MIDDLETOWN, Pa. — A new state grant will enable Penn State Harrisburg to help prepare teachers to lead hands-on air quality monitoring projects in their classrooms, giving students opportunities to engage in authentic scientific inquiry while helping schools implement Pennsylvania's new science and technology standards.
The $30,000 grant from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will support the “Teaching the Air We Breathe: Empowering Teachers for Student-led Environmental Research” program, enabling the college to train 20 middle and high school educators to use professional-grade air quality sensors in their classrooms, providing access to hands-on environmental research for thousands of students.
Elizabeth Kirman, assistant teaching professor of education in the School of Behavioral Sciences and Education and director of the Capital Area Institute for Mathematics and Science (CAIMS) is principal investigator and Mitch Spear, research project manager in the School of Science, Engineering, and Technology, is co-principal investigator on the project.
Through the grant, Kirman and Spear will provide professional development for the educators on PurpleAir PM2.5 sensors, which allow for real-time air quality monitoring.
Teachers from the region learn how to interpret air quality index data and how to craft lesson plans with the air sensors that meet Pennsylvania Science, Technology and Engineering, Environmental Literacy and Sustainability (STEELS) standards, a new set of academic standards that include emphasis on the environmental justice implications of air quality in marginalized communities.
Each teacher who participates in the program will attend a session at Penn State Harrisburg on Oct. 7, where they will receive a PurpleAir sensor — equipment that can cost up to $800 — as well as training on how to use it in their classrooms. The teachers will be able to return to their classrooms and work with their students to collect data on air quality around their schools to form research projects.
“The idea is that they will be able to collect authentic data, come up with a research question, analyze their data and then present their findings in a real research capacity,” Kirman said. The teachers will be able to keep the air quality sensors, allowing schools to use them for future projects.
Participating teachers and their students will have the opportunity to present their research posters virtually or in-person at a culminating event at Penn State Harrisburg.
Spear noted that air quality is a topic with strong connections to everyday life, one that students can directly relate to health outcomes. Evidence shows that hands-on data collection with classroom theory leads to greater understanding, he said.
“This form of citizen science appeals to students of all ages and offers the flexibility to be used in both guided and open-ended inquiry, allowing it to grow alongside students’ knowledge and the complexity of the questions they choose to investigate,” he said.
The project fits in with the overall mission of CAIMS to improve the delivery of STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — content in classrooms, Kirman said.
“What we’re finding is that every one teacher we train impacts hundreds of students,” she said. "We’re really trying to reach as many teachers as we can, because the research shows that the most important thing is a well-trained teacher. That makes the biggest impact on students.”
Spear said that exposing students to the technology has the potential to extend interest beyond their classroom, too.
“If it sparks interest in a handful of students to conduct independent research using these sensors and present their findings at school, local, or regional science fairs, we will have exceeded our goals,” he said.
The idea for the grant proposal stemmed from the EnvironMentors program, which Spear coordinates at the Harrisburg campus. Gregory Jenkins, professor of meteorology and atmospheric science, of geography, and of African studies at Penn State, has used the sensors with the high school students participating in EnvironMentors.
For Kirman, the grant is a full-circle moment. She grew up loving environmental science, then taught the subject, and now supports teachers through her role in higher education.
When she was a classroom teacher, she said, she applied for mini-grants from the same DEP program almost every year to help her obtain equipment like aquatic nets or field microscopes that her school otherwise would not have been able to purchase. It is difficult to teach environmental science without the supplies and training necessary, she said. While this year’s grant project focuses on air quality, she said she hopes to pursue other subjects such as water sustainability in the future.
“I am so appreciative to the Environmental Education Grant Program, because it makes a huge difference for students,” she said.
For more information on the program, interested educators can reach out to Kirman at exk197@psu.edu or Spear at jms63@psu.edu.