Using the UK Air quality archive in Primary Schools

Air quality and climate change are two of the most pressing issues in the 21st century. In the U.K. the impact of air pollution in urban areas in particular on children is well known. The youngest children e.g. those attending primary school in the U.K. (aged between 4-11) are often those who are affected most by air pollution, given their height relative to vehicle pollution sources and the physical development they experience during primary school. However, primary school children, their teachers and other stakeholders of their school often feel helpless to alter their own exposure, either through using 'cleaner' routes to school or by understanding how to reduce air pollution levels in their vicinity. The U.K. Air Quality Archive is one of the most comprehensive archives of pollutant data in the world. It contains some 400 million datapoints and has extensive geographical and temporal coverage, dating back even to the 1970s. The pollutants measured are mainly of primary origin, i.e. they are directly emitted by pollution sources, but does also contain data from secondary sources such as ozone. It is mistakenly assumed that primary school children are incapable of stepping up to engage in science investigations but this is not true. What is true is that their teachers are not empowered with information, resources and training to hep to guide these young learners who are extremely curious about the world around them and for many are acutely aware of the problems of air pollution and their impacts on health. The Primary Science Teaching Trust are a U.K. based charity that support the teaching of science at primary school level through a wide range of ways. Most notably, PSTT run the Primary Science Teacher of the Year Award and those teachers that win this award are inducted as Fellows to the PSTT virtual College. These outstanding teachers of science at primary school level have initiated and run numerous projects that use the Outdoor classroom and some have utilized a wide range of low-cost sensors. PSTT now employ some of these Fellows on a full-time and part-time basis and the plan with this short 4 month project is to bring these outstanding teachers together with air quality researchers at the University of Bristol to explore the database. The group will then devise investigations suitable for key stage 2 (upper and lower), children that are 7-11 years of age, using data from the database, prepare datasets that schools can use with resources but also guide teachers in how to use the database. In addition, the PSTT Fellows involved will disseminate these resources to other Fellows and schools that they work with during the course of the project and will continue to work on this project when it ceases in April 2020. Therefore, there will be the start of an on-going project with primary schools. The database and its investigations will help this group to understand the sources of pollution, to determine clean and polluted routes to and from school and who knows, these young researchers may uncover some interesting features of these data that have been overlooked. Empowering this group with the ability to investigate for themselves will raise aspirations, allow this cohort, who will have to deal with these issues for the rest of their lives, to understand the problems from a young age and to help them devise ways to alleviate their exposure and reduce pollution levels. Resources developed will be freely available from the PSTT website and further training for teachers will be available through the PSTT Regional Mentor programme, that supports full-time Fellows to work with schools in their region.

The U.K. air quality archive consists of some 400 million data points and is one of the most comprehensive in the world. Data on key primary pollutants such as nitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, particulate matter and a wide range of volatile organic compounds such as benzene on the hour timescale from a wide range of monitoring stations across the U.K., characterized by their proximity to pollution sources (e.g. kerbside, urban background, suburban etc.) provides an extremely rich data set to explore. Coupled with measurements of secondary pollutants such as ozone and in some locations metals and other pollutants, exploring local to regional air quality through these data is an excellent way to understand what causes air pollution and gain understanding on how to reduce it. This project brings together atmospheric scientists who research this very data set on a regular basis with world leading teachers who are expert at teaching science at primary school level in the U.K. (children aged 4-11). Working together, these two groups will devise investigations using these data and pre-prepared data sets and provide background information that is written at an appropriate level so that U.K. primary schools can start to utilize this amazing resource. The Primary Science Teaching Trust will support this activity by providing and supporting these outstanding teachers and develop this project further once this pilot is complete.

Who might benefit from this research:

A wide range of stakeholders will benefit from this project, including primary school children, their teachers and the primary school stakeholders such as parents, governors and Councillors. A wide range of scientists, engineers and medical professionals will benefit from this research. Policy developers and the general public will also benefit from this work.

How they might benefit from this research:

The project will highlight the data held in the U.K. air quality archive, using outstanding science teachers at primary school working with air quality researchers we will develop a range of resources that will help primary schools to engage with the archive to undertake investigations on prepared datasets but also to guide them on how to search the archive and carry out their own investigations. First, the interactions will build links between primary schools and the research community and these links can be used by other research groups. Second, it will open the dataset up for other stakeholders through the PSTT website. Third, it will allow the many academic beneficiaries noted in that section of this proposal to see how the archive could be used and how they may interact with user groups.