STEP Conference 2019 - Kids Promote Improvements to Air Quality
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Citzen Science Programme for Schools by Colin Gillespie
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STEP Conference 2019 - Kids Promote Improvements to Air Quality
- 1. Scottish Environment Protection Agency Citizen Science Programme - schools Colin Gillespie Graham Applegate
- 2. Banners vs Monitors • We have taken two different approaches to the Citizen Science programme 1. Promote – Banner competitions to promote air quality issues 2. Inform – Monitoring at schools to inform of air quality issues 3. Educate – Promoting the use of our free teaching resource • Teamed up with several Local Authorities offering a mix of both approaches to fit in with their activities.
- 3. Schools already participating Additional Local Authorities
- 4. Capturing the creative side… Winner Runners up
- 8. • Looking at anti-idling campaign and smoking • P7 Science project – based on air pollution • Handed out a leaflet
- 9. Sensor Date: 20 – 21 June 2019St Monica’s Primary School, Glasgow Time: 14:43 – 15:11 NO2: 35 µg/m3 (max_ Time: 8:56 NO2: 28 µg/m3 Time from: 18:40 to 21:00 NO2: 32 µg/m3 Detailed minute interval data show’s peaks in NO2 during the day. There are some interesting peaks, such as the very high peak around 14:15 – school bus coming back from George Square. There is a lot of activity at the school from 18:30ish onwards until after 21:00. How you present the data is important… Afternoon Pick-up Morning Drop-off Extended activity around school prom night The same data, but presented as hourly averages. Note the drop in concentrations presented (Max exposure has dropped from 46 µg/m3 NO2 to 17 µg/m3 NO2) We discussed this with the class and they did practical work to show this. The data show’s clearly elevated concentrations of NO2 with afternoon pick-up, the prom and morning drop-off.
- 10. Balfron School’s – Monitoring Case Study • 6th year Geography project • Rural school, high number of pupils bused in • Next to primary school and nursery • Designated bus stops within the school grounds
- 11. Balfron High School & Primary School
- 12. Balfron – Across a School day • Primary school looking at anti-idling campaign with the council • Council promoting cycling across the town • Influencing change in school vehicle procurement Afternoon Pick-up Morning Drop-off
- 13. Nursery pick up St Clare’s Primary School – suburban school with low background Pupils monitor air quality using low-cost sensors Pupils produce banners to illustrate the problems/solutions Engagement with councillors and parents Links to councils cycling strategy Linking to other active travel campaigns
- 14. Morning Drop off Nigh time low levels Afternoon Pick up Morning Drop off Nigh time low levels • Linked to active travel and cycling efficiency week Cross Arthurlie Primary – urban school with higher daytime background
- 15. What else have we done with schools…
- 16. Thanks… Misha Biswas P6C Kirkhill Primary School
Editor's Notes
- You can’t deliver anything meaningful if you work in isolation. SEPA’s success has been through partnership working – see slide. We have used our experience to help deliver the same end message across many different organisations in Scotland – from local authorities and Scottish Government to whole schools and single classrooms. There are many different ways of getting the message out there and it is great to learn from each other, using each others experiences and sharing resources Working in partnership with others really does deliver multiple benefits – each partner can have their own separate goal, its just how you achieve it. One key thing is communication, without that you are shouting to yourself, whilst effective communication can have you shouting to the masses. Link your goals to wider air quality duties, either through helping to implement directly through air quality actions plans or via more indirect routes such as delivering the message for promoting behavioural change.
- You have to think about your audience, who you want to influence and how – this can determine you communication method. SEPA started this journey through a project that looked at the different CS programmes that can be used and how effective they are in relation to air quality. From this we developed our own teaching package, working in partnership with a local authority, local schools (including teachers and pupils) a National Teaching and Learning Centre and the Scottish Governments Education Authority. We also created an academic and industrial partnership to develop our own unique low-cost sensor for the teaching material. The teaching package is aimed at all school ages (hyperlink in the LearnAboutAir image) – with specific sections aimed at primary children and more advanced section for secondary schools, but the key is to allow them to feel part of the experience. There are many ways within education to get the information across, the aim is to learn from others – teachers helped us to develop the material and how to pitch it to the audience ensuring that we covered the key learning outcomes We have used everything from environmental monitoring to classroom study aids and explosive experiments (hyperlink on lab picture to experiment video) To inform and promote benefits we have taken a range of approaches, including an interactive city model where the kids can manipulate traffic to show changes in pollution. However one of the most hard hitting methods to promote change is to allow the kids to monitor their own environment – so we provide low-cost sensors to monitor air pollutants (including NO2 and PM) close to the school at drop off and pick up points (i.e. normally close the school entrance – see photo of kids putting up one of the OLD sensors – we are changing them now). The data is presented in a way that is easily understood, but not misinterpreted. So the data shows elevated levels at key times in the school day (green morning drop off – brown afternoon pick up). The information presented in the package allows the school children to drive change They can then demonstrate to the wider school and community the work that they have done and the results they have found and what they want to do about it.