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💨 Air Quality & Health

What we breathe — carbon monoxide, air quality and the health of Nepal's atmosphere

v0.1.0 · 5 activities

Air quality is invisible but measurable, and its consequences for human health are profound. This module uses CO and air quality index sensors to explore the chemistry of combustion, Nepal's specific air pollution challenges, the health burden of indoor and outdoor pollution, and the social inequities in who breathes the worst air.

For the teacher

The MQ-7 and MQ-135 sensors in this hub provide relative readings — not calibrated ppm values. Be transparent with students about this: the sensors are useful for detecting change and relative levels, but should not be cited as precise ppm measurements without calibration. This is itself a valuable lesson about the difference between a sensor reading and a measurement. For health discussions, use published WHO data for specific pollutant thresholds rather than the raw sensor values. The Nepal context for air quality is particularly rich — bring in news articles about Kathmandu's air quality rankings and the experiences of communities that rely on biomass cooking fires.

Activities

Grades 6–8 · 30 min · observation
Invisible Dangers in the Air
Understanding what the sensors detect and why it matters for health

● uses live IESH station data
Grades 8–10 · 45 min · analysis
Nepal's Air Quality Crisis
From valley smog to hill fires — mapping the geography and causes of air pollution

● uses live IESH station data
Grades 9–10 · 45 min · experiment
The Chemistry of What We Breathe
Combustion reactions, sensor physics and the molecular basis of air quality

● uses live IESH station data
Grades 11–12 · 60 min · discussion
Who Breathes Dirty Air?
Environmental justice, gender, poverty and the politics of clean air in Nepal

● uses live IESH station data
Grades UG · 90 min · research
Environmental Health Research Methods
Designing an exposure assessment study — from sensor data to epidemiological evidence

● uses live IESH station data

This module is synced from the hics-iesh repository — it runs offline on every IESH station with live sensor data.