A recent study conducted in the United States suggests installing air filters in classrooms. According to the researchers, it is a question of increasing the results of the pupils in addition to protecting them from pollution. This news is not very surprising at a time when science is increasingly demonstrating the harmful effects of air pollution on the brain.
Michael Gilraine is a researcher at the Annenberg Institute (Brown University, USA) whose goal is to develop solutions for school reform. In a recent study, the interested party recommended installing air filters in all schools. However, you should know that this idea comes from a real chance.
In 2015, a major gas leak occurred at Aliso Canyon, an oil field near Los Angeles. And the repercussions on the health of the inhabitants have been very worrying. Some residents - many of them children - suffered headaches, nausea and nosebleeds. Responsible for the disaster, the company Southern California Gaz wanted to install air filters in the surrounding school rooms. The objective:limit the impact on children . But, if this initiative came too late in the context of the Aliso Canyon incident, the fact is that positive effects were felt in the long term.
Michael Gilraine's research shows that, over time, installing filters has had positive effects. These have protected the students from daily pollution associated in particular with intense road traffic. In other words, the indoor air quality has improved in the schools concerned, as have... the students' grades!
According to Michael Gilraine, grades increased by 0.20 (standard deviation) in math and 0.18 in English. In addition, this increase has continued over two years consecutive. The leader of the study then compared these results to those of schools without filters. In these establishments, no noticeable improvement in grades had been observed.
The study should nevertheless be taken with a grain of salt for an obvious reason. Indeed, this research has not yet been validated by the scientific community. However, Michael Gilraine's study seems to support some research that suggests that pollution has adverse effects on the human brain.
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