- Ian Carroll

Context 

Ian Carroll, Head of Biology at Carine Senior High School , was one of the first teachers to use AirWatch when he helped trial the program in 1996. Ian used AirWatch as the basis for a term's work from 1996 to 1998 in the Year 9 ‘Ecology' course. The course was structured around six activities. Students worked  independently and in groups to complete the activities and produce a final report, which was the main assessment for the term. The course commenced with 2 - 3 weeks of theory where background concepts relating to air, weather and pollution were explored. The group investigations rotated through the following 6 activities: Visual Air Quality (VAQ), NO₂ / Particulates Monitoring, Measuring Winds Aloft, Weather Monitoring, Newspaper Assignment, and Background Research.

Course Structure 

VISUAL AIR QUALITY (Section 4.5)

Students were set the task of assessing VAQ by visiting a reserve 5km from the school that has panoramic views towards Rottnest, Fremantle, Perth City and the hills. Each group did this on one day, recording the visibility of five landmarks and taking photographs. Students then interpreted their observations by relating them to weather information recorded on the schools' weather station, and pollution information from the then Department of Environmental Protection's web site. In their report students had to consider how the VAQ would change throughout the day. Each group was required to find a parent volunteer to take them to the site and supervise the field work.

NO₂ / Particiulates Monitoring (Sections 5.2 and 4.4)

Each group used the Pollution Monitoring Equipment for a week collecting samples of NO₂ and particulates. They were required to set up the equipment at a location of their choice. Sites included near the freeway, around the school, close to petrol stations, near land development sites and in parklands. The NO 2 samples were stored until there were sufficient for the technician to produce the reagents to analyse. Ian believes that the laboratory work of washing equipment, pipetting the reagent and taking the readings develops good technical skills. The students submitted their results to the AirWatch web page.

Measuring Winds Aloft (Section 3.6)

Each group measured the elevation and azimuth of a tethered balloon on the school oval, then entered their data into a CSIRO program that calculated wind speed and direction at different heights and gave a trajectory report. Students were asked to relate this information to the movement of pollutants in the local area. Ian commented that this activity can be problematic, as if the wind is too strong the balloon and tether end up in trees at the side of the oval, so getting relatively calm conditions that coincided with the Biology period was often difficult.

Weather Monitoring

Students were set a task that involved getting data from the schools' automated weather station, comparing the current year to previous years and explaining how wind direction affects the climate at Carine. It was designed to give students a better understanding of the factors that affect weather and to give students confidence in using the computer program that runs the weather station. In doing this students were required to create and interpret graphs.

Newspaper Assignment

Over the course of the term groups were required to monitor the newspaper for information on and issues related to air quality. Students collected the pollution reports that appear on the weather page of the West Australian. They also kept an eye out for reports on social impacts of air pollution, advertisements for jobs or products (eg room de-ionisers), or ideas on how we can take action on looking after the air.

Conclusion 

Ian continued with this course for a number of years. After developing it in the school he hoped other teachers would continue it. This didn't happen as the other teachers' interests lay elsewhere. For Ian the strengths of AirWatch are: “it is topical, the experiments work and it has a wide range of activities suited to various ability groups”. However, running the course as Ian did in 1996 - 98 relies on a lot of parental involvement and off-school field work. Doing this is far more difficult now with the greater restrictions due to legal issues.

Currently Ian uses ‘bits and pieces' of AirWatch in the Year 10 Biological Field Studies unit. This includes the ‘Healthy Home' survey (Section 7.2) and the NO₂ / Particulates monitoring. Ian also uses the Australian Greenhouse calculator that the Victorian EPA developed to engage students in air quality issues. The calculator looks at students' own households and allows you to compare your emissions with others in the class, the Australian average, and an optimum “Green” level of emissions. To get the calculator see www.epa.vic.gov.au/GreenhouseCalculator/calculator/default.asp