Are You Hiding From What You Dont Know

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Are You Hiding From What You Dont Know?
Air Toxics Education

• Missouri Botanical Garden
• Margaret Lilly Eleanor Hall

St. Louis Community Air Project Emily Andrews
Environmental Protection Agency Shawntell Martin,
Marcus Rivas, Hattie Thomas, Belinda Young
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What Makes Our Materials Unique

• Cross-curricular thematic units
• Each activity can be used alone or combined with
  others
• Variety of complexity
• Practical actions
• Before this, very little existed!

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Overview

• Five modules
• K-3 Awareness
• 3-6 Reading
• 6-8 Decision-making
• 9-12 Beliefs/ethics
• Adult Economics, health responsibility

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Assessment

• Surveys at the beginning and again at the end of
  each module helps demonstrate learning

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K-12 Modules Contain

• Teachers guide - correlation to education
  standards, background information and glossary of
  terms
• A lead activity
• 3-5 connecting activities

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(module contents continued)

• Pre- and post-assessment tools
• References and works consulted
• Suggested extensions resources

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Kindergarten Third Grade Focus - Personal Lead
Activity - Puppet Show

• Communication arts
• Fine arts
• Health

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Lead Activity - Puppet Show
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K-3 Connecting ActivityWhat Makes the Air
Dirty?What makes the Air Clean?

• Students identify behaviors that contribute to
  or avoid air pollution

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Third Sixth Grade Focus - Community Lead
Activity - Chapter Book

• Communication arts
• Social studies
• Mapping skills
• Health environmental science

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Activities Offer a Variety of Complexity Within
the Units

• Thematic unit 3-6 grade

Now You See it
In a Shroud of Smoke
Pee Yew! Is That You?
Less Complex More Complex
Lead Activity is a Chapter book Matt Tackles
Toxics (working title)
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Misperceptions

• Industry produces most toxic air pollutants

Reality Check ?More than half of the air toxics
are from mobile sources
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Students use historic images to learn about early
clean air efforts in St. Louis
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Sixth Eighth Grade Focus - Region Lead Activity
- Classroom Game

• Math skills
• Mapping skills
• Health environmental science

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Classroom game has three rounds

• Area sources

• Mobile sources

• Point sources

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6 - 8 Connecting ActivityAre Household Chemicals
Safe?

• Reduce the impact of household activities

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Ninth Twelfth Grade Focus - Society Lead
Activity - Beliefs Continuum

• Fine Arts
• Social Sciences
• Health environmental science

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a description of extreme opposites with a
range of possibilities between the two poles
Continuum
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Dichotomy
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Misperception

• Air pollution never gets better it only gets
  worse

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Adult Focus Life Situations Lead Activity -
Simulated TV Gameshow

• Health
• Economics
• Social responsibility

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Adult Module Contains

• Facilitators guide has background information
  and glossary

• Presentation options
• Long and short versions
• Self-guided format

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Adult Module

• Using safer, effective alternatives

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Teacher Workshops and Conferences
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For More Information

• Glenda Abney, Missouri Botanical Garden
  314/577-0288 glenda.abney_at_mobot.org
• Or
• Marcus Rivas, US EPA/Region 7
• 913/551-7669 rivas.marcus_at_epa.gov

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Fun Time!!