Ergonomics Anthropometry Thermal Comfort Visual Comfort Acoustical Comfort

1. ERGONOMICS
MARIELLE MARIZ P. GAZA

2. ERGONOMICS
- A science that deals with
designing and arranging things so
that people can use easily and
safely.

3. - Pertains to the laws or theories of
energy expenditure.
- It involves the study of the efficiency of
persons in their working environment, which is
most conducive to the efficient performance of
teaching-learning tasks.

4. - The educational facilities involves such
factors as anthropometry, thermal
comfort, visual comfort, acoustical
comfort, color, and safety.

5. ANTHROPOMETRY

6. -A science of measuring the human body,
its parts and functional capabilities.
ANTHROPOMETRY

7. -An important principle in the ergonomics of
the educational facilities is that it shall be
designed and scaled to fit the sizes of their
users on the basis of their part-body
measurements.

8. TYPESOFPART-BODYMEASUREMENTS
1. Static Measurements
2. Dynamic Measurements

9. 1. Static Measurements
These are measurements based purely on the
dimensions of body parts, namely:
(1) Lower leg (from heel to the popliteus)
(2) Upper leg (from popliteus to back of
buttock)
(3) Hip-width

10. (4) Shoulder-width
(5) Height of elbow (standing and seated)
(6) Thickness of thigh (seated)
(7) Eye-height (seated and standing)

11. 2. Dynamic Measurements
These are measurements based on what can be
performed, namely:
(1) Forward reach of the arms
(2) Upper reach of the arms
(3) Lower reach of the arms
(4) Height of hand

12. Methods in Taking Part-Body Measurements
a. Measuring actually each of the whole
range of part-body dimensions.
b. Measuring only the standing height and
then deducing the part-body
measurements from it by using a system of
proportion which relates part-body
measurements to standing height.

13. Procedure in Taking Part-Body
Measurements
a. Select a sample of children
b. For method 1 (Static Measurements), use a
sample for each part-body measurement. For
method 2 (Dynamic Measurements), use a
sample or standing height from which the part-
body measurements are to be deduced.

14. c. Determine the number of children to be
measured by category, each category being
usually an age-group.
d. Take the part-body measurements or
compute according to the method used.
e. Classify and tabulate the data then the
average by age-group and/or sex-group.

15. THERMAL COMFORT

16. THERMAL COMFORT
- To be thermally comfortable, the internal
climate in the school shall be cool, pleasant,
and satisfying.
- Thermal comfort in the school is obtained
either by artificial means (electric fan, air
conditioner, etc.) or by natural ventilation.

17. Thermal comfort by natural ventilation
maybe obtained in the following ways:
1. Proper orientation of school buildings to
minimize solar heat loads, that is, building ends
shall face approximately the east-west direction
and its long sides along the north-south
direction to avoid direct sunlight.

18. 2. Designing school buildings with wide
overhanging eaves to provide shade and
promote air motion inside the buildings.
3. Keeping buildings as narrow as possible so
that breezes can blow through the rooms easily
from one side of the building to the other.
4. Providing adequate fenestration to allow
the maximum amount of wind to blow
through the building.

19. 5. Planting trees with a large foliage mass
along the sides of the building to promote air
motion inside the building. Distance of the
trees from the building shall be specified, not
too close to affect air circulation, nor later on to
destroy the building foundation by their roots.

20. VISUALCOMFORT
1. Quantity of Light
2. How to Achieve Visual Comfort in School
by Natural Daylight

21. Visual comfort in school is indicated when
pupils/students and teachers can carry on
classroom work without unnecessarily straining
their eyes or experiencing visual discomfort.
Good lighting, whether by natural daylight or
artificial light, is characterized by the quantity
and quality of illumination.

22. 1. Quantity of Light
a. For a standard classroom in general, a minimum
illumination level of 10 foot candles is considered
normally sufficient. Research has shown no significant
increase in visual acuity with the increase of foot
candles above the 10-footcandle standard.
b. For most tasks common to schoolrooms,
intensities of from 20 to 40 foot candles are
considered practical and satisfactory.

23. c. For finer classroom tasks which need brighter light, the
following illumination levels on the surface of the tasks are
recommended:
Reading printed materials 30 foot candles
Reading pencil writing 70 foot candles
Reading good duplicated materials 30 foot candles
Reading poor duplicated materials 100 foot candles
Lip reading, sewing 150 foot candles

24. d. In terms of watt, four (4) 40-watt/six (6) 40-watt, or
eight (8) 40-watt fluorescent lamps are sufficient standard
requirement to achieve visual acuity.
Generally, however, the quantity of light in a classroom
depends on the following conditions:
(1) natural illumination (design and size of windows)

25. (3) types of building (one storey or two-storey)
(4) climatic conditions
(5) ceiling height
(2) condition of the classroom (as to the paint
and size)

26. 2. How to Achieve Visual Comfort in School by Natural
Daylight:
a. Following proper orientation of school buildings
to provide adequate indirect daylight for the
classrooms;
b. Using bilateral fenestration (or providing
windows on both sides of each classroom) to
secure daylight from both left and right sides of the
classroom;

27. c. Making classroom windows wide, low-silled, and
high-topped to insure maximum daylight illumination;
d. Using proper combination and intensity of colors
in classrooms and on facilities to provide proper
brightness- contrast;
e. Providing proper shading to avoid glare inside the
classrooms; and

28. f. Size of classroom (as to distance of blackboard up
to the low row seat).
Natural day lighting shall be preferred as
recommended by the Philippine Green Building Council
(PhilGBC). Artificial day lighting is only a back-up for
cloudy or overcast sky conditions. Visual comfort by
natural daylight may be achieved by specifying minimum
and maximum height ratio to floor area depth.

29. ACOUSTICALCOMFORT
1. Sources of Sounds
2. Ways of Achieving Acoustic Comfort
3. Desirable Aural Environment

30. A good environment for acoustical comfort in school
requires that noise be controlled to proper levels so
that every child in a class can hear clearly what is
being spoken by the teacher above all other sounds
inside and outside a classroom.
ACOUSTICAL COMFORT

31. 1. Sources of Sounds
The sounds that a pupil hears simultaneously inside
a classroom usually come from four (4) sources:
a. The voice of his own teacher;
b. Background sounds in his own
classroom, such as chairs scrapping, sounds
of movement from nearby children, etc.;

32. c. Intrusive sounds from adjoining classrooms,
such as voices of other teachers and
pupils/students, sounds of activities of children,
etc.; and
d. External sounds from outside the building,
such as vehicles, airplanes, birds chirping, dogs
barking, etc.

33. 2. Ways of Achieving Acoustic Comfort
Acoustic comfort in school may be achieved by:
a. Locating the school in a quiet
neighborhood;
b. Locating the school building at a
reasonable distance from the street;

34. c. Proper zoning of the school site to separate
noisy areas from those where silence is required;
and
d. Grouping buildings according to function so
that academic buildings, where silence is required,
are located at a reasonable distance from shop,
home economics, and other buildings where noisy
activities take place normally.

35. 3. Desirable Aural Environment
Inside the classroom, the desirable aural environment maybe provided as
follows:
a. Arranging the seats in such a way that no pupil is more
than seven meters away from the teacher standing in
front of the room; and
b. Where classrooms both face a common partition/back
to back on either side, partition shall be up to the ceiling, if
possible, double walled to avoid the noise from disturbing
any of the classrooms.