Gliding Through the Airshed

Program Description

This interactive program examines the causes for poor air quality in the Central Okanagan and looks at ways to avoid future air quality problems. Students find answers to the following questions:

What is an airshed?
Why is clean air important?
How do people influence air quality in the Central Okanagan?
How does it impact humans?
What is poor air made of?
What does poor air look like?
How does poor air quality impact the natural environment?
How does geography affect air quality?
How does air quality change over the seasons and over the day?
What can individuals do to help improve air quality?

Classroom Activities

1. Storyboard Activity

Students are asked to identify air pollution sources in a particular picture and then to think of ways it could be eliminated or reduced through certain actions.

There are six storyboards illustrating different air quality scenarios:
1) Industrial Park 2) City 3) Suburban Neighborhood 4) Farm 5) Campground 6) Forestry

Students are asked to: 1) circle or list all the things or actions that they think are polluting the air; 2) circle or list all the things or actions that they think are better for the air or that do not pollute as much; 3) List two alternatives or actions that could be done to cause less air pollution; 4) On a scale from 1 to 10, rate how good the air quality is in the picture

2. I Know Game

Students are asked to form two teams and then lined up beside each other. The two students at the front of each line are asked a question pertinent to the air quality presentation. The first student to say "I Know" gets an opportunity to answer the question. If the student answers the question correctly, their team gets a point. This is a good activity to wrap up the presentation with, because it summarizes most of the important points.

3. Let's Sock Car Exhaust

This activity allows students to become aware of some of the major air pollutants of automobiles and their effects. This experiment involves having the students assemble in the parking lot around pre-selected vehicles (choose vehicles that use a variety of fuels) for a demonstration to test exhaust fumes. Old and new vehicles can provide variation. The following procedure is then followed:

Make a label for each sock that includes the following information about the vehicle: model, make, engine type and model year.
Place a white tube sock over the tailpipe of each vehicle and then start the engines.
After approximately five minutes, turn the engines off. Turn the socks inside out and attach vehicle labels to the appropriate socks.
Arrange the socks in order from dirtiest to least dirty.

Discuss the results with the students. Ask the students to identify the vehicles which produced the most visible pollution. Ask if the socks were damp or dry. NOTE: Remind the students that they are seeing particulate matter pollutants and that cars produce a great deal of invisible air pollutants.
Make a display of the "exhaust pipe socks" from different types of vehicles, old and new, using different types of fuels. NOTE: Explain to students that tune-ups can make a big difference in pollution.

4. Air Pollution Model

Students can use a model to demonstrate the transport of air pollution. Using a model of the Central Okanagan, students can simulate how air pollution reacts under weather conditions similar to those found in the Okanagan Valley. Students will learn how temperature inversions, geography and other weather conditions affect the transport of air pollution. Students will also learn that smoke from one fire can affect an entire city the size of Kelowna.

5. The Lorax

The Lorax is a children's book written by Dr. Seuss. This lesson will introduce to the children what pollutants are and how they get into the air. We will read the story the Lorax and children will discuss the facts about the area before the Once-ler came to the community. Comparisons before and after will be discussed.

Booking a Presentation

This free, exciting interactive program for students is available through the City of Kelowna’s Environment Division. To book the “Gliding through the Airshed” or “Global Warming and the Greenhouse Effect” program, or one of the “Wading through the Watershed” programs, please contact Michelle Kam at 469-8982.