The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

Air Pollution

Air Pollution

A 5th grade STEM lesson

Sara Daniels

5/24/24

Notes for teachers

• Students really enjoy this lesson because they get to actually see “air pollution” that gets stuck to their index card.

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• There isn’t a lot of materials needed for this lesson and you can EASILY complete this lesson in one-two class periods.

List of Materials

• petroleum jelly
• large index card (1 per student pair)
• cotton ball (1 per student pair)
• clothespin (1 per student pair)
• internet access and the means to project images/video for whole-class viewing
• Testing Air Quality Worksheet

Arizona Science Standards

Performance Expectation 5-ESS3-1: Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.

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Disciplinary Core Idea ESS3.C: Human Impacts on Earth Systems Crosscutting Concepts: Systems and System Models; Connections to Nature of Science: Science Addresses Questions About the Natural and Material World Science and Engineering Practice: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

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• Crosscutting Concepts: Systems and System Models; Connections to Nature of Science: Science Addresses Questions About the Natural and Material World
• Science and Engineering Practice: Obtaining, Evaluating, and Communicating Information

Objective(s):

✓ Describe the importance of air to all living things. Identify what air pollution is and is not.

✓ Obtain information from reliable sources to describe evidence of positive and negative relationships between human activity and air pollution.

✓ Describe how people have used scientific ideas and technology to reverse air pollution.

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Agenda (45-60 minutes)

1. Examine picture of person wearing a mask outside (5 minutes)

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1. Do reading/discussion about air pollution (15-20 minutes)

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1. Air pollution hands-on activity (20 minutes)

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1. Worksheet/follow up questions/closing discussion(10-15 minutes)

Introduction/Driving Question/Opening

Find a picture online of a person wearing a breathing mask outside. (You can easily Google this image)

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Ask the students the following questions:

1. Why do you think the people in the photo are wearing masks? (The air is bad, but they want to be outdoors.)

2. What could be in the air that makes it dangerous for people to breathe? (smoke, dust, smog, or chemicals.

Instructions

1. Show image of people wearing breathing masks.
2. Ask students questions about why the people are wearing masks. Have discussion.
3. Read the following article about air pollution with your students. https://www.nrdc.org/stories/air-pollution-everything-you-need-know#whatis. Highlight key ideas.
4. Distribute the “Testing Air Quality” worksheet to each student.
5. Read over the directions with students, answer any questions they may have, and check for understanding.

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Instructions continued…

6. Divide the class into pairs, and distribute and index card and a cotton ball dipped in petroleum jelly to each pair of students.

7. After students have applied the petroleum jelly to the card, quickly take students to the place they picked to safely hang the index cards overnight.

8. The following day or class period, instruct your students to go take down their index card and examine it with a microscope.

9. Make sure students observe and evaluate the index cards in order to fill out their worksheet.

10. Complete worksheet.

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How do we assess our work?

• In order to assess this lesson, check the students’ worksheet. Make sure students can justify why they chose the spot that they picked to put their index card. However, the main way I assess this lesson is to have the students answer the following questions independently on a piece of paper and then have a class discussion regarding their answers. I ask them questions such as: Did you place your index card in a place that obtained a lot of air pollution? Why was it a good or bad place? Where would have been a better place to put your index card? Why?

What did you notice on your index card? What are some things humans can do to reverse air pollution? (This often leads into how we have planted trees by freeways and in busy cities to absorb some of the air pollution.)

Differentiation

If students are struggling to find a place to put their index card you can ask them guiding questions such as-

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1. What is air pollution? (dirt, dust, pollen, car exhaust, smoke etc..)
2. Then ask them where on campus can you find a lot of those items listed above?
3. Hopefully this will lead them into thinking of a spot on campus that has a lot of dust or dirt or pollen.

Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

A really fun extension activity, or even possibly a second lesson that you could do after this lesson would be to have the students get into groups of 2-3 and design something that would help reduce air pollution.

For example- the way people in Thailand have covered pillars along the highway to reduce air pollution.

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I think this would be a fun and exciting assignment to see what the students engineer and come up with.