We have done this project two different ways now!
2018 Pilot Project:
An entirely elective group used the particle sensor provide by UCSD for research outside of class time. This was a team composed of students from both semesters of chemistry. Students chose to research air quality at our school's drop-off location vs. the neighboring school's drop off (San Marcos High School has over 4000 students, while our school has approximately 1000 between the elementary, middle, and high school). Students worked together and with their UCSD mentor to develop a good testable question, then collected data before and after school to compare air quality.
2018 Pilot Project:
An entirely elective group used the particle sensor provide by UCSD for research outside of class time. This was a team composed of students from both semesters of chemistry. Students chose to research air quality at our school's drop-off location vs. the neighboring school's drop off (San Marcos High School has over 4000 students, while our school has approximately 1000 between the elementary, middle, and high school). Students worked together and with their UCSD mentor to develop a good testable question, then collected data before and after school to compare air quality.
2021 Full Class Project:
This was the year of the pandemic and distance learning, so we were still in full-distance mode at this point. We used the Purple Air website, as well as two additional individual sensors, to research questions in air quality. Students had an incredible amount of freedom to choose their own topic in this project, as well as the support from several mentors at UCSD, who met regularly with our teams.
This was the year of the pandemic and distance learning, so we were still in full-distance mode at this point. We used the Purple Air website, as well as two additional individual sensors, to research questions in air quality. Students had an incredible amount of freedom to choose their own topic in this project, as well as the support from several mentors at UCSD, who met regularly with our teams.
- Initial idea: