Air Quality Experiment

Connecting Outdoor Instruction to Innovative Learning Standards

(COIILS)

- Brad Harriman, St. Clair County Regional Superintendent of Schools. . .

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Air Quality Investigation

Developed by Kathy Alt

Edited by: Mike Schneider

*NOTE: The CSV Spreadsheet is a "Test" initiative which allows you to directly download already existing data. Once you download it you must bring it up in Excel and save it as an Excel spreadsheet to be able to add and minipulate the data.

Description: This air quality activity will have the students conduct an experiment to sample and measure the particulate matter in the air at various locations and/or elevations in the schoolyard. This is an activity that can easily be scaled up or down depending upon the grade level. Students will make index card windows and place clear packing tape over them. They will place the cards at various locations in the schoolyard, leaving them for a minimum of a 24-hour period. At the end of this time, they will collect the cards and calculate the particulate matter stuck to the tape.

Grade Levels: 4 - 8 (Note: This experiment can be simplified or made more challenging depending on the developmental levels of your students. See Teacher Information.)

Approximate Time Involved: One 30 minute classroom planning session, one 30 minute setup session, two 45 minute data collection sessions to examine results, state conclusions, draw inferences and make recommendations. NOTE: Cards need to be left outside for a 24-hour period.

Teacher Information:

Particulates in the air vary from location to location within the schoolyard. A card covered with clear packing tape can be used to measure the particulates in the air. Students can see if there is a difference in different areas of the schoolyard as well as different elevations. They can also compare their collected data to other online data.

This should become a team exercise where your student groups might each develop and write a hypothesis, list the materials they would use (the same size card or piece of cardboard should be used so that the data can remain fairly consistent) the number of each item, and a procedure. An excellent way to assess this activity is to have the teams repeat each other's experiment to see if they achieve the same results. This will also replicate the real world challenges facing a research scientist.

Challenging Your Students to Be Problem Solvers:

To make this experiment more challenging to your students, you might want to have them develop their own system for measuring and identifying the particulates collected. You might also ask such questions as: What location in the schoolyard will have the poorest air quality? Will the air quality be poorer at higher levels than lower levels? Does the weather make a difference in air quality? How do the television air quality reports compare with the number of particulates collected? Design and conduct an experiment to measure the particulate air quality of different locations in your schoolyard.

Student Instructions Available to download as a PDF file.

Needed Materials: Index cards (7.5 X 12.5 cm.) or empty photo slides or tag board (enough for each group to have at least 3 collection cards), magnifying glass, clear packing tape, rulers, 5 mm. grid paper, calculators, masking tape, string, or clothespins, scissors, microscope (optional).

Safety Rule: Do not climb trees or other structures to place your cards.

Procedure:

Student Information: The following information will provide you with the steps for setting up your air quality test. It is important to hold all of the variables constant except for those that are being manipulated. Constant (or controlled variables) would be such things as: the size of the collection space, the amount of time the experiment is conducted, the stickiness of the packing tape, etc. Manipulated (or independent) variables would be those things that we change to see if the response will be different, such as: location of the card, height of the card, weather on day of collection, etc. The responding (or dependent) variable for this experiment will be the number and variety of particulates you gather on your cardboard. NOTE: Temperature and wind are variables that will be difficult to control or intentionally manipulate in this experiment. However, from your experiments, you may be able to infer as to whether temperature or wind has any impact on the number and variety of particulates collected. The reporting form for this experiment is set up so that you can determine how many collecting boards you want to put out, where you want to place them, and what elevations you want to use. NOTE: Be sure to leave your collection boards out for a minimum of a twenty-four hour period.

Procedural Steps for Conducting the Investigation

1. Click on the “View Data” link at the Air Quality Investigation web page. Click on “View” in the blank sample listed on the chart. What comes up is the data collection sheet that will be used in this investigation. Print it and place it on your clipboard.
2. Begin by cutting a 3 cm. X 5 cm. rectangle out of the center of your index cards or tag board. Decide how you will measure the particulates collected on your collection cards. NOTE: If you have empty photo slides the hole is already made.
3. Place clear packing tape on one side of the card or slide so the sticky part is exposed through the hole.
4. Choose a location for your collection cards or slides that will not get a lot of human interference for a minimum of a twenty-four hour period.
5. Write your group's name and the location you where will be placing the card or slide, on the back of either the card or the slide.
6. Once you have chosen the location you will be placing the card or slide, decide how you will attach your card or slide to this location (tape, string or clothespins).
7. Attach the cards or slides to the three locations you have chosen in the schoolyard.
8. After a minimum of 24 hours return to your cards and take them down.
9. Place your 5 mm. grid paper on the non-sticky side of the card or slide so that it shows through the packing tape.
9. Using a microscope or magnifying glass, count and calculate the number of particulates in each 5 mm grid for a total area of 3cm2.
9. Be sure to enter all of your collected data onto your printed data collection sheet.
10. After group and classroom discussions have occurred, login to enter your data. online at the correct location. NOTE: Only numbers must be inserted into the spaces provided in order for your Excel spreadsheet to work properly.

11. Once all classroom data is submitted you can download all submitted Air Quality data and develop charts and graphs in Excel by following the general directions provided at "Downloading and Analyzing Collected Data Using an Excel Spreadsheet"

Below is a list of questions that can be used to stimulate student discussions. If your students are at a developmental level where you are able to challenge their higher level thinking skills, then only present them with the first set of questions from each group below. Use the second list of questions as a way to stimulate thinking when you students seem unable to expand their knowledge on their own.

Examining Local Results

Discussion Questions that Require More Critical Thinking Skills:

What were your conclusions for this experiment?
What could your infer based on your conclusions?
What do you think caused the air pollution at the different sites?
How does the television air quality report affect the amount of particulates collected?
How would you design this experiment differently the next time?

Discussion Questions that Require Less Critical Thinking Skills

How many particulates did you find at the different locations?
Were there different types of particulates collected?
If the answer to the above question is "yes", which locations produced different kinds of particulates?
What are some categories we can divide the types of particulates into?
Did the outside temperature have any impact on the number of particulates gathered?
Does the weather have any impact on the number of particulates gathered?

Examining Local and Online Results

Discussion Questions That Will Require Critical Thinking Skills to Compare Local Data to the Online Data of Others

How did your results compare with the results of others?
What conclusions can you make when you compare your results with the results of others?
What inferences can you draw from your additional conclusions?
What changes would you now make in this experiment based on the information you now have?

General Discussion Questions that May Occur as a Result of Comparing Local Data to the Online Data of Others

Where is the geographic location of the schools who have provided online data?
How did the types of particulates you gathered compare with those caught by others?
What external factors may have contributed to different number of particulates being gathered in other locations?
What similarities existed among those schools that gathered the same types and numbers of particulates?

Performance and Multiple Choice Assessment Options

Air Quality/Pollution Links
EPA's Explorer Club This site is designed especially for kids and has a separate section on air.
Scorecard, The Pollution Information Service Check to see how your state rates in the pollution war.
Air Now Homepage This site has incredible access to ozone maps and air quality forecasts.
AirNow Fact Sheet This site provides a lay person's write-up of the revisions to the Air Quality Index.
EPA Homepage At this site, the world of pollution is at your fingertips.
Air Pollution And Exercise Here, you and your students can look at how air pollution can affect the human body.
More links to Schoolyard Habitat Information

Schoolyard Habitat Links Learn more about developing and maintaining schoolyard and backyard habitats by visiting these links.
Copyright, 2005
by Prism Press
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The text of this publication or any part thereof, may not be reproduced or transmitted in any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the authors.

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