As North Texas experienced triple-digit temperatures in mid-July and all of Augustkids on summer vacation are looking for a pool or splash pad to cool off. Now that the school year is in full swing, the importance of getting children outside is still a priority, but persistently high temperatures coupled with infrastructure woes make it difficult to provide this need to students and the children
Texas is no stranger to extreme heat. The Dallas-Fort Worth area hit a high of 107 on Aug. 19, nearly a week after students returned to school in the Fort Worth Independent School District. Air conditioning problems also disrupted the first day of school last year in Fort Worth ISD as 25 campuses had cooling problems in parts of their buildings. Since heat has been shown to lead to learning losses for students and medical complications for children, it is a problem that has become difficult to ignore. But as temperatures continue to rise across the United States and around the world, extreme heat is disrupting the range of benefits kids get when they go outside.
A working paper published in January by the Center on Child Development at Harvard University digs into the specifics of how extreme heat negatively impacts child development and health, as children are most vulnerable to excessive heat. Their smaller bodies heat up more quickly, their body temperature regulates less efficiently because they are still developing, and they rely on their caregivers to provide them with water and a cool environment.
The Harvard paper notes that the dangers of excessive heat during pregnancy, infancy and childhood receive less attention compared to the dangers it poses to older people and those with heart and lung conditions. Premature birth and low birth weight, learning loss for school-age children and heat illness and death are just a few of the impacts.
Children do not sweat as much as adults, which is a barrier to one of the body’s main cooling mechanisms. The inability of the body to cool down properly can lead not only to kidney failure or seizures, for example, but also leads to disturbances with the loss of learning, sleep quality and mental health, according to the document. Learning loss comes into play as a hot classroom environment distracts students and teachers from focus, and heat itself is linked to slower cognitive function. Research shows that warmth has a direct correlation with school performance.
“An analysis of school-aged children in the United States, England, Sweden, and Denmark calculated that the temperature for optimal concentration is 72°F or lower. Student performance on psychological tests and schoolwork can be expected to increase by an average of 20% if the classroom temperature is lowered from 86°F to 68°F,” according to the document. “Conversely, studies show that school performance declines as temperatures rise. In New York City, for example, learning losses increased by up to 50% when school day temperatures exceeded 100°F compared to days above 90°F.
Excessive heat can also perpetuate the disparities that already exist, said Dr. Lindsey Burghardt, the chief science officer of the Child Development Center and an author of the paper. Burghardt is also the founding director of the center’s Early Childhood Science Council for Equity and Environment and a practicing primary care pediatrician.
Excessive heat disproportionately affects low-income communities of color that have been subjected to discriminatory zoning and lending practices such as redlining. The paper notes that lower income students are more likely to attend schools with inadequate air conditioning compared to higher income students. Also, Hispanic and black households are less likely to have access to air conditioning versus white households.
“Heat is so contextually important, and the ways people are going to experience it really depends on the resources they have to access mitigation and cooling measures. That can be really, really different depending on where you live,” Burghardt said.
The consequences of this are far-reaching because of the educational and developmental value of children spending time outdoors. For example, vitamin D plays a vital role for their immune systems and bone development, while free play allows them to build problem-solving, problem-solving and multitasking skills. According to the National Association for the Education of ChildrenPlaying outside also promotes better sleep, allows children to take appropriate risks and supports science, technology, engineering and math skills.
Audrey Rowland, founder and CEO of Learning about green space and president of the Texas Association for the Education of Children, oversees a natural preschool in north Fort Worth where the daily schedule of 40 infants, toddlers and preschoolers revolves around the air open Rowland and her staff keep an eye on the heat index and air quality every day to determine if there needs to be a change in the times the kids are outside, but the outdoor spaces are built to withstand the Texas heat. They have large mature trees for shade and artificial shade sails, plus a water pump and mister. Children always have access to cold drinking water.
On days when air quality is lower, Green Space teachers pivot to activities that are more passive and expend less energy, such as reading or creating art, Rowland said.
“The difference in the nature preschool environment is that we have so many things to do outside, so we do a normal preschool outside. There’s art, there’s science, there’s dramatic play. It’s not just running and go up and play,” he said. “Our classroom is also open to the playground. Especially in the summer, the doors remain open and children can go in and out as needed.”
Rowland noted how the topic has drawn the attention of lawmakers in a handful of US states where it is mandated that schools provide recreation time every day while making it illegal to remove it as a punishment. In addition, initiatives such as the National Schoolyard System, which increases the tree canopy in public school grounds across the country to provide shade and shield students from extreme heat, create the necessary infrastructure to build the resistance to climate change and its impact on children.
“Being outside is so critical for learning and development, to increase those neurotransmitters, to increase dopamine and mood,” Rowland said. “Creating some strategies around being outside even when the weather isn’t ideal is just basic care for kids.”
Dr. Lisa Patel, clinical assistant professor of pediatrics at Stanford School of Medicine and executive director of the Medical Society’s Consortium for Climate and Health, said the temperature to which humans can no longer adapt is of 115 degrees Fahrenheit with minimal humidity and many places around. the world beat this record. The transition to renewable forms of energy and the abandonment of fossil fuels is a crucial step to avoid a future where it is not sustainable to be outside, he said.
“We continue to think that it will be fine, we can adapt to the next thing that comes, but there is a point at which, of course, we can technically adapt, but we are talking about a radically different childhood. Radically different ways of life than the ones we grew up with. Is this the world we really want to live in? Because it’s too hot to be outside, Patel said.
States can also make more investments in climate resilience, like California investment of $100 million that went towards creating spaces for people to go to during extreme weather events like extreme heat, he noted. At the federal level, funding issued to the Centers for Disease Control should be increased dramatically, he said.
“We need to greatly increase the funding of the CDC and increase the funding of the Office on Climate Change and Health Equity to be able to do this work of exploring educational programs and initiatives and the kinds of initiatives that we have need to keep people safe,” said Patel.