Particulate Matter Impact on the Lungs and on Communities
Summary
Students apply biology to a case study about the disproportionate effects of particulate matter pollution on people living in historically redlined areas. These issues are introduced with a scientific paper and popular news articles, after which students explore United States Environmental Protection Agency pollutant data and maps of historically redlined areas in a free online ArcGIS app. Students use what they have learned to talk with a family member or friend about these issues and to devise an action plan for protecting themselves and their communities from particulate matter pollution during wildfire smoke events.
Learning Goals
1. Practice reading and interpreting primary scientific literature.
2. Describe how chemicals present in particulate matter pollution impact the cells making up the epithelial lining of the lungs.
3. Relate PM 2.5 damage in the body to climate justice topics such as disproportionate health outcomes for communities of color.
4. Access, graph, and analyze data.
5. Practice science-communication skills by discussing these issues with family and friends.
6. Use private and public air quality data and forecasting to develop a plan for protecting yourself and your family and friends during wildfire smoke events.
7. Describe how at least one community that is disproportionately impacted by air pollution can advocate for themselves to change their situation.
Context for Use
I use this activity in the second quarter of a community college STEM major biology course (zoology) during the respiratory physiology section of the course. To complete the activity, students need access to a computer with an internet connection and access to Excel software or Google sheets. My class size is 28 students and I teach the activity during a two-hour laboratory session, but it can be split into two one-hour sessions. This could be implemented by a graduate teaching assistant during a laboratory class breakout session of a much larger general biology course at a university. Prior to this activity, students should have learned about cell biology and cellular respiration and metabolism. (If not reading the research article in Step 1 and Step 2 below, then they do not need any of this biology background.)
This activity could be used in any college-level general biology course for STEM majors or in a high school biology course in which the topics of cellular physiology and metabolism are taught. It would work particularly well in a cell biology course where there can be a more detailed focus on cellular physiology and protective mechanisms for the production of reactive oxygen species. It could be done in an online asynchronous version of this course, but it does not work as well as in-person because students lose support from other students and the instructor during in-class group work.
Description and Teaching Materials
Instructor Class Preparation: Create an article reading and summary assignment for students (Step 1 below) one week prior to the journal club activity (Step 2 below) and check web-links to articles within the assignments, review mapping activity (Step 3 below) to make sure everything is still working the same way on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) website and with the ArcGIS app (because the website may have changed, data or map layers may have changed, or Arc GIS functions may have changed).
Step 1: Students Read and Summarize Articles (on their own before class). Each student reads a total of three articles and writes a brief summary of each before class to prepare for the activity. (See file below assignment.) The first two assigned articles are popular news or magazine articles that introduce them to the history of redlining and air pollution. Students choose one article on PM 2.5 pollution from a list of choices I provide them and another article on redlining from a list (see below for list of articles I use). Next, each student reads a research article that describes the impact of PM 2.5 particles on the lining of the lungs and how these particles impact the human respiratory tract. I ask students to read and summarize the Introduction section of the article and the methods and results for one of the figures in the research article. Students are split into groups and different groups focus on different figures from the article.
Article Summary Assignment.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 17kB Apr25 24)
Step 2: Journal Club Activity (60 minutes). The purpose of this activity is to discuss the research article as a class. It is done during the first part of a two-hour laboratory session. First, students are put into groups of 3 to 4 students, and spend about 30 minutes with a "Figure Group" to review the figure that they summarized with other students who summarized the same figure to make sure all students have a good understanding of the figure. Next, students are matched with a new group of 3 to 4 students , the "Presentation Group," that includes one member from each of the "Figure Groups." In the "Presentation Group," students present their figure to students in the class who did not summarize that Figure.
