The amount of time people spend inside buildings is significant. Indoor environment quality deficiencies in some of these buildings may affect the health of its users. Therefore, a systematic literature review has been conducted to assess the quality of indoor environments in existing buildings in Latin America. The objectives of this review are (1) identifying countries and building types whose indoor environment quality has been analyzed the most, (2) identifying most used evaluation strategies, (3) identifying comfort types and most evaluated variables, and (4) determining whether or not Latin American buildings are comfortable and what local factors contribute to that effect. From the 100 selected papers for this analysis, it was noted that Brazil and Argentina led the studies on residences and schools. It was also noted that hygrothermal comfort was the most analyzed comfort type, with temperature and humidity leading the number of studies. Finally, this review shows a lack of studies including buildings whose users are sensitive to indoor environmental quality, such as nurseries, senior homes, or health facilities. Additionally, there is a sustained discrepancy between objective measuring methods and user perception. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of 88 buildings shows that in Latin America, 67.5% of buildings are uncomfortable; thus, it is necessary to improve the designs and regulatory standards, to educate users, and to improve building monitoring management at the operational stage.

Este estudio desarrolla una metodología de aprendizaje colaborativo que permite reutilizar residuos generados en la academia, sin comprometer los objetivos de aprendizaje, y fomentar en los estudiantes una actitud medioambiental responsable. La metodología tiene cinco subsecciones: 1) identificación de cursos que generan residuos físicos en los programas curriculares vigentes; 2) análisis de la factibilidad técnica de la reutilización de los desechos identificados; 3) diseño de la propuesta de intervención; 4) implementación de la metodología; y 5) evaluación de la metodología. Los resultados muestran que el aprendizaje colaborativo permite a los estudiantes de primer año aprender de la experiencia y conocimiento de estudiantes de los últimos años, impulsando una carga cognitiva mayor y más eficaz que el aprendizaje individual. Adicionalmente, se logró reutilizar el 80% de residuos generados en actividades prácticas de docencia. Se concluye que la metodología implementada concientiza a los estudiantes sobre problemáticas medioambientales (residuos) a los que se verán enfrentados cuando ya sean profesionales.