Teachers: Open Your Windows

All these years, I have been right: a classroom with an open window is better for students. Amanda Erickson reports:

Not so long ago, elementary school teachers regulated classroom temperature by opening up a window or cracking a door when it got too hot. These days, of course, modern school buildings have fancier climate control systems that offer cooler temperatures at the push of a button, no outside air required.

Turns out, that might not be such a good thing.

According to a new study published in the journal Indoor Air, students in classrooms with high levels of fresh air stayed healthier and took fewer sick days. Those results come from researchers out of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, who analyzed ventilation rates in 162 elementary school classrooms over two years.