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Students & Teachers

Educational Resources for Kids

A colorful logo with the text "The Know Zone" alongside a smiling green and yellow circle resembling a face.
The California Air Resources Board has air quality info for kids at:
Logo for "Smog City 2" with stylized cityscape, cloud graphic, and radiant backdrop.
Can you protect Smog City from ozone and Particle pollution?
Logo of "NASA Climate Kids," with NASA insignia and leaf graphic.
Climiate information for kidsa t NASA
A NASA educational poster titled "The Air We Breathe," featuring a cartoon astronaut, Earth, the Moon, and stars.
NASA Educational  Book to print
A black and white coloring book cover titled "The AIR We Breathe" with a simplistic Earth, moon, sun, and stars.
NASA Educational  Book to print
An illustration of an orange creature and two green ones with the title "Why Is Coco Orange?" relating to air quality education.
NASA Educational  Book to print

 

 

 

Educational Resources for High School and College

Air Quality Guide for Ozone
Air Quality Guide for Particle Pollution

Want to know more about air quality in Butte County? Check out the Be Air Aware page!

Links to research in Air Quality:
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Chemical Science Division
UC Davis Air Quality Research Center
CSU Chico’s Atmospheric Lidar Research Group
Health Studies from the National Institutes for Health
Air quality studies by NASA

The California Air Resources Board has several videos about air quality:
Clearing California Skies
With Every Breath, Health Effects of Smog

Air Quality in the Classroom

The Air Quality Teaching Box at UCAR has air quality curriculum aligning to Next Generation and Common Core standards.

The Air Quality Index Toolkit for Teachers has grade-specific topics and activities to help teach about air quality.

The Environmental Protection Agency has information about learning and teaching about the environment.

Color-coded air quality index ranging from 'Good' to 'Very Unhealthy'.

 

School Flag Program: The School Flag Program alerts schools to the local air quality and helps them to take actions to protect students’ health, especially those with asthma.

Here’s how it works: each day the school raises a flag that corresponds to how clean or polluted the air is. The color of the flag matches EPA’s Air Quality Index (AQI): green, yellow, orange, red, and purple.

On unhealthy days, schools can use this information to adjust physical activities to help reduce exposure to air pollution, while still keeping students active.

Encourage your school and the schools in your community to adopt the School Flag Program – Get Started Here! Or contact the District for help in getting started: email Jason Mandly, Associate Air Quality Planner, 332-9400 x108.

Clean Air Actions at School

Poor air quality? See the Air Quality and Outdoor Activity Guide for Schools.

Cool California shares information on what students, teachers, and administrators can do to save energy at school.

The Bright Schools Program offers a grant towards energy saving projects.

The EPA Tools for Schools Program offers guidance on how to improve indoor air quality at schools.

Classroom Visits

District staff can come to your classroom to talk about clean air!  The length and content of the presentation can be adjusted for the level and type of class you have.  It can include:

  • A brief presentation on air pollution
  • Air pollution science experiments
  • Demonstration of air monitoring equipment

For more information, contact Jason Mandly at (530) 332-9400 x108 or jmandly@bcaqmd.org.