- Jeff Menglar, Year 9 Environmental Science

Context

Applecross Senior High School used AirWatch for the first time in 2003 as part of their core Year 9 science course. Applecross's Year 9 Science program consisted of four units over the year; Ecology, Chemistry, Using Energy (Physics) and Environmental Science. The Environmental Science component addressed outcomes in the ‘Earth and Beyond' strand, and air quality along with soil was studied in this unit. Jeff chose ‘AirWatch' as it gave them the opportunity (for the first time) to study local air quality, in the past topics to do with the air tended to be general atmospheric studies looking at global issues such as the greenhouse effect, the ozone layer and acid rain. Each class had four hours of science per week, and Jeff devised a ten-lesson program on air quality, so it ran for just over two weeks. Nine classes completed the unit in the second half of Term 2, 2003.

Course Structure

The first two lessons centred on background work on the composition of the air, the atmosphere, air pollutants and factors affecting pollution. AirWatch resources included; the ‘Student Survey' (Section 2.1), ‘Our Views' (Section 2.2), library and internet research on pollutants (Section 2.3), ‘Air Pollution Factors' (Section 2.5) and ‘Inversions' (Section 3.4). Jeff supplemented the AirWatch manual with ‘Fundamentals of Science' Book 2.

Investigating Particulate Haze 

The course then looked at Haze and particulates, with the teacher demonstrating activity 4.1 (it is listed erroneously as 5.1 in the manual), burning material in a container and then covering the fire to create incomplete combustion - simulating incorrect wood heater use.

Students were set an at home investigation task, which could be either:

• Particle collector (Section 4.2)
• Car exhausts (Section 4.3)
• Visual Air Quality (Section 4.5) - it was recommended that only students who have digital cameras do this one
• Dust mites (Section 7.4).

This investigation was a major assignment for the course and done over the 2 weeks of the course. Jeff's class produced some high quality work with interesting results. The only disappointing results were from the Dust Mites activity, with very few dust mites being collected despite the tape being placed in suitable places such as mattresses, pillows, and carpets. Jeff suspects that as it was done in late June, one of the coldest times of year, the mites may not have been so active - perhaps the sticky tape contained a substance that repelled the mites?? (If anyone has any suggestions please let me know).

Jeff hired the AirWatch pollution monitoring kit (Section 4.4) and sampled for particulates in the school grounds, the sampling picked up some particulates and levels were relatively low overall. Students conducted research into smoke and woodheater use (Section 4.6). They also investigated the structure of the human respiratory system and looked at the effect of particles on health (Section 4.7).

Looking At Cars and Smog

The next part of the course looked at cars and smog, investigating how photochemical smog forms in WA and the pollution monitoring kit was used to sample for NO₂ levels. Again relatively low levels of NO₂ were found. While Jeff's class didn't have any problems some of the year 9's found the calculations to determine concentration too difficult. AirWatch activities included sections 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5. How and why families used their cars was also investigated.

Indoor Air Quality and Allergens

Indoor air and allergens (the ‘Healthy Home' survey, section 7.2, was done at home) and toxic air pollutants formed the last lessons (sections 7.3, 7.7 and 7.8) along with a comparison of diffuse and point source pollution, and a look at how concentration depends on various factors in the environment.

Conclusion

The course concluded with a jigsaw activity with students presenting the results of the home investigations and then considering “What can we do about pollution?' (section 8.3). Formal assessment was of the home investigation assignment and finally a multiple choice test, with teachers choosing 20 of the 32 test questions (section 9.4) as appropriate.

Overall Jeff was happy with how the course went and they will continue with it next year (although possibly in a different unit at a different time of year). Of the nine classes that did the course around half did not use the monitoring equipment, partly because there were a couple of weeks of continual wet weather which didn't allow for outside work, and partly because some teachers were unfamiliar with the equipment and lacked time to familiarise themselves with it. The laboratory technician who prepared the equipment found everything easy to use and instructions on preparing reagents clear and practical (Section 9.5).