The Challenge
When you spend hours in a crowded classroom, outdoor pollution, indoor particle sources, limited airflow, and aging building systems can create localized air-pollution hotspots that affect health and learning. Rising population density and per-person energy use can intensify these conditions while increasing demands on Earth’s resources and building systems.
Challenge Question
How might we address indoor air pollution hotspots in crowded NYC classrooms so that students and staff can learn and work in healthier conditions?
Learning Partners and Clients
The New York City School Construction Authority will serve as the project client, reviewing student models for reducing indoor air pollution hotspots in crowded NYC schools. NYC School-Based Health Center staff and school nurses can share observations about health concerns and classroom conditions. School facilities managers can identify ventilation constraints and provide feedback on whether prototypes and recommendations could support building-level planning and design reviews.
Phase Overview
| Phase | Key Experiences |
|---|---|
| Discover | I can investigate classroom pollution hotspots through a safe airflow visualization and room walk, then map patterns and ask questions about how crowding, ventilation, and resource use may contribute to the problem. |
| Examine | I can analyze classroom air-quality, occupancy, and ventilation data to identify patterns and likely causes of pollution hotspots. I can gather observations from school nurses, health-center staff, and facilities managers to connect indoor air conditions with health and learning. I can evaluate how population density and resource consumption affect Earth systems and classroom air quality, then use evidence to define precise criteria, constraints, and potential impacts for an engineering solution. |
| Engineer | I can develop a small-scale airflow or filtration prototype and engineering plan that applies scientific principles to reduce pollution hotspots while meeting the cost, space, safety, energy, and maintenance constraints of crowded NYC schools. |
| Do | I can implement my prototype in a controlled classroom model, collect airflow or particle-capture data across repeated trials, compare its performance with competing solutions, and use the results to identify effective features and needed revisions. |
| Share | I can share my revised model, engineering brief, evidence-based argument, learning journey, and what I learned about myself through an interactive design review with peers, families, school health staff, facilities managers, and representatives of the New York City School Construction Authority. |
