Hot weather lowers exam results. A major study from three universities in the USA says heat may reduce learning in the short and long term. Hot weather on test days, and higher than average yearly temperatures lowered grades. Researchers looked at how the weather affected test scores from 10 million American students. Findings showed that a temperature rise of just 0.55ºC over one year led to a one per cent decrease in learning.
The research paper is called "Heat and Learning". It was published last month. A worrying conclusion in the study is that global warming may affect the future income of students around the world. Researchers said that if global temperatures continued to rise, the average American student could lose $25,000 because of lower test scores. Air conditioning in classrooms could stop this. Hotter weather was "particularly damaging" for poorer students.