CLEAR in Schools STEM Program
Studies show kids are especially at risk to poor air quality, leading to a lifetime of unhealthy lungs. Our STEM program educates local students about the air they breathe, empowering them to take that knowledge home to make real differences for their health.
Everyone suffers negative health affects due to poor air quality, but children are particularly at risk. And recent studies have demonstrated that early exposure to air pollution will lead to a lifetime of unhealthy lungs.
We’ve partnered with Sonoma Tech to bring participatory air quality monitoring research projects to California students and empower them with knowledge they can take back home. As part of our Kids Making Sense program, we train teachers to educate students about air quality issues. The students then go out in their own communities and measure air quality using low-cost monitoring devices that accurately measure particulate matter pollution in real time.
Since the program’s inception in 2015, hundreds of middle and high school students from across Southern California have completed the coursework in air quality monitoring, and their schools equipped with training and materials to continue offering the program well into the future.
Program Goals
- Educate youth about air quality issues.
- Inspire students’ interest in science.
- Increase awareness of air quality impacts on health among parents.
- Convert awareness into action. Parents take actions to reduce exposure to bad air.
- Inspire and train the next generation of air quality advocates.
Program Curriculum
- Suitable for middle and high school students.
- The program consists of 10 one hour lessons, flexible to the teacher’s timeframe. These lessons typically occur once or twice a week.
- The curriculum meets a number of Common Core standards.
- We provide a classroom kit with handheld air quality monitors – teachers keep this for continued use in their classroom.
