Improving our Air Quality

My Students

How clean is the air you breath? The typical American child spends more time indoors than outside, and this is especially true during the school year. With the higher demand on academics schools drastically cut back on recess and free time outdoors.

The U.S.

EPA ranks indoor air pollution among the top five environmental health risks for most Americans. Exposure to indoor pollutants can cause eye and nose irritation, nausea, fatigue, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, impaired memory, and slowed mental processing, and trigger asthma attacks. My school is a low income title one school, with the population predominately African American. African American children have seen the greatest rise in asthma. We have a student population of 504 students with over 15% of these students using inhalers on a daily basis. Inhalers are costly and one must be kept at home and at school. Many of the students have to go without if the parents can not afford to purchase a new one, or they don't have insurance to get one period. Some families even share inhalers between multiple kids at home making the inhaler last less than it was intended for. Asthma is one of the top causes of missed school days.

My Project

I want to help clean up the air quality both inside and outside of the classroom through education and awareness with my students. In our lesson we are going to test the quality of air by measuring the number of air particles from different locations. The students will determine several locations both in and out of the school to test the air quality and make a graph to record the data that we collect. The students will spread Vaseline in a box and hang the box in each location. Every 3 days we will return and take a picture with the iPad using the magnifying lens. The students will use the magnifying glass to count the number of visible particles stuck in the Vaseline and write it on the graph. We will print out the photos to add to our graph. After two weeks we will turn on the classroom air purifier and begin the test again to compare the difference. Notes will be sent home, and signs posted outside asking parents to turn off cars while waiting for students during pick up.

Research shows that students can achieve better test scores when schools improve their indoor air quality.

Students in America miss approximately 14 million school days per year because of asthma and asthma related illnesses. African Americans visit the ER 330 percent more than other races. By raising awareness to school administrators I am hoping they can see the benefit of not overlooking the importance of indoor air quality, even in an era of tight budgets.