Step 3: Mapping and Data Analysis Activity (60 minutes). Students work in groups to start this activity and then complete the rest of the activity outside class time. Starting the activity in class allows time for students to get oriented to the activity and ask questions about downloading data from U.S. EPA maps, overlaying data using an ArcGIS app, importing one year of downloaded data into Excel for each sensor and using Excel to create graphs of data. There are a lot of details in this work and places to get stuck, so working in groups is helpful because students can assist each other when they get stuck. The activity is supported by this handout, in which I walk them through how to use the U.S. EPA map and ArcGIS mapping tool:
Mapping & Data Analysis Activity.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 20kB Apr25 24)
Students choose a city and identify historically redlined and non-redlined areas of the city using the free online ArcGIS mapping tool. They choose one U.S. EPA air quality monitor from a redlined area and another monitor from a non-redlined area and download the data for each. They import the data into Excel and I show them how to create graphs to visually represent their data in Excel. Often, just from looking at their graphs, students not yet trained in looking at data cannot see existing air pollution differences between the redlined and non-redlined areas (where differences do exist). In these cases, it can be helpful to walk them through a simple statistical analysis of data in Excel using exported data (such as how to calculate and interpret means and variances, how to perform a t-test, how to remove outliers). For example, students could use Excel functions to eliminate outliers that are not representative of chronic day-to-day PM 2.5 exposure (e.g., wildfire smoke events, fireworks on the 4th of July), then use the remaining representative data to calculate means and standard deviations. They could compare the means and standard deviations to EPA or World Health Organization guidelines for PM 2.5, or observe whether standard deviations overlap (such that there is no difference) or not (such that there is more likely to be a difference), or they could perform more complicated statistical analyses (e.g., t-tests). Other ways to address the issue of not seeing a difference (when there is one) could be to limit the cities they explore to make sure they pick an area where they will see a clear difference or download historical data from the monitors. (ProPublica's map of "sacrifice zones" in the U.S., based on the U.S. EPA's Toxic Release Inventory data, may be helpful for identifying cities with redlined areas.) I do this activity in the Pacific Northwest. In this region of the world, when it is rainy, the air is clean and a difference between redlined and non-redlined areas can not be detected. Students' experience with data will vary based on the time of year and the geographical region they choose to study.
Step 4: Conversation and Action Plan (Assignment).Students have a conversation with family and friends about the societal issue of redlining and the disproportionate effect of particulate matter pollution on people living in redlined areas, as well as the biological science behind lung damage experienced by anyone's exposure to this pollution. As part of this conversation, students explain that everyone is exposed to particulate matter pollution during wildfire smoke events, which are becoming more frequent in the geographical region (Seattle metropolitan area) where I teach this course. They share and explore local resources that can be used to protect themselves and others with the family member or friend with whom they choose to have a conversation. Students then use these resources to come up with an action plan for protecting themselves and their family and friends during wildfire smoke events. To complete this activity with a reflection on their experience, students answer a few questions, which are provided in the attached assignment.
Science Communication & Action Plan.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 23kB May3 24)
Teaching Notes and Tips
Working in groups is helpful for the activity because there are a lot of places where students can get stuck. Working together allows them to help each other. Starting the activity in class is critical as well, because I can help with troubleshooting some of the technical aspects of this activity.
Another issue to be aware of is that some students may raise issues or express opinions that bring up difficult conversations in class. For example, some students may express that they don't think redlining still has a disproportionate impact on communities today and that racism is not a systemic issue. Instructors may receive this type of pushback from students. Presenting students with scientific research articles on redlining could help address this type of pushback. For example, here are two articles:
PM2.5polluters disproportionately and systemically affect people of color in the United States (AAAS Science Advances article)
Historical Redlining Is Associated with Present-Day Air Pollution Disparities in U.S. Cities (American Chemical Society article)
Assessment
1. Practice reading and interpreting primary scientific literature.
2. Describe how chemicals present in particulate matter pollution impact the cells making up the epithelial lining of the lungs.
I assess these two learning goals by the same means. I use article summaries written by students, as well as discussion occurring as a class and within groups in the classroom as students work on the journal club activity (Step 2 in the Description and Teaching Materials section above). The assessment done here is a formative assessment which allows me to adjust my teaching practices. The scientific article that students read for the journal club activity describes what is happening in the lungs, so I can tell by what they write in their summaries whether they can describe how chemicals present in pollution impact the lungs. Students write a summary of the article Introduction and one Figure in the article before they arrive in class for the journal club activity. They discuss the article and present their Figure summaries to each other during class. After class, they submit a revised version of their article summary that includes a potential revision of their understanding of the Introduction as well as a summary of the Methods, Results, and Discussion portion for their assigned Figure and also a summary of the remaining Figures in the paper that they learned about from their classmates during the activity. Finally, when students complete the conversation and develop an action plan, there are a few reflection questions that allow me to assess these two learning objectives.
3. Relate PM 2.5 damage in the body to climate justice topics such as disproportionate health outcomes on communities of color.
