The Department for Education (DfE) has written to UK schools encouraging them to register for the Schools’ Air Quality Monitoring for Health and Education project (SAMHE), reported the education-focused digital newspaper Schools Week. The project is seeking 2000 schools for the study in order to build a broad picture of air quality in primary and secondary education settings in the UK.
School children and a teacher experimenting with an anemometer. Photo: SolStock / Getty Images
The Schools Air Quality for Health and Education project (SAMHE) has launched and up to 2000 schools are being sought to take part. The Department for Education has written to schools encouraging them to participate, reported education-focused digital newspaper, Schools Week.
Researchers from SEI York are co-leading the project, along with colleagues at Imperial College London. The project will provide registered schools with free air quality monitors which will measure CO2, total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs), particulate matter and relative humidity.
The data gathered by these monitors will feed into a web app co-designed with schools. As well as providing information to the project’s scientists, the app will allow teachers and pupils to access the data, enabling them to use the information in science lessons. Overall, the data will allow all parties to better understand air quality in UK classrooms.
The SAMHE project is hoping to recruit a wide range of schools in terms of size, building styles, and geographical locations from all over the UK. Dr Henry Burridge, project lead for SAMHE at Imperial College London, said SAMHE aims “to understand and improve air quality for all schools and provide evidence for better national policies and practice”.
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