We’re working with STEM Learning to use SAMHE (Schools’ Air quality Monitoring for Health and Education) to support schools in Educational Improvement Areas across the Yorkshire and Humber, East Midlands and North East.
Adult supporting science learning in a school.
Photo: skynesher / Getty Images
In collaboration with STEM Learning, we are recruiting and training STEM Ambassadors to use SAMHE to work with selected schools in the target areas. The STEM Ambassadors are paired with keen schools and then make a series of visits. During these they set up a SAMHE air quality monitor and use it with pupils and staff to investigate indoor air quality.
SAMHE+STEM provides opportunities to thirty schools which are under-resourced, particularly in terms of science provision. Participating schools come from across the Yorkshire and Humber, East Midlands and North-East regions. They have a low social-economic rating, sit within an EIA (Educational Investment Area) and have received little or no STEM enrichment or STEM Ambassador engagement within the last 24 months.
The core aim of the project is to use SAMHE to:
A further aim is to use SAMHE to enhance pupils’ practical investigative science skills and inspire them to view science as a tool for problem solving and relevant to their everyday lives.
The project is funded through a Royal Society seed grant.
Poor air quality impacts pupils’ health and concentration, affecting attendance and attainment. Schools’ Air Quality Monitoring for Health and Education (SAMHE) is providing evidence for better national policies and practice. But more than that, it enables pupils to interact with real world data about their environment and gives them agency to take informed action. SAMHE has established a network of air quality monitors in schools across the UK, to generate an unparalleled dataset which will help researchers better understand schools indoor air quality. 
Read more about SAMHE.
Project / A citizen science project monitoring indoor air, created with and for UK schools.
Other publication / This two-page brief brings together SAMHE's findings and other evidence on air quality in UK schools and makes recommendations for policy and practice.
Media coverage / The children's news programme visited a school where pupils were investigating their classroom's air quality using the SAMHE monitor and Web App.
Journal article / The SAMHE Web App was co-designed with schools to ensure maximum acceptance and engagement by teachers and pupils, as this is critical to the project's success.
