Data centers, air pollution, climate math: Lessons from a climate and education conference

“PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Students who attend schools near data centers are more likely to see their math performance decline than those who don’t. Attending school near noisy airports is also associated with declines in math scores. After participating in a math lesson incorporating information on renewable energy, U.S. students were more likely to say they knew about climate change and felt some hope about combating it. Children in India who learned about air pollution in arts lessons were more likely to understand the environmental problem, but not necessarily to change their behavior in ways that might alleviate it. Those were among the research findings, many of them preliminary, discussed at a conference I attended last week on climate change and education organized by SustainableED , a Brown University program. It was started last year by Matthew Kraft, an education and economics professor, to support research on schools, learning and climate change — and get that work in front of policymakers. At the event, Kraft said it was important to expand the conversation around climate change by connecting it to other issues people care about — such as students’ health, their success in school, and their “sense of community and belonging.” “We can talk about it in terms of dollars and cents, and operational expenditures, and potential savings,” he added. “We can talk about it in terms of operational performance, keeping school buildings open and functioning.” Here are some research highlights and other takeaways from the conference: Universal schooling is climate policy , according to Harry Patrinos, a professor at the University of Arkansas, who presented research on whether schooling drives pro-environmental behavior. His review of existing studies, including on the effects of compulsory education laws in Europe, suggest that people who spent an additional year in school were more likely to be aware and concerned about climate change and to align themselves with green political parties. Math scores for students in schools within a mile of data centers declined more than for students in schools between one and two miles away, according to Samantha Kane, a postdoctoral research associate at Brown. Her preliminary findings suggest that there is a statistically significant drop in the math scores of third graders who attend schools near the centers, which emit harmful pollutants linked to asthma and other health problems. Children in schools near more than one data center saw even sharper declines. It’s not just air pollution — noise pollution was also associated with declines in math scores , according to research by Josh Aarons, a doctoral student at the University of California San Diego. He looked at schools in “noise corridors” near the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and found that the math scores of students there saw a significant decrease. That suggests schools need to invest in noise insulation in classrooms, he said. Even relatively small doses of instruction can increase students’ understanding and sense of hope around climate issues. The study in India, a randomized control trial, found that after just three, 60-minute lessons, students were more likely to understand air pollution issues, according to Ashutosh Bhuradia, a Ph.D. candidate at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education. After participating in several roughly 60-minute climate-related lessons in one of four subject areas — art , algebra , English and science — students said they knew more about climate change and had a greater sense of purpose around climate action, according to research presented by Margaret Wang, a cofounder of SubjecttoClimate, which connects teachers with climate lessons. Prompting students to change their behavior is possible too, though it may be harder to achieve. Students in Bhuradia’s study were no less likely to take a climate-related action — in this case, to choose an environmentally friendly incense instead of a regular one, and to donate to a classroom “clean air fund” — after participating in the lessons. In the study from Wang, though, participating students did report a greater willingness to take actions like buying energy-saving lightbulbs, washing clothes at lower temperatures, and writing to elected officials. Sixty of the nation’s 200 largest school districts have adopted environmental and sustainability policies , compared with 51 in 2020, according to Carine Verschueren, a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Illinois-Urbana Champaign. A growing share of the policies discuss climate change and climate justice, often because of activism from students, whose role was mentioned in many of the documents, Verschueren said. School districts were motivated to adopt the policies for a variety of reasons — including conserving resources, promoting student and staff health, saving money and empowering students. Contact editor Caroline Preston at 212-870-8965, via Signal at CarolineP.83 or on email at preston@hechingerreport.org. This story about climate education in schools was produced by The Hechinger Report , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for Hechinger’s climate change newsletter . 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