In years with hotter weather pupils are likely to perform less well in exams, says a major study from researchers at Harvard and other U.S. universities.

There is a “significant” link between higher temperatures and lower school achievement, say economic researchers.

An analysis of test scores of 10 million U.S. secondary school students over 13 years shows hot weather has a negative impact on results.

The study says a practical response could be to use more air conditioning.

Students taking exams in a summer heatwave might have always complained that they were hampered by the sweltering weather.

But this study, from academics at Harvard, the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) and Georgia State University, claims to have produced the first clear evidence showing that when temperatures go up, school performance goes down.

Researchers have tracked how secondary school students performed in tests in different years, between 2001 and 2014, across the different climates and weather patterns within the United States.

The study, published by the U.S. National Bureau of Economic Research, found that students were more likely to have lower scores in years with higher temperatures and better results in cooler years.

This applied across the many different types of climate — whether in cooler northern U.S. states or in the southern states where temperatures are typically much higher.

The study, Heat and Learning, suggested that hotter weather made it harder to study in school and to concentrate on homework out of school.

Researchers calculated that for every 0.55-degree-Celsius increase in average temperature over the year, there was a 1 percent fall in learning.

Colder days did not seem to damage achievement — but the negative impact began to be measurable as temperatures rose above 21 degrees Celsius.

The reduction in learning accelerated once temperatures rose above 32 degrees and even more so above 38 degrees.

Joshua Goodman, associate professor at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and his co-authors provide evidence that the “heat’s disruption of instruction or homework time is responsible for the observed drop in test scores.”

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【妨碍】fáng’ài hamper limit the effect or full exercise of

【酷热的】kùrè de sweltering characterized by oppressive heat

哈佛等美国大学的研究人员开展的大型研究指出，在天气炎热的年份，学生们的考试成绩会变差。

这些经济学研究员称，高温天气和考试成绩下降之间有“重大”关联。

这项研究在分析了1000万名美国中学生13年间的考试成绩后发现，炎热天气对考试成绩有负面影响。

研究指出，比较实际的应对措施就是多开空调。

在酷暑天考试的学生可能总是抱怨考不好是因为天太热。

哈佛大学、加州大学洛杉矶分校和乔治亚州立大学的学者开展的这项研究声称，首次有明显证据表明，气温升高时，学生考试成绩会下降。

研究人员追踪了2001年到2014年间这些中学生在不同年份的考试成绩，这些中学位于美国不同的气候带，天气模式也不同。

美国国家经济研究局发布的这项研究发现，气温高的年份里学生的考试成绩更差，而天气凉爽的年份里学生的考试成绩更好。

这一结论适用于美国不同气候带的学校，无论是在凉爽一些的北部州，还是在气温通常高得多的南部州。这项名为“高温与学习”的研究指出，天热的时候，学生在学校上课更困难，在校外做作业时也更难以集中注意力。

根据研究人员的计算，一年的平均气温每升高0.55摄氏度，学习成绩就会下降1%。

冷天似乎不会影响学习成绩，但是当气温升到21摄氏度以上时，负面影响就开始显现。

一旦气温升到32摄氏度以上，学习成绩的下滑速度就加快，气温升到38度以上后更是如此。

哈佛大学肯尼迪政府学院的副教授乔舒亚·古德曼和他的合著者提出了证据，证明“高温对上课和作业时间的影响导致了考试成绩的明显下降”。(Chinadaily.com.cn)