Teacher resources
Resources to support schools in the teaching and learning about environmental issues.
The resources cover:
- local and regional air quality, and
- climate change topics:
- enhanced greenhouse effect
- global warming
- energy
- waste
- environmental impact
- Ecological Footprint.
- manuals
- EPA online tools
Manuals
Download the AirWatch manuals to assist in the classroom. The manuals provide a comprehensive range of sequential lessons and activities on local air pollution topics and climate change issues:
- Primary schools manual – Who cares about the air?
- Secondary schools manual – Clean air – What's in it for us?
- VCE resource manual – Environmental science unit 4
Primary school's manual – Who cares about the air? 
| Section | Title | Contents |
| 1 | Teacher information | Welcome to AirWatch |
| 2 | Let's check out the air! | Clean air, Air – is it there?, Pushy air!, The atmosphere |
| 3 | What's in the air | What's in the air, changing the air, more about the air |
| 4 | Polluting the air | Adding to the air, pollutants, collecting particles, types of pollutants, moving pollutants |
| 5 | Understanding weather | How hot is it? Wind direction, wind speed, clouds and temperature, weather check |
| 6 | Household emissions | Woodsmoke, woodsmoke and health, what wood? Woodheaters, household heating, household energy consumption, greenhouse emissions and your home, reducing home greenhouse emissions, how about at school? Look at alternatives |
| 7 | Cars – a big headache | Car exhausts, summer smog – photochemical smog, family cars, car logs, smoky vehicles |
| 8 | What can I do? | What do you know? Visual air quality (VAQ), using the car less, green transport day, green transport plans, at home and at school, what can I do? |
Secondary school's manual – Clean air – What's in it for us?
| Section | Title | Contents |
| 1 | Teacher information | Welcome to AirWatch, monitoring, website information, about air quality, air pollution and weather measurements |
| 2 | Student introduction | Student survey, our views, about air pollution, air pollutants, greenhouse gases |
| 3 | Air and weather | Elements of weather, weather data, the weather map, weather and air pollution, inversions, air movement, measuring winds aloft |
| 4 | The burning question | Winter smog, particles in the air, car exhausts, smoky vehicles, monitoring particulates, visual air quality, Woodheaters and woodsmoke, woodsmoke and health |
| 5 | Cars – a big headache | Summer smog, monitoring nitrogen dioxide (NO2), car usage, car logs, vehicle counts, travel patterns, smog and health |
| 6 | Pollen | Pollination, monitoring pollen, forecasting tomorrow's pollen count, pollen count record sheet, sample pollen count record sheet, the pollen calendar, pollen identification photographs, filter holder modification and pollen stain, resources/reading material |
| 7 | Other local air pollution issues | Sulfur dioxide (SO2), indoor air pollution, allergens in the home, dust mites, smoking, asthma and smoking, toxic air pollutants, exposure to toxic air pollutants |
| 8 | Global air quality | Greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide (CO2), enhanced greenhouse effect, global warming and climate change, ozone |
| 9 | Energy | Fossil fuels and energy, household energy, your household energy use, green energy, energy efficient house design |
| 10 | Time for action | Community survey, check it out, what can I do? Be keen, go green |
| 11 | Teacher resources | Sample program, test items, appendix 1: nitrogen dioxide (NO2), Appendix 2: air quality record sheet, appendix 3: Types of air pollution, appendix 4: Measuring winds aloft, Appendix 5: tethered balloon data table, appendix 6: The tethered balloon system, glossary |
VCE resource manual – Environmental science unit 4
Ecological sustainability
| Area of study - 1: Pollution and health | |
| Air pollutants and health | |
| Topic | Contents |
| Topic - 1 | Introduction Why investigate air pollution? What are the physical and chemical properties of your selected pollutant (nitrogen dioxide/particles)? How might its physical and chemical properties influence its role as an air pollutant? |
| Topic - 2 | How does air pollution affect human and environmental health? |
| Topic - 3 | Hazards and risks |
| Topic - 4 | Who and what is susceptible to air pollution? |
| Topic - 5 | What are the sources of nitrogen dioxide/particles? |
| Topic - 6 | What natural ways are nitrogen dioxide/particles removed from the air? |
| Topic - 7 | How are nitrogen dioxide/particles transported in the air? |
| Topic - 8 | Do nitrogen dioxide, particles or other air pollutants persist or accumulate? |
| Topic - 9 | What is toxicity and how is it measured? Topic 10 – What are the exposure issues for nitrogen dioxide/particles? |
| Topic - 10 | What are the exposure issues for nitrogen dioxide/particles? |
| Topic - 11 | Why are particles seen as an emerging health risk? |
| Topic - 12 | What monitoring programs are in place for air pollutants? |
| Topic - 13 | What roles do the air state environment protection policies (SEPPs) and EPA play in monitoring air quality? Second hand data: reading air monitoring data from EPA website |
| Topic - 14 | What factors reduce the risk of nitrogen dioxide/particles pollution? |
| Topic - 15 | What are some other strategies/actions for reducing air pollution? |
| Area of study - 2: Applied environmental science | |
| Managing air quality | |
| Topic | Contents |
| Topic - 1 | Why and how should air quality be managed? |
| Topic - 2 | Life cycle analysis (option 1 – vehicles; option 2 – wood heaters) |
| Topic - 3 | Environmental risk assessment and environmental impact assessment |
| Topic - 4 | Environmental management systems and plans |
| Topic - 5 | Regulatory frameworks |
| Topic - 6 | Role of community, media, interest groups, etc. |
| Topic - 7 | Sample scenarios for investigating local air quality |
| Topic - 8 | Individual actions to reduce pollution from cars |
| Topic - 9 | Evaluating EPA's Draft Air Quality Improvement Plan |
| Topic - 10 | Developing an environmental management plan for local air quality |
EPA online tools
EPA's website has free tools available for students: