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Working with the kids of Alexandra Primary School, Otago, New Zealand

Alexandra Primary School has a motto – ‘Indulge in Deep Learning – learning that sticks!’
Therefore, NIWA scientists joined forces with Alexandra Primary School teachers to engage kids aged 9 to 11 years in real world science this winter, make science less intimidating and more reachable. 

We split our project in various branches including:
  1. Engage directly with scientists and break the ‘lab coat’ stereotypes!
  2. Learn the importance of data in science
  3. Learn to ask (and answer) why, what and how in daily life

We posed questions based on local issues faced by the community in Alexandra. Our aim was to accelerate the uptake of science and increase their curiosity in science. 

  1. What is the air quality like in Alexandra, why is it that way and how could it be changed? 
  2. What is the air quality like in your homes, why is it that way and how could it be changed?
  3. How does air quality affect their health and perception?

At the beginning of the project, a total of 12 air quality experts along with a videographer visited the school. The whole team engaged with kids in air quality science and instrumentation. Together, we also indulged in various educational games and activities around weather, air quality and health science. 

Watch the highlights here: Launch Day Video
Can kids collect credible data?
We provided an online survey tool to the kids via an app (Air Aware Alexandra) and encouraged them to take health & perception surveys every day to record short term health effects of air pollution. Along with the app, we also provided them with indoor air quality sensors to take home on a weekly rotational basis. They were provided with a small guide to fill in an online form and send us the data from their home. Children also had access to many classroom activities engaging them in data collection and observation. NIWA weather forecaster made a personalized video for Alexandra Primary School children giving them their own weekly forecast of weather in Alexandra. Children were encouraged to connect with a weather forecaster on online platforms and engage in all sorts of discussions. 
This approach was really killing two birds with one stone. We were able to generate information that we never had before and at the same time it provided a sense of involvement and participation to the kids in helping the scientists understand and solve real-world problems. This was the first time we did anything like this – so the most important question for us was if it would work at all really. Even though, we faced data recovery and quality issues in some instances, it was minor in terms of our goals of engaging kids in real-world science.

Surveys:
Knowing the issues of survey fatigue with kids, we tried many approaches to keep them going, like chocolate fishes, new quiz introductions every now and the, face-to-face meetings and even sharing results every now and then.

All in all, we collected more than 500 responses from a class of 64 kids over an 80-day period! These responses include critical information about the date, time and location of short-term health symptoms recorded by kids throughout the winter. We asked questions about smell and sight of smoke, health symptoms they were facing while making the report (breathlessness, coughing, wheezing, difficulty exercising, etc.), annoyance due to smoke and rating of air quality around them.  
But in terms of data collections, we would like to mention our star student, Hamish, who took the survey on 69 days out of 80 days. He surely knows the app better than even its developers by now! As you can track in the image below, we had a wide range of response rate across our students, so this was definitely a highlight!

Indoor air quality sensors:

On our launch day, we organized a ‘BYO sensor’ session which they could then take them home. In all, they built 12 such sensors which they were requested to take home on a weekly rotational basis. Once they brought back the sensors to school after a week, they were given an online tool to fill in all the meta data about the whereabouts and physical state of the sensors. The same online tool also let them upload all the data and send it to us. So, what happened? Although kids managed to build their own sensors, they were a bit “fragile” and they did not quite pass the “data-recovery” test. Having said that, kids found the online tool easy to use, they were able to deploy sensors in their homes and bring them back nearly on time! So, we did learn that with a few modifications, our “BYO sensor” might just work fine the next time.
For this time, in order to keep the project going, we borrowed 20 SkoMoBos from Massey University and re-launched the whole indoor air aspect of the project. With the help of another star-student, James (APS’s tech-savvy junior!), we have managed to collect valid indoor air quality data from majority of our study homes. James was very handy in terms of helping other students get through the online tool if they got stuck, filling it for them even! He also had a go at fixing a couple of broken SkoMoBos with a little supervision from our tech wizard at NIWA. On an average we have 6 or more days of 10-minute data from 26 homes. Below is map of all our SkoMoBo homes that reported valid data showing the spatial coverage we were able to achieve. 

To sum up:
Overall, it was a wonderful experience working with kids and the answer to the question we posed, as we discovered, is yes! With a little bit of help and correct motivation, engaging children in the scientific world is beneficiary not only to the local community but also to the scientists. They bring positive energy and non-biased views with a great level of curiosity about everything. But a major chunk of our project has been possible only thanks to the amazing teachers at Alexandra Primary School. Their drive and determination to provide their students with the best learning experience has helped us keep the kids engaged throughout the project. It is true indeed, great teachers make for great students!

Keep tuned for more on the project as we are just starting to move our base to the northern hemisphere with similar but slightly modified ideas!
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