In many small government schools, redesigned classrooms do not consider how all these factors affect heat and, in turn, learning. We must bring this to the attention of head teachers, metro education directors and other stakeholders.
Prolonged periods of excessive heat disproportionately affect Ghana's urban poor's well-being – including teaching and learning in primary schools. Dr Ebenezer Amankwaa has been working with schools in Accra and Tamale to find out how school children adapt to extreme heat and how the coping mechanisms they adopt in their day-to-day experience can be co-developed and integrated into action-oriented teaching and learning to enhance resilience and improve well-being.
Where does your passion for the suffering of extreme heat by school children and the urban poor come from?
I have been part of a British Academy-funded project (2017-2022) about how extreme heat affects livelihoods and health in selected communities in Accra and Tamale. Heat has become a decisive issue, affecting people of all ages, genders, and incomes. We studied in communities, and I thought about doing it in schools.
A vast difference can be made by paying attention to factors such as the orientation of school buildings, the direction of the wind, ceiling height, sizes of windows, creating cross-ventilation with windows and doors facing each other, and tree shade as well as overcrowding, seating arrangement and teaching practices. The research is approached from a multi-dimensional perspective – architectural, engineering, and social dimensions – and how it interacts with heat factors. The transdisciplinary nature looks into how climate change interacts with local issues: If we do not interrogate these issues in the best manner, solutions will not speak to the heart of the problems.
Does your research question reflect your own educational experience?
In my experience growing up and attending local elementary schools, extreme heat is a chronic, everyday experience. Authorities have not paid attention to the effects, which are delayed, unlike, for instance, more catastrophic flooding. Complex subjects such as mathematics and science are taught when heat is debilitating and not conducive to learning, such as in the hot afternoon. Challenging subjects can be taught in the cooler mornings, and lighter subjects can be taught in the afternoon. In the afternoon, levels of discomfort are high; learners are uncomfortable and even in distress. Lack of attention, frustration, and discomfort, lead to stress in the classroom.
That brings the question of how we educate our teachers to maximise group learning in crowded classrooms. Some classrooms have two doors, but one might be blocked to prevent truancy. This blocks ventilation, which leads to unnecessary discomfort. Utilising the classroom space in the school might have to be reconsidered, such as avoiding sitting behind each other in rows and lines, but rather in a rectangular or ring fashion.
How active are the children in your research project?
I decided to use the time to extend the data collection phase of my project by keeping the heat sensors in schools and continuing to record temperatures and relative humidity past the fellowship. The thermal comfort survey allowed us to hear about their experiences from schoolchildren and teachers themselves. Combining the data analysis with in-depth interviews increased the value of the research. It was fascinating and fun: if you give the children the space, they have much to tell you.
We have been preparing for school events in Accra since August 2023, with the actual events taking place in late November to ensure a co-learning experience. In all the schools in Accra, we involved lower and upper primary classes and junior high classes. Their messages about extreme heat and climate change were expressed through dance, drama, painting, sketching, poetry recitals, and storytelling. The senior learners participated in an essay competition on the effects of and solutions to head discomfort.
School events were fascinating and fun. The learners were serious about the event and eager to compete.
Tell us about the findings of the research and subsequent school programmes.
As part of the school events with the learners, workshops were held for teachers, where I printed some graphs from the temperature recordings showing data averages and variations. The temperature averages from the various schools showed that temperatures were rising. We now get more extended periods of heat, as temperatures start rising earlier, and the sun stays up later, so temperatures take longer to decline. This allows teachers and school administrators to plan following the changing heat patterns. At the end of each event, the contestants, participating classrooms, and teachers were rewarded with prizes, including books, pens, pencils, markers, cardboard and even cash prizes. The school heads were presented with certificates for their school participation.
We wanted the process to be organic. We told the schools what activities were available for their learners. It was interesting to see how every school chose a project to fit what was within their limitations when we went to prepare them. At senior levels, some schools were writing mock exams; hence, interschool quizzes weren’t possible. School engagements showed us how important it is to get the message to the children while they are young; they get very committed to becoming climate change ambassadors.
Share with us some of your exciting findings.
At Richard Akwei Memorial School in Accra, we found an excellent example of how older school building architecture with good orientation to the wind direction, higher ceilings, central wooden windows, wide open doors facing each other, and many trees made high temperatures more bearable but reducing extreme heat exposure. Authorities should learn from this and keep to these school design principles, as modern building practices such as the popular block windows are less effective in improving thermal comfort.
The results were very gratifying and touching. From now on, I will consider creating space for children to be part of climate action again to ensure we develop agents of change in their communities. I believe we made a huge difference in their thinking about climate change.
Dr Ebenezer Amankwaa, in conversation with Heidi Sonnekus
