Breathing it in: Students measure air quality by partnering with Gasp

Twice a day during the school year, students at Homewood’s Creative Montessori School head over to their installed air monitor and take the air quality reading of the day. Depending on the reading, they raise flags of different colors to indicate how safe it is to breathe the air outside. 

Christopher Schell, a seventh-grade teacher at CMS, said he’s always liked to get kids involved in educational outreach through community organizations. When he learned about Gasp, a local nonprofit organization that spreads awareness and finds solutions to the ongoing air pollution problems in Birmingham, he asked to be a part of their efforts. 

“[The students] learned about air pollution in textbooks. It kind of makes that meaningful now, the reading they had to do in the textbook now can connect to something they’ve been ‘chored’ with all year long,” Schell said. 

The air sensors measure particulate matter, he added, also known as particle pollution. It is a complex mixture of extremely small particles and liquid drops made up of acids, organic chemicals, metals, soil and dust participles, many of which can cause health problems. Gasp Executive Director Michael Hansen said groups that can be especially sensitive to air pollution are children, people with asthma, pregnant women, seniors and people with chronic illnesses.

In early 2018, Creative Montessori was the first school in Birmingham to have an air monitor installed permanently on the campus. Schell said each day, the younger children and their teachers look at the flag to see if it’s safe for them to go out and play on the playground. If it’s not, they do something inside during the day.

“[The students] love it, it’s part of their job. They have responsibilities, and [they] like the idea that the toddlers are looking at our system,” Schell said. 

Although there have been improvements to air quality in Birmingham in the last 40 or so years due to the Clean Air Act passed in 1970, there’s still particulate matter and dangerous ozone gases—which are invisible to the human eye — in the city that can be harmful to human health, Hansen said. 

Schell said his students have also worked to present the data at school festivals and Gasp events by sharing specially prepared fact sheets and posters about particulate matter. 

By getting a deeper understanding of the data and presenting it, Schell said, the students are able to learn how to gather, organize and synthesize information; learn about the difference of fact and opinion; and experiment with the design and presentation that is involved in poster-making. In this way, it addresses core standards like math, language arts and science.

In the 2019-20 school year, Schell said, Creative Montessori School will continue to measure air quality and partner with Gasp.

To be made more aware of air safety in Birmingham, Hansen suggests becoming a member of Gasp to receive newsletters and air quality news and updates. He also suggests signing up for free air quality alerts on airnow.gov, which is run by the Environmental Protection Agency. 

For more information on air quality and upcoming events, go togaspgroup.org.