Relationship between traffic-related air pollution, greenery and academic performance of elementary school students
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111325
Commentary
This study investigates the relationship between environment and children's cognitive development and academic performance. It is generally believed that it is desirable to have greenery/green spaces around schools for raising children, and some people also believe that less traffic-related air pollution (TRAP) is desirable. This study aimed to examine the pathways between both those exposures and academic performance, and to assess the associations between greenery, road traffic density surrounding elementary school (elementary schools) (a proxy for TRAP), and academic performance of elementary school children in Melbourne, Australia.
The study was conducted as a cross-sectional survey and examined the average academic performance of elementary school in Greater Melbourne (n = 851) in Years 3 and 5.
Scores are from the five domains of the 2018 National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN).' They were 'writing'; 'spelling'; 'grammar and punctuation' and 'computational skills'. Greenery was measured within the school boundary and within the surrounding Euclidean buffer (100, 300, 1000, and 2000 m) using the Normalized Vegetation Index (NDVI).
As a result, Green was positively correlated with reading scores in Year 3 (all buffers except 2000 m) and Year 5, computational skills in Years 3 and 5, and grammar and punctuation in Year 5; WRD was inversely correlated with reading scores in Year 5, computational skills in Years 3 and 5, and grammar and punctuation in Year 3. was inversely correlated with However, distance to a major road was not associated with any of the scores. TRAP partially mediated the association between green within 300 m and computational ability in Year 3, grammar and punctuation in Year 5, and green within 2000 m in Year 5 reading.
From these results, the conclusion was that greenery around elementary school was positively associated with scores in reading, computational ability, and grammar and punctuation, and that TRAP mediated some of the associations.
