable. The R square, p-value, and other factors are illustrated in Table 3 below.
Table 3: Regression Analysis between pairs of months (Oct-Mar & May-Dec)
Parameters
October - March
May - December
Multiple R
0.87176
0.80985
R Square
0.759966
0.655856
Adjusted R Square
0.75768
0.652579
Standard Error
5.157445
5.205433
p-value
0.019658
2.89E-05
105
105
Observations
The R square value and a p-value of October–March are significantly considerable as
their values come under desirable limits, particularly p-value, which is less than 0.05
(level of significance).
3.3 Examination Experience in AC and NAC Rooms
Participants were asked about their comfortability in giving examination in the hall designed with and without AC in the four months- ODMM. The comfortability was asked
on 5 degrees from Poor to Excellent through Fair, Satisfactory, and Very Good.
The responses noted for this section ranged maximum between satisfactory and fair
for both AC and NAC rooms. The illustrative statistical analysis of this section is depicted in Table 4 below.
Table 4: Descriptive Statistics of data related to Comfortability with AC
Parameters
Oct
Dec
Mar
May
Mean
2.7757
2.6728
2.9345
3.2242
5
Standard Error
Median
Mode
Std. Deviation
Sample Variance
Kurtosis
Skewness
Confidence Level (95.0%)
0.1048
3
2
1.0842
1.1756
-0.6388
0.4605
0.2078
0.1101
3
3
1.1391
1.2976
-0.9668
0.0502
0.2183
0.1121
3
2
1.1596
1.3447
-0.9448
0.2034
0.2222
0.1219
3
2
1.261239
1.5907
-1.1843
-0.0607
0.2417
The mean comfortability in May is highest, followed by March, October, and December. The least negative kurtosis (platykurtic) shows the least peakedness, among others,
and skewness indicates a degree of symmetry, which is slightly concentrated in the right
of the median. A similar result of kurtosis for December can be seen in Table 4 above,
but positive skewness indicates a degree of symmetry is towards the left side of the
median.
3.4 Students influenced during summer
During summer, when the temperature reaches 48 degree Celsius and Air Quality Index
turn to be 280, it becomes essential to own an AC and air purifying system at home.
But both at the hostel and home, the availability of AC & air purifier are negligible.
More than 80% of participants don't own an AC at their study place unless it is a library.
Fig.2 below clearly describes the studying efficiency of students that get affected.
Fig.2. Students opinion on academic wellness in 4 different seasons
The lowest Mean value of 2.72 ± 0.19 (CI 95%) is in summer, while the highest is
in autumn, followed by winter and monsoon.
4. Discussion
A study performed by Wargocki P. et al. on student performance [2006] founded the
reduced rate of 30% on the performance of tests of reading and mathematics at 27°C
(81°F) in comparison to 20°C (68°F) [7]. In contrast, our study shows a reduced rate of
6
13% on the performance of a student giving the examination at 24°C (March) in comparison to 35°C (May).
Furthermore, no study is done on this topic in this region previously, so no data
relevant to this survey could be located.
5. Conclusion
Based on the provided information, 80% of examination halls in AMU have AC, which
controls the indoor temperature. Generally, AC runs in summer, and students have secured good marks in May. It resembles that students score better if given a comfortable
hall to write their paper. Moreover, it is concluded that the students' influence during
the summer months is appreciably greater than those uninfluenced. And the number of
students that gave exams in AC rooms have relatively done better in academics than
those in NAC rooms.
6. Recommendation
The optimized environmental conditions for both school and college-based examinations such as better HVAC setup, air filtration system are proposed, and the least usage
of interior polishing has a high content of formaldehyde. This could lead to better environmental ergonomics in the examination hall setup and otherwise.
References
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Indoor air can be deadlier than outdoor air, research shows,
https://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/22/indoor-air-can-be-deadlier-than-outdoorair-research-shows.html, last accessed 2016/04/22.
EPA's Report on the Environment (ROE), https://cfpub.epa.gov/roe/chapter/air/indoorair.cfm, last accessed 2017/07/28.
Why indoor air pollution may be worse than it is outdoors,
http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health/article/1820604/why-indoor-air-pollution-may-be-worse-it-outdoors, last accessed 2016/06/10.
Chithra, V.S., Shiva Nagendra S.M.: Impact of outdoor meteorology on indoor
PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 concentrations in a naturally ventilated classroom.
Urban Climate, Volume 10, Part 1, 77-91 (2014).
Formaldehyde and Cancer Risk, https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/substances/formaldehyde/formaldehyde-factsheet, last accessed 2011/06/10.
Kjellstrom, T., Briggs, D., Freyberg, C., Lemke, B., Otto, M., Hyatt, O.: Heat,
Human Performance, and Occupational Health: A Key Issue for the Assessment of Global Climate Change Impacts. Annual Review of Public Health
2016 37:1, 97-112 (2016).
Wargocki, P., Wyon, D.P.: Effects of HVAC on student performance.
ASHRAE Journal 48, no. 12 (2006): 23-28 (2006).