Daylighting in Schools
Daylighting in Schools
Growing evidence shows that natural daylighting can have a large impact on student performance. A study done by Heschong Mahone Group, “Daylighting in Schools,” investigated daylighting and human performance. The study was done with three separate school districts, with differing climates, building designs, teaching styles, and curricula. We’ll discuss a few of their findings relating to natural daylighting and student performance below.
Today, educators know that the superior quality of natural light improves both test scores and long-term retention. Skylights in particular have a profound effect on student performance. Well-designed daylighting has significant economic payoffs such as reduced demand for electricity (most rooms with skylights just need task lighting, rather than general lighting). But in the academic context, the real benefits are human: Clearly visible writing and work surfaces, better student health and general mood, better behavior, and improved arousal levels. The study indicated “most teachers felt that windows and daylight[ing] improved the mood of their students, keeping them calm and improving their attention spans. Higher illumination levels in daylit classrooms simply help to keep children more alert and capable of absorbing new information.” 1 The phrase “walk on the sunny side of the street” captures common wisdom that people tend to have a more positive outlook under sunny conditions.
As well as all the other attributes related to daylighting and students, the study found that “students in daylit classrooms progress more quickly, gaining one to two points more over the course of the school year than students advancing at the average rate. By advancing more quickly, students in daylit classrooms could save up to one month of instruction time in the reading and math curriculum that could be used for other areas of learning.” 2
For all other influences, students with the most daylighting in their classrooms progressed 20% faster on math tests and 26% faster on reading tests in one year than those with the least amount of daylighting. Students with well-designed skylights in their classrooms, ones that diffuse the daylight throughout the room, also improved 19-20% faster than those without a skylight.
As stated before, every school has different curricula and teaching styles, different school building designs, and very different climates. Yet there are consistently positive and highly significant effects. That consistency supports the proposition that there is a valid and predictable effect of daylighting on student performance.
Daylighting has become synonymous with the new green building movement – and for good reason. Improving work environments, increasing occupant satisfaction and controlling energy costs are just a few of the many benefits that a properly designed daylighting system can offer.
But all too often decisions are driven by the bottom line. Inevitably, the question comes up – even with all these benefits, is daylighting worth the initial investment?
Like all things “green,” choosing the right daylighting solution for your project and budget can be a tricky task. Where should you start? Though there’s a wide variety of daylighting options out there to choose from, it’s important that you first analyze your building’s functional purpose, as this can have a significant effect on how successfully a daylighting system will perform.
Consider this – an investment in daylighting can lead to significant energy and cost savings over the life of the building. In fact, some studies suggest that daylighting can reduce the lifetime utility cost by 50% or more in new buildings, and that the money saved from downsizing electrical and HVAC components can usually pay for the additional up-front costs.1 Utilizing natural light is a cost-effective way to illuminate interior spaces during daytime hours, reducing the need for energy-hungry artificial light sources.
Beyond monetary issues, numerous studies show that access to natural light has a profound effect on our internal biochemistry, including improved mood and fewer health complaints from employees. Lack of sunlight can also have detrimental consequences, among them ailments like Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), characterized by a “down” or depressed feeling brought on by dark winter months.
Besides the energy savings and emotional impact, well-designed daylighting has also been shown to have significant economic payoffs. “Daylighting and Retail Sales,” a study done by the Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program and the Heschong Mahone Group, evaluated daylighting in a variety of retail settings. The study found that sales in stores utilizing daylighting were in some cases 40% higher than stores without natural daylighting. It also found that the “value of the energy savings from the daylighting is far overshadowed by the value of the predicted increase in sales due to daylighting. By the most conservative estimate, the profit from increased sales associated with daylight is worth at least 19 times more than the energy savings, and more likely, may be worth 45-100 times more than the energy savings.”2
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Sources:
- Daylighting in Schools. Condensed Report, Heschong Mahone Group
- Daylighting in Schools, August 20, 1999
