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For the past three years,听Air Quality Inquiry听(AQIQ) has been reaching听K-12 students across rural baby直播app, teaching them to conduct their own air quality research with affordable sensors developed by Professor Michael Hannigan. This year, AQIQ听Education Director Daniel Knight听decided to mix things up. He and his team extended the program across the globe to reach Public Lab Mongolia, a nonprofit whose听mission is to make data available to the Mongolian public.

When Public Lab Mongolia learned of AQIQ, they were determined to adopt a similar model so that high school students in Mongolia affected by poor air quality听from burning coal听to heat households could learn more about the science behind it.听In spring 2020, they traveled to CU Boulder and signed a partnership agreement with听CU Boulder Provost Russell Moore. They agreed to form a new听chapter of AQIQ at the National University of Mongolia.

Knight said he is excited to see the impact of their newest partnership in Mongolia in addition to continued work with听five rural high schools on baby直播app's Western Slope and three rural high schools on the High Plains in Northeastern baby直播app.

As part of the program, a听mechanical engineering course at CU Boulder, Project-Based Learning in Rural Schools听was developed听to equip college students with the skills needed for working with high school students to develop an air quality project of their own.听A similar model will be implemented听at the National University of Mongolia. College听students will learn to use Pods in their first semester, and their second semester will give them an opportunity to teach and mentor younger students who will be designing their own air quality experiments.

Before travel restrictions came about as a result of听COVID-19, the full AQIQ听team had planned an in-person training that would take place during the summer with Public Lab Mongolia and the National University of Mongolia in听Ulaanbaatar. Since prior plans were no longer an option, alumni of the Project-Based Learning听in Rural Schools course at CU Boulder stepped up and taught听the AQIQ curriculum remotely despite the 15-hour time difference. Public Lab Mongolia was able to use the Pods they had taken home following their visit to CU Boulder earlier in the year. As part of their听training, they gained experience by completing an听AQIQ research project studying听automobiles and public transportation in Ulaanbaatar.听

One of the CU student mentors听who helped with their training was Britta听Bergstrom, an MS student studying civil engineering and pursuing a听teacher鈥檚 licensure through the School of Education鈥檚 Post-Bac Licensure Program. Bergstrom taught partners at Public Lab Mongolia a module听which explored how to design an AQIQ research project. Bergstrom's involvement with AQIQ is captured in her responses to the questions below.听

Why did you get involved with AQIQ?

I saw the AQIQ program听would allow me to combine my passion听for teaching, engineering,听and travel,听and I quickly emailed Dr. Knight to discuss enrollment. What made me want to stay involved was a combination of a variety of things including the welcoming and easy-going baby直播app, an opportunity to travel, a lighter workload听and听most importantly, the opportunity to get into a classroom and teach.

Describe the AQIQ course,听Project-Based Learning in Rural Schools.

In the fall, we spend each week simulating what we will be teaching in the spring, and by the end of the fall semester, we go to听our assigned schools once for a chance to meet and engage with our K-12 students through an ice breaker game. Then, in the spring, mentor-teacher pairs visit their schools a handful of times to teach four different themes: an introduction to air quality, an exploration of combustion, how to design a research project, and how to interpret and present data. The lessons end with a poster symposium, which allows the students to present their air quality research听and the data they collected.听These projects explore听everything听from the difference in volatile organic compound amounts in cologne versus perfume听to how much听carbon dioxide an old truck outputs versus a new hybrid car.

How has AQIQ inspired interdisciplinary collaboration?听

I am pursuing an MS听in civil engineering and a teacher鈥檚 licensure through the School of Education鈥檚 Post-Bac Licensure Program. This course was the听perfect intersection between my areas of study. When I joined the class, I was pleasantly surprised to see that my classmates represented a听variety of educational backgrounds. This course is appealing to students with a variety of passions, including teaching, environmental issues, research and study design听and global engineering. This ultimately creates a very enriching culture within the class, because听despite students taking the class for different reasons, there must be collaboration between students with different interests in order to teach the younger students.

Looking ahead, what excites you about AQIQ?听

This coming year we are听broadening the diversity of educational backgrounds of students involved by reaching out to non-engineering programs such as the School of Education and the Environmental Sciences Program. Students in this class do not need to have background knowledge in air quality, but they do need to have a basic understanding of how research projects are conducted and be excited听to work with middle or high school students. As this program moves forward, I鈥檓 personally most excited to see the course continue to听connect departments across the University of baby直播app Boulder, as well as a way to connect universities and schools across the world. We鈥檙e seeing this already with our Public Lab Mongolia partnership, and I think there is听high听potential to work with other non-governmental organizations听and schools globally in the future.

What did you learn from your experience training Public Lab Mongolia this summer?

Working with Public Lab Mongolia this summer gave me my first opportunity to practice remote training, which is closely tied to remote teaching and is already proving helpful in my teaching courses this fall. Specifically, I was able to practice presenting a powerpoint and giving explanations over Zoom, as well as how to effectively brainstorm remotely as a group. I was also听able to increase my global mindset and experience by learning about Mongolia! During our first meeting, we learned about the air quality and environmental challenges in Mongolia and听got to experience the language as all of the materials were translated into Mongolian. Then, partway through the summer, one of the lead mentors, Tunga, gave us an impromptu lesson on Mongolian culture听where we learned about traditional Mongolian wrestling, festivals听and food. I love learning about different cultures around the globe, so this was a very meaningful experience for me.