Air Quality Resources for Educators and Students
- General
- Wildland Fires and Smoke
- Asthma and Your Health
- Air Quality and Climate
- Air Quality and Environmental Justice
- Air, Animals and Plants
General
Air Quality Activity Book 2024 (pdf) - EPA's Air Quality Activity Book for children features words related to air quality and helps children understand how air quality can influence daily activities.
EPA Educator Resources Flyer (pdf) - This flyer was developed by EPA scientists and is a free online resource for educators to use to navigate to various STEM activities.
AirNow Air Quality Flag Program (en español) — How it works: each day your organization 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, your organization can use this information to adjust physical activities to help reduce exposure to air pollution, while still keeping people active.
Why is Coco Orange? — Children’s book that discusses the Air Quality Index.
Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides and Online Environmental Resources for Educators — Find an array of environmental and science-based lesson plans, activities and ideas from EPA, other federal agencies and external organizations. Encontrar recursos para estudiantes y maestros.
Air Quality and Energy Choice STEM Activities for Educators — EPA researchers participate in educational outreach to schools, museums, and other locations to teach students about air quality and climate change research that EPA and partners conduct to protect the air we breathe and provide the knowledge and scientific tools to respond to a changing climate. As part of the outreach, researchers have developed several hands-on activities for teachers and others to use in the classroom and other educational settings.
MIT Edgerton Center: Understanding Air — This lesson is appropriate for children ages 11 and up. Understanding Air emphasizes the molecular composition of air. Using LEGO® bricks as atoms, the students build a model of air and then combust fuel models to produce additional carbon dioxide and air pollutants.
EnviroAtlas Educational Materials — EnviroAtlas tools can be used in formal and informal educational settings. There are ready-made lesson plans for every grade level, from kindergarten through undergraduate. All lessons are aligned with Next Generation and State Science Standards for each grade in the Appendix.
EPA Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Resources — Tools and resources for schools to develop and sustain an effective and comprehensive program using simple, low-cost actions to help save money, improve health, and decrease student and staff absenteeism.
Department of Energy: STEM and Education — The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy's (EERE) STEM and education activities focus on the development and enhancement of workforce skills to engage and inspire the future clean energy workforce.
Air crosses National Park Service boundaries, affecting human health, visibility of park landscapes, and ecosystem health differently in different places. Explore the links below to learn where air pollution comes from, what it is made of, how it affects parks and park resources, and why air quality is important:
Wildland Fires and Smoke
Fire Basics for Kids — Engage with National Park Service online resources to understand the role fire plays in different ecosystems, learn fire facts, and more.
U.S. Forest Service: For Kids — Explore U.S. Forest Service resources for kids.
Smokey for Kids — Welcome Kids! Explore the different sections to learn all sorts of ways you can help prevent wildfires. You’ll find activities, games, and learn a lot about protecting the forest. Have fun!
- For Educators — As an educator, you can introduce a whole new generation of children to Smokey Bear and his message of wildfire prevention. To help you, we have several helpful educational resources that meet learning objectives.
Asthma and Your Health
EPA Burn Wise Educational Resources — Print the files directly from the link under the "Title" column or order handouts for free. Note: It can take up to a month for an order to be fulfilled.
EPA Wood Smoke and Asthma: Breathe Easier Video — Learn how wood smoke from wood stoves and fireplaces can be harmful to your health.
Air Quality and Climate
EO Kids — EO Kids is written for audiences aged 9 to 14. It is published with support from NASA’s Landsat, Terra, and Aqua missions.
NASA Climate Kids — Launched in 2010, NASA's Climate Kids website tells the story of our changing planet through the eyes of the NASA missions studying Earth. Targeting kids ages 8 and up, the site is full of games, activities and articles that make climate science accessible and engaging.
Earthrise: Monthly e-Newsletter With Earth and Climate Science Resources — Earthrise leverages NASA’s digital community of practice for educators, and a broad network of learners associated with NASA’s federal partners, to provide K-12 educators and learners with a focused, monthly collection of Earth and climate science resources from across the federal enterprise. Educators are invited to register for this monthly engagement that will continue through the remainder of 2024.
Air Quality and Environmental Justice
Environmental Justice... What does that mean? — Visit the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences - Kids Environment Kids Health website to explore kid-friendly information about environmental justice.
Air, Animals and Plants
Visit the following National Park Service websites to learn about how air quality affects the plants and animals in an ecosystem:
Lesson Plans, Teacher Guides and Online Environmental Resources for Educators: Ecosystems — Find an array of environmental and science-based lesson plans, activities and ideas below from EPA, other federal agencies and external organizations. Encontrar recursos para estudiantes y maestros.