The project proposal we submit is Tropospheric (Ground Level) Ozone:
Causes, Effects, Monitoring and Control. The North Texas Clean Air
Coalition began in 1993 to help the counties of Dallas, Tarrant, Denton
and Collin to meet the EPA standards for clean air by November, 1996.
They failed to accomplish their goal. As a result, ground level ozone
remains a problem for our area and citizens lack the information to
grasp the severity of the situation. Not only is our problem one of
education, but of scientific inquiry , research, economics and culture.
While we cannot address all these aspects, we can make a difference for
the school children of Denton I.S.D., and work through our Region XI
service center in Ft. Worth to disseminate information to K-12 grade
teachers. Working through the teachers and students, we can gain
valuable data through ozone monitoring, temperature, humidity, percent
cloud cover, wind speed and direction, and precipitation readings. This
data can be collected during set times of the day at regular intervals
each month. In turn, this information can be compared locally for
patterns of excessive ground-level ozone production and also can be
submitted to PROJECT Ozone participating schools via e-mail.
This project meets the criteria for projects at the Woodrow Wilson
Environmental Science Institute in the following ways.
1. It studies systems by including many interrelated variables such as
humidity, temperature, wind direction and speed, ozone emission, cloud
cover and precipitation.
2. It reflects an environmental concern in our local area.
3. It is a project that can be studied in any geographical location.
4. It promotes open-ended inquiry, although it can be analyzed at the
end of the designated time frame provided at the institute.
5. It integrates earth science, economics, social science, biological
science and political science.
6. It relates to the national science teaching standards because the
project is based on a real world problem affecting the students
physically (albeit some more than others). Also, the students are
involved in the protocol development and implementation of the project
at their individual levels.
7. It is a topic of interest addressed on the world wide web for
further study and review. (There are publications from NASA and
other sources on stratospheric ozone, as an off- shoot study to
tropospheric ozone, also.)
8. It is a topic that lends itself to field studies, research, lab
activities, cooperative learning, portfolio development, and global
comparisons.
9. It is oriented to urban communities.
10. It has authenticity: it has the potential to help educate and help
the entire community.
11. It has open-ended possibilities for students to interact with
adults in the immediate community and beyond.
12. It can be developed to be academically rigorous for the AP
environmental science student. It is cross-disciplined, solves
problems,and requires complex tasks.
13. It requires students to spend time collecting field data using a
variety of methods and resources for their exploration.
14. It is designed so the students are involved in setting the
standards by which their achievement will be judged.
Materials: ozone test strips, colormetric chart, Ozone Monitoring
Cards, thermometers, spsychrometers, plastic tape, acetate sheets,
clock, map of city and surrounding towns, small plastic bags, barometer,
wind speed and direction device, rain gauge, CBL, TI-83, connector
cable, humidity probe, temperature probe, DIN adaptor (if using any
Vernier probesware), computer , printer and internet access.