3.5 Community Connection
A Breath of Fresh Air
Embedded Files
What to expect
In this activity we're going to explore the buildings in our community that have purposes that are valuable to the people in our neighborhoods (these are called assets) and the air quality around those assets. When we talk about air quality we are usually talking about 6 common air pollutants: ground level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, lead, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. If you have asthma ground level ozone and particulate matter are big triggers for asthma attacks. You're going to document the assets in your neighborhood and the air quality around them in order to share that data with your partner community based organization. What ideas do you have for taking action on air quality?
Connections
Chicago has many community driven projects that have students, grandmas, and neighbors out collecting air quality data. Chicago has sensors in neighborhoods in partnerships with government organizations. And now, it has you! You've been gathering air quality data with your micro:bit and AQ board and you're going to gather some more at specific sites around your school or neighborhood. MAPSCorps is a project at Northwestern University that has students gathering social and environmental data around south and westside neighborhoods and we're going to use their codes to classify the types of assets in our neighborhoods. Then, we're going to document the air pollutants around them and share the data with our community organization partners.
When air quality is bad, what are the pollutants in the air and what do they do to people?
Air Pollutants
Air Pollutants
Ozone can be “good” or “bad” for health and the environment depending on where it’s found in the atmosphere. Ground-level ozone is “bad” because it can trigger a variety of health problems, particularly for children, the elderly, and people of all ages who have lung diseases such as asthma Source: EPA
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that can be harmful when inhaled in large amounts. CO is released when something is burned. A variety of items in your home such as unvented kerosene and gas space heaters, leaking chimneys and furnaces, and gas stoves also release CO and can affect air quality indoors Source: EPA
Sulfur oxides, especially SO2 can harm the human respiratory system and make breathing difficult. People with asthma, particularly children, are sensitive to these effects of SO2. SO2 in the air can also lead to the formation of other sulfur oxides (SOx). Source: EPA
Nitrogen oxides are highly reactive gases that include nitrous acid and nitric acid. NO2 is used as the indicator for the larger group of nitrogen oxides.NO2 primarily gets in the air from the burning of fuel. NO2 forms from emissions from cars, trucks and buses, power plants, and off-road equipment Source: EPA
Particulate matter is a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Some particles, such as dust, dirt, soot, or smoke, are large or dark enough to be seen with the naked eye. Others are so small they can only be detected using an electron microscope Source: EPA
Lead in the air comes from ore and metals processing and piston-engine aircraft operating on leaded aviation fuel. As a result of EPA's regulatory efforts including the removal of lead from motor vehicle gasoline, levels of lead in the air decreased by 98 percent between 1980 and 2014 Source: EPA
Materials
micro:bit with AQ board
Google sheets data collection spreadsheet
phone or computer with Google Maps access
Instructions
You're going to identify some built assets in your community and gather air quality data at each site to share with the community based organization partnered with your school.
Open the A Breath of Fresh Air Google sheet (linked above). You will be adding data to this shared spreadsheet and will also see the data shared by SUPERCHARGERS. Start by identifying around 5 built assets in your community. A built asset is a business, service, or institution that was created in the community to serve the people who live there. If you want to find even more that is great. You're going to categorize these in the spreadsheet using the categories in the pictures below.
2. For each asset classify its type. Health Assets keep residents healthy, help residents who are feeling bad to feel better, and encourage exercise or healthy behavior. For example, a health asset might be a grocery store.
3. Peace Assets keep residents safe or help them feel safer, encourage residents to talk or interact with their neighbors, help individuals stay motivated for a positive future. For example, a fitness asset would be a peace asset like a school sports team practice space.
4. Youth and youth jobs assets provide support for youth, jobs for youth, or help youth stay healthy. For example, a daycare or even a bank might be a youth asset.
Add your built assets into the spreadsheet and classify them by type.
5. Open Google Maps on your phone or computer and search for one of your community's assets at a time.
6. Click on the small icon that looks like a diamond in the right corner. This opens map layers. Choose the green circle that says AQI (Air Quality Index)
7. Icons with AQI values will show up on the map. Choose the value closest to the asset you've searched for. Add it to the Google sheet in the Google Maps AQI column.
8. Using your Kitronik Air Quality (AQ) board like you did in 3.2, visit as many of the community assets as you can and collect data.
9. Add the data to the Google sheet. Pay attention to how close they are to the AQI data from Google Maps. You can add additonal columns to the spreadsheet if there is additional data you think is important to add.
10. Reach out to your Community Based Organization Partner to invite them in. Share the data you have gathered and the impact that the air quality at those specific sites has on the people served by the assets.
Think about it
Invite your community partner to come in to SUPERCHARGE to share your data and ideas, and to learn how they work with the community around environmental issues, including issues of air quality and community assets. Click the link below for your school partner when you're ready to set up a meeting.
Farragut Partner
Roosevelt Partner
Simeon Partner
Westinghouse Partner
Page updated
Google Sites
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