Curriculum
The AirActions curriculum has three main parts: a lab book, a curriculum reader, and a teacher's guide. A number of the labs also revolve around handheld air sensor technology. It is flexibly designed for 6-12th grade classrooms.
Experimental Labs
The 11 interactive lab exercises are aimed at empowering students to learn about air and how to improve it. The labs range from understanding air as a fluid made up of atoms to guiding students in designing a study to address a local air quality problem to working on relevant air quality data science problems. Each lab builds on the anchoring phenomena of air quality through iterative modeling but can easily stand alone. The labs and curriculum reader are aligned with Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) and Common Core State Standards (CCSS).
Curriculum Reader
AirActions' curriculum booklet provides background information that can be used as an introduction to each lab topic and to help students be better prepared to design their own questions for investigation and research. The sections can be assigned as reading homework either before or after you perform the lab activities in class. The curriculum reader helps students answer questions like where does air pollution come from? And who controls or regulates air pollution?
Air Sensors and Mapping Tools
Air sensing and mapping tools let students be scientists, planning and making measurements, creating maps, and proposing solutions. AirActions helps students assess the big picture, make scientific models, and connect their learning directly to their environment. A number of the labs are focused on using air sensors in the classroom and many others can be modified to include the sensors.
Teacher's Guide
The final component, the teacher's guide gives helpful walkthroughs and answers to the analysis questions posed in each lab.