夏季における中学生の想像温度と熱環境適応プロセスの関係

 This paper describes the relationship between cognitive temperature and the thermal adaptation process of students at a junior high school in summer. This relationship is a key concept for developing methods to support environmental education for healthy and energy-saving lifestyles. The thermal adaptation process consists of physiological, psychological, and behavioral adaptations, and is influenced by personal thermal history and lifestyle. “Cognitive temperature” in this article means a self-reported temperature in response to the question “What do you think the current temperature is?” We call it “cognitive temperature” because our results of structural equation modeling (covariance structure analysis) have shown that each person answers with a value based on cognitive reference to their past experiences and memories in addition to their sensory information from the immediate environment. Thus, it is strongly related to personal thermal history, lifestyle, and region. In this study, we performed field measurements and a survey on the relationship between cognitive temperature and the thermal adaptation process of students.<br> The field measurements and survey were performed in 12 classrooms with 377 students in September 2017 at a junior high school facing eastern Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, Japan. The school is a “super eco-school” and has passive and active devices for controlling the thermal environment in the classrooms. These features include large eaves for solar shading and sliding doors for cross ventilation that allows the wind from Lake Biwa into the classrooms during the day and night. There is also a cool pit underground for passive cooling, although all classrooms have air-conditioning, too.<br> The questionnaire asked about cognitive temperature, uncomfortable hot or cold sensations, behavior, adaptive actions, sweating in the classrooms, and the frequency that air-conditioning was used at home during their summer vacation. The air temperature, humidity, and grey-globe temperature on the window and corridor sides of the classrooms were measured.<br> Followings are results of the field measurement and survey. 1) During the survey period, for which the maximum outdoor temperature was about 28.5°C, most classes used natural ventilation and only one class used air-conditioning. The maximum indoor air temperature and gray-globe temperature were between 29.2°C and 29.6°C. 2) The cognitive temperature of the students in the naturally ventilated classrooms was more closely related to the outdoor temperature than to the indoor air temperature. The cognitive temperature of 70% of the students was lower than the room air temperature. 3) About 80% of the students felt "not uncomfortable" when their cognitive and operative temperature was 26°C or lower. 4) Regardless of whether they felt "uncomfortable" or "not uncomfortable", the cognitive temperatures of the students who wanted to use air-conditioning was higher than those of the students who did not.