Desk Cleaning · Seán O'Sullivan

Summary/Abstract

The aim of our project was to investigate the effectiveness of cleaning protocols being carried out in our school in response to the threat of Covid-19. In this project we designed and carried out several experiments, surveys and observed behaviours in order to examine how extensive and effective the cleaning protocols in our schools are. From the results of our experiments, surveys and observations we aimed to compare the effectiveness of cleaning routines throughout our school, with added analysis for different age groups and gender. In this study we used a mixed methods approach which involved:

1. The scientific analysis of desks for touch areas and cleaning effectiveness.
Student desks were analysed under UV light, after being used by students with Glo Germ powder on their hands. This provided us with scientific data in relation to the % of desk area touched by students. 106 Student desks were analysed under UV light, after students cleaned their desks with Glo Germ in the cleaning solution. These desks were photographed, cropped and a digital grid was applied to allow for accurate analysis.
2. Teacher and Student surveys to get their opinions in relation to the COVID-19 virus and cleaning procedures.
A total of 26 teachers and 180 students were surveyed to find out their attitudes in relation to the COVID-19 virus and their beliefs relating to the cleaning procedures being used in school.
3. Observed behaviours in relation to desk cleaning in general.
In this study we also observed student behaviours in relation to the cleaning of desks. This data aided us in the analysis of the cleaning experiment data as we had a better understanding of student behaviours. All Students cleaned their desk's internal area more than the perimeter.

Key Findings

A number of key findings were made.

This study confirms that it is vital to clean all areas of the desk as the data confirms that all areas, the middle and perimeter are consistently touched. Behaviour observed also confirms this.
Students believe they are cleaning more effectively than experiments indicate.
Girls are overall cleaning better than boys.
Senior students clean better than junior students.
The junior's cleaning effectiveness was relatively poor as discovered through the analysis of the desk cleaning data. Interestingly this was confirmed by their own beliefs expressed in the Student survey. Focusing specifically on two groups of Junior students. Our study found that training alone did not improve students' cleaning effectiveness. The constant reinforcement of correct cleaning protocol from teachers significantly improved the effectiveness of cleaning among one of the study classes, with a 46% increase in desk cleaning effectiveness (measured by area) overall. The second class who received no reinforcement made no visible improvements in their cleaning effectiveness. This is a key finding of our study. We have created an instructional video to support schools and teachers in training students, reinforcing the key points in this area.

A recent development in the spread of Covid-19 is that a new variant of the disease has been identified. The new variant is said to be 70% more transmissible than the previous dominant strain. This means that effective cleaning of desks in the classroom will be vital in the start of the new term. We are planning to develop a complete cleaning instruction booklet to make available to all schools as a partner product to our instructional video.

Conclusion

My friend and I presented this research at the BT Young Scientist and Technologist exhibition 2021, and we were fortunate enough to place first in our category, group-junior-chemical-and-physical-sciences, and be awarded the Irish Research Council special award. ▣