Houston is in a battle with Los Angeles for the city with the worst air quality. The air quality in Houston impacts many lives, especially the lives of children in the urban setting. The type of information students in public schools receive about air quality is limited because the seriousness of the problem was not recognized until Houston's air quality became national news. The Environmental Institute of Houston embraces the challenge to develop an air quality education initiative designed for Texas Educators addressing the air education needs in Texas.
The Air Quality Education Initiative is a two-step program. The first step is the placement of air monitors at middle and high schools linking the monitored results with the ozone data on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) website. Funding for the placement of the ozone monitors will be provided by the TCEQ using SEP funds and the Texas Environmental Education Partnership Fund Board. Presently, EIH is working with the Clear Creek ISD (CCISD) in identifying potential schools for ozone monitor sites. At this time, Clear Brook High School and Clear Lake High School, both from CCISD, have committed to hosting an ozone monitor site. Clear Creek High School, from CCISD, and several other middle schools in the Houston area have expressed interest in being an ozone-monitoring site. In addition to the ozone monitors, schools will be provided with a meteorological station. This will allow the wind's speed and direction to be determined at the time of each monitor reading.
The second portion of the project is the development of an air and ozone curriculum. The curriculum was developed based on the needs of the population that will be utilizing it. In the Houston-Galveston area, 22% of the state's students live in seven counties being served by 54 school districts with 28% of the teacher population. The students demographically are African-American (22%), Hispanic (35%), economically disadvantaged (45%), and limited English proficiency (15%). These students benefit from hands-on laboratory activities and interactive lessons that are informative about air quality and are presented in a nonbiased format.
The curriculum has been developed to target teachers of middle school Science, Integrated Physics and Chemistry, and Environmental Systems. The lessons meet the North American Association of Environmental Educators (NAAEE) guidelines for good environmental education. This includes the methodology of the lessons and the nonbiased approach of the activities.
The curriculum covers the topics that were considered important by area teachers as follows:
- What is Ozone and how does it form?
- How does one contribute to everyday air pollution?
- Conservation practices that impact the air quality
- Green spaces and air quality
- Environmental health issues as they relate to air
- Air quality and ecosystems
- Indoor air quality
The lessons contain background information and laboratory activities that teachers can use throughout the year, or they can be taught as stand-alone units.
Teachers throughout the Houston-Galveston area have had an opportunity to perform activities from the curriculum and to receive copies to field test in their classrooms. This has been accomplished through a series of teacher workshops. Some of the workshops have been one to two hours in length at conferences while others were six hours with more intense training. The curriculum was offered and exhibited to a special strand of HISD. teachers who participate in the HU-LINC program for math and science educators. The curriculum will continue to be offered through all of the above venues. Currently, the curriculum is being field tested by over 100 teachers.
The demand for the curriculum has spring-boarded from the Houston-Galveston level to the national level and Mexico. Selected activities have been presented at several National Environmental Education conferences. The participants were anxious for more and have requested copies to field test and use.
This curriculum provides accurate, balanced educator workshops that encourage teachers to incorporate air education into their classrooms. It teaches students how to think, not what to think. As with all good environmental action, it starts locally and is moving globally.