I assess this learning goal using student summaries of the two popular news or magazine articles that introduce them to the history of redlining and air pollution, which they read on their own. One set of articles is focused on PM 2.5 and the other set is focused on redlining. I can also assess their understanding through reflection questionswhere students comment on their conversations and present their action plan.
4. Access, graph, and analyze data.
I assess this learning goal using an image of the map students created and any accompanying analysis of data that they do in Excel (e.g., means, standard deviations, and days above WHO or EPA PM 2.5 safe upper limits), including graphs of the two data sets that they compared (one of a redlined area and the other of a non-redlined area).
5. Practice science communication skills by discussing these issues with family and friends.
6. Use private and public air quality data and forecasting to develop a plan for protecting yourself and your family and friends during wildfire smoke events.
To assess these two learning goals, I use students' responses to the reflection questions found in the Science Communication & Action Plan assignment (Step 4 above). Students have a conversation with friends and family, during which they explain the impact of particulate matter on human health. They then develop a plan and share that, along with details about their conversation, in response to the reflection questions. .
7. Describe how at least one community that is disproportionately impacted by air pollution can advocate for themselves to change their situation.
Students identify a redlined community as part of the mapping & data analysis activity (Step 3 above) and then they explore resources that communities can use to protect themselves during the conversation and action plan activity (Step 4 above).
References and Resources
This work is supported in part by NSF IUSE grant DUE 2043535.
This assignment is adapted from: Jones, A. C. (2021).Graphing and mapping patterns of air quality in Los Angeles, California through an environmental justice lens..Social Justice and Community Change, QUBES Educational Resources.doi:10.25334/AZ2T-1Y63
Air Quality articles: https://www.epa.gov/pm-pollution/particulate-matter-pm-basics, https://www.airnow.gov/aqi/aqi-basics/, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/12/17/world/asia/india-pollution-inequality.html
Poor air quality and COVID Susceptibility article: Exposure to air pollution linked to higher coronavirus-related death rates
Redlining article: Segregation in the City of Angels: A 1939 Map of Housing Inequality in L.A.
Redlining and Environmental Justice article: New maps show strong correlation between redlined places in Seattle and worse air quality, 2022, How Decades of Racist Housing Policies Left Neighborhoods Sweltering, NY Times, Aug 24, 2020, Air Pollution Rates Higher in Historically Redlined Neighborhoods, U.S. News, May 2019
ArcGIS online maps free app: https://www.arcgis.com/home/webmap/viewer.html
United States Environmental Protection Agency air quality data set: https://www.epa.gov/outdoor-air-quality-data/download-daily-data
Respectful Questioning model for conversations with family and friends: https://www.creativejeffrey.com/creative/respectful_questioning.php
Washington State Department of Ecology Smoke Forecast: https://enviwa.ecology.wa.gov/home/text/421#Forecast
PurpleAir Map: https://map.purpleair.com/1/m/mAQI/a0/p1800/cC4#6.99/47.015/-121.555
Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) Community Wildfire Smoke Resources: https://pscleanair.gov/654/Community-Wildfire-Smoke-Resources
PSCAA "DIY Air Filter" video: https://pscleanair.gov/525/DIY-Air-Filter
PSCAA Distribution of Filter Fans to Vulnerable Communities in the Puget Sound, Washington State, USA (video): https://www.pscleanair.gov/621/Community-Helping-with-Wildfire-Smoke
Got Green, 2021, "Preparing for wildfire smoke in South Seattle this summer" article: https://southseattleemerald.com/2021/07/13/preparing-for-wildfire-smoke-in-south-seattle-this-summer/
HEPA filters example: https://www.iso-aire.com/blog/what-is-a-hepa-filter-and-how-does-it-work
Low-cost sensors are helping communities find gaps in air quality data
The most detailed map of industrial cancer-causing air pollution in the U.S. (ProPublica)
Poisons in the Air (ProPublica)
The Sacrifice Zone: Life in an Industrial Wasteland documentary: (Talking Eyes productions)
PM2.5 polluters disproportionately and systemically affect people of color in the United States (AAAS Science Advances article)
Historical Redlining Is Associated with Present-Day Air Pollution Disparities in U.S. Cities (American Chemical Society article)
Failing grades for Washington air quality due to wildfire smoke (KNKX Public Radio)