DIGIdat

Digital data analysis of indoor air quality meets Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

What is the best way to ventilate a classroom? To what extent does installing a ventilation system improve indoor air quality, and how effective are relatively simple interventions such as visual feedback systems or awareness-raising campaigns? In the “DIGIdat” project, researchers from the University of Innsbruck and the University College of Teacher Education Tyrol demonstrated how to get over 650 students excited about science and digital methods! Together, they investigated indoor air quality in their classrooms potential improvement measures.

Over the course of the three-year project, pupils from 10 Tyrolean schools gained in-depth knowledge of healthy indoor environments, energy-efficient buildings, measurement technology, and digital and scientific methods in numerous workshops. They programmed their own sensor kits to monitor pollutant concentrations (CO₂ and particulate matter) and the indoor climate (temperature and relative humidity) in the classrooms. Working in teams, the young citizen scientists (aged 13–14) ensured that the sensors functioned properly and consistently provided data. They also collected relevant additional information, such as key data on the school building, its location, and the use of the classrooms. Alongside the measurements taken with the sensor kits, the pupils’ subjective well-being was assessed through surveys. In this way, Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) was actively put into practice.

The students’ active participation in the project enabled the collection of scientifically valuable measurement data and, consequently, well-founded conclusions regarding the effectiveness and practicality of various improvement measures. The results confirm that manually ventilated classrooms are generally inadequately ventilated, particularly when outside temperatures are lower. For instance, at temperatures below 10 °C, none of the 25 classrooms with manual window ventilation examined met the requirements of the Austrian guideline (CO₂ concentration ≤ 1000 ppm, Class 2) in at least 50% of school lessons. Although classrooms with existing ventilation systems had significantly lower concentrations, not all classrooms met the Austrian guideline.

The interventions studied as part of the ‘DIGIdat’ project suggest that awareness-raising measures alone do not achieve the desired effect, neither in terms of their impact nor their sustainability. Visual feedback systems such as a CO₂ traffic light showed, particularly immediately after their introduction, a noticeable reduction in CO₂ concentration, with the result that, at the outset, the test classes predominantly met at least the requirements for Class 3 (≤ 1400 ppm). However, the effect diminished significantly over time, suggesting that even CO₂ traffic lights do not appear to be a sustainable and long-term solution to the problem. The most effective intervention proved to be the installation of a ventilation system, which enabled the requirements of the Austrian guideline (Class 2) to be met consistently on average (and at the median).

The public interest in the project and its results was evident at the final workshop, where over 30 stakeholders from school administration and school construction discussed the project’s findings with the researchers, pupils and teachers!

This project is already completed.