Does my journey to school affect the air I breathe?
During the academic year 2020/21 pupils at thirteen primary and secondary schools around Abingdon, Oxfordshire monitored air quality and made weather observations using equipment purchased with a Royal Society of Chemistry Schools Outreach Grant.
By Jeremy Thomas
Diffusion tubes measuring monthly average nitrogen dioxide were deployed at eleven of the schools and particulate matter (PM) sensors driven by Raspberry Pi microcomputers were installed successfully at five schools. The project was coordinated by the Abingdon Science Partnership, which is funded by Abingdon School.
The project was conceived during the first COVID-19 lockdown in the spring of 2020 when improvements in air quality were in the news. The two teachers who planned the project are also members of the organising committee of Abingdon's ATOM Festival of Science and Technology. Jeremy Thomas is the Science Partnership Lead for Abingdon School in Partnership and Holly Irving is Science and Eco Coordinator at Caldecott Primary School. At the time, Jeremy and Holly were looking for a theme for the ATOM Festival’s annual Schools Science Fair, which has been a highlight for a number of years and has engaged hundreds of local school children in learning about science and communicating it to others. Previous science fairs had involved pupil teams in engaging with the work of local scientists on a particular topic, such as earth observation or nuclear fusion, but doing their own monitoring of air quality allowed them to carry out hands on measurements and investigations which were not simply based on other people's research.
Some initial research revealed that several previous school-based air quality projects had been carried out in large urban areas but not in smaller market towns like Abingdon. The Royal Society of Chemistry’s Schools Outreach Awards were a very attractive source of funding as they would allow the purchase of a significant amount of equipment for each participating school. A successful proposal was submitted supported by members of the Environmental Chemistry Group, particularly Dr Rowena Fletcher-Wood, environmental chemist and science communication consultant, and Dr Zoë Fleming an atmospheric chemist at the University of Chile. Zoë was able to provide a particularly inspiring role model for pupils, connecting with them a number of times by video link from Chile, when she answered questions relating to the project and also explained alternative career options in chemistry which don’t always involve lab coats and glassware.
The 2020–21 project has demonstrated the feasibility of a network of schools being used as sites for air quality measurement and of the value of engaging pupils in a hands-on environmental investigation of direct relevance to their local community. Pandemic related restrictions led to several modifications of the initial project plan, most notably the inability to hold a Schools Science Fair during this academic year. However, most schools continued to make measurements and some engaged their pupils in data analysis and remote submission of projects which were then judged and awarded prizes by members of the Abingdon ATOM Festival Committee. The project will definitely continue for a second year, with only two schools withdrawing and others having already been found to replace them. Additional funding is only needed for the diffusion tube network and this has already been secured through DPDgroup UK Ltd’s Green Fund for community projects. The experience gained so far will lead to improved pupil involvement in data gathering, more data analysis based on the first year’s results and, hopefully, a full exhibition of the pupils’ findings at the ATOM Festival Schools Science Fair 2022 provided pandemic restrictions have ended by then!
Ref:
R. Vecchi, G. Marcazzan, G. Valli (2007), A study on nighttime–daytime PM10 concentration and elemental composition in relation to atmospheric dispersion in the urban area of Milan (Italy), Atmospheric Environment 41 (2007) 2136–2144
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