Sky helps students control the indoor climate

Fatigue and headaches. Most of us have experienced, for example, a room that is so hot that it can be physically felt. When it is also a room where children are trying to learn something, it affects their concentration. Adults' raised index fingers are rarely motivating, but it looks completely different with a gadget on the wall.

In 42 places at Bækkegårdsskolen in Ølstykke, a small cloud hangs on the wall. It mostly glows light blue, but if it changes color, the indoor climate is not good enough. A team of students have been trained to be indoor climate ambassadors, and they are ready to take action and tell their classmates why it is good to get outside, among other things.

- I've also started to air out my room more. Then my parents ask, what are you doing? I'm airing it out, I say, says Benjamin Nolsøe Bræmer from 6.a, who hasn't given indoor climate much thought before.

He is a student council representative and has therefore taken a course in the cloud and indoor climate. Together with the other students in the student council, he has just received a diploma for it.

The knowledge he now has means that he regularly looks at the cloud within an hour.

- When the CO2 level rises, you have to open a window, he says.

According to the manufacturer, the cloud measures and visualizes the most important parameters of the indoor climate such as CO2, temperature, humidity and noise.

Strategy is being hung up

Emilie Lykke Jessen from 6th grade is also a student council representative. She was used to going outside at home, but didn't think much about it at school. She has tried it when it's too hot in the classroom.

"You get tired and your head hurts," she says.

The two new indoor climate ambassadors haven't talked much about indoor climate with their classmates yet.

- It will probably be difficult to start with, but we will get it under control, says Benjamin Nolsøe Bræmer.

Are you interested in learning more about indoor climate?

- I think he will learn the most, says Emilie Lykke Jessen with a smile and points a finger at her classmate.

- I think it's exciting how we can improve the classroom by airing it out and tidying it up, says Benjamin Nolsøe Bræmer.

In addition to topics such as heat and noise, the students have also focused on garbage. The students in the student council have created an indoor climate strategy that will now be displayed around the school.

Fat with indoor climate culture

Bækkegårdsskolen was inaugurated in 2003, so it is not an old school. However, two or three years ago, employees pointed out several problems with the indoor climate in a work environment survey. Among other things, the features mentioned were that it was cold in the winter and hot in the summer.

This has meant that the school will need a new ventilation system over the next year, as the current one is no longer sufficient. In addition, the owner of Åbn, Kristoffer Jensen, has created both an introductory course for the employees and a course for the student council.

- It's great that we're creating a culture that gets around, that we should be together in the classrooms. We're now getting comments from students who say that you need to teach us something more, so that it spreads, says headmaster of Egedal School, of which Bækkegårdsskolen is a part, Jakob Erik Grün.

In the future, the school can also receive data that can help show where the biggest problems with the indoor climate are.

- We have access to floor plans, and we can get graphs of temperatures and, for example, noise for each room, says Jakob Erik Grün, explaining that they could, for example, see the noise measurements go down at Easter when the students were at home.

Both the new ventilation and the clouds are paid for by the administration, which is responsible for maintaining the school.

Emilie Lykke Jessen and Benjamin Nolsøe Bræmer from 6th grade at Bækkegårdsskolen are now indoor climate ambassadors. So are the other students in the student council. Photo: Jakob Erik Grün