As a prize for Wokingham Schools for a Clean Air Day poster competition, EarthSense donated a Virtual Zephyr®, a virtual monitoring point that collects hourly pollutant data, to Wheatfield Primary School in Winnersh. The Virtual Zephyr® enables the pupils to investigate air pollution sources around the school site via the EarthSense MyAir® platform. The virtual monitoring point can be placed anywhere in the UK on the map and records hour-by-hour modelling data, just like a physical Zephyr® air quality monitor. It uses open data sources and the MappAir® air quality model, accessible through the MyAir® web application.
Chris Stephenson-Davis, Head of School at Wheatfield Primary School, said, “It has been very insightful to show the children levels of air pollution, which we can’t normally see. But having the EarthSense MyAir® visualization has helped to bring the environmental topic to life.”
The Virtual Zephyr® prize offered to local schools was part of an air quality colouring competition that ran as part of Clean Air Day 2023. The first-place prize, awarded to Wheatfield Primary School for Year 6's Zara's first-place poster submission, gave the school a year’s access to air quality monitoring data using the EarthSense Virtual Zephyr® air quality model via the MyAir® platform to investigate air pollution sources around the school site.
Working with the My Journey Team at Wokingham Borough Council, EarthSense also participated in an educational workshop in March that helped the children learn more about the sources of air pollution, its health effects, and solutions to poor air quality.
Lucy Vizor, Senior Digital Marketing Executive at EarthSense, said, “Air pollution disproportionately affects developing bodies and brains, so we’re proud to work with schools to educate the next generation on the importance of air quality.”
Kathryn, from My Journey Wokingham, ran a session with the pupils taking them to various locations on-site to collect live air quality measurements, showing the difference in NO2 levels across the school grounds. The pupils had the chance to have a go at holding the handheld air quality monitoring device in small groups and work together to record the results.
As part of the workshop, EarthSense hosted a session with the pupils investigating the air quality data collected, allowing them to become ‘Air Quality Data Scientists’ for the day. The pupils used the MyAir® web application in small groups using the Virtual Zephyr® located at Wheatfield School to gather insights into NO2 levels at the school. Such as peak times, and identifying nearby sources contributing to elevated levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) pollution. Wheatfield Primary School is located close to the M4, similar to many other schools situated near main roads which can cause increased levels of NO2 due to pollution from vehicles and traffic.
The session ended with a discussion around the causes of increased levels of NO2 and methods to help reduce pollution such as park and ride schemes. The year 5 pupils were well engaged throughout the session with a good base of knowledge of pollution that is being incorporated into the curriculum. Lucy Vizor, who ran the session by EarthSense, picked out some of her favourite questions asked by the pupils on the day.
If plants and trees help improve air quality, when their leaves drop off in winter does this mean pollution is worse because the trees cannot remove any pollution anymore? 🌳
When we are awake and breathe faster (because our breathing rate slows at night), does this mean there is less pollution in the air during the day because we are breathing it in quicker? 💤
Why do car tyres cause pollution? 🛞
Lucy Vizor continues, “I need to remember bring backup for an open Q&A next time! There were some fantastic questions that I needed help answering from the EarthSense team, as I am not an expert in all areas of air quality. It was great to see so much enthusiasm from the pupils, and I hope that we have inspired some air quality career paths in the future!”.
About My Journey Wokingham: My Journey Wokingham is a borough-wide active and sustainable travel campaign that aims to help and inspire Wokingham residents, employees and students to travel by alternative modes. Find out more at: https://www.myjourneywokingham.com/