Students interpret AQI maps and charts to compare today’s AQI with the past five days. Using the EPA’s air quality activity guides, students create a social media post for residents of their region providing key information related to today’s AQI.

This lesson uses the National Park Service Story Map which displays national parks around the contiguous United States and their standard exceedance ozone concentrations from 2016-2021. Students will explore ozone levels and answer questions.

Students watch videos and/or review articles related to particulate matter and how this pollutant is monitored and measured, then provide their understanding individually or in groups.

In this 5Es lesson, students will uncover how changes in global air quality have impacted human health in cities between 2000 and 2019.

Students observe how air quality changes over time, for a selected location, using data from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Using hourly graphs of PM 2.5 data and HYSPLIT model trajectories, students will collect evidence for the effects of fireworks on air quality.

Students will engage in a “Zoom In Inquiry” learning routine to understand a world map that shows changes in PM_2.5-attributable mortality per 100,000 population (Bondie, 2013).

Students will learn about and describe the different classifications of Air Quality Index and the importance of standards in air quality monitoring. Students will also use scientific evidence and reasoning to support a claim about long-term trends in air quality in the United States.  

Students will review the sources of the six criteria pollutants for which the EPA has established standards for and describe their impacts on human health and the environment. 

Students will analyze how air pollution may be transported over time. Students will also differentiate between sources of air pollution and describe how air pollution interacts with the Earth System.