By: Ian Longley
Can you keep the air in your place free of viruses even when its crowded, free from chemical contamination, maintain good ventilation without exposing yourself to smoke from outside, and all without letting out the heat or raising the energy bills?
These kids from Clyde Primary School can. Now these junior clean air experts are sharing their learning and skills with their peers and their community.
Over the past winter they’ve been trialling our “Air We Share” programme, using air monitors linked to our tailor-made dashboard to learn how to ventilate and filter classroom air effectively.
As part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, schools across NZ (and elsewhere) were provided with air monitors and air cleaning technologies to manage disease transmission, but received very little training on how to use them. Rather than being yet another thing that over-burdened school staff have to do, couldn’t this have been an educational resource in which students and staff learn together to manage indoor air quality?
The pandemic may have passed, but viral infections still ravage our schools. Government seeks to raise school attendance whilst schools struggle to put teachers in front of classes. Even a minor viral outbreak can cause havoc with teaching and learning. But besides that, merely stale air can reduce children’s attention, brain function and achievement. Investments in better school infrastructure with better ventilation will take decades to roll out. Schools need low-cost action to protect staff and students, minimise disruption to learning and that can be actioned immediately.
In this pilot trial, children aged 9 to 11 used our system to discover when and why their air goes stale, when and how much to ventilate, what filtration does and how much you need – all whilst keeping the classroom warm and noise levels manageable. By mid-winter staff were noticing how much fresher the air in their room felt. 
We chose Clyde School in Central Otago because of its cold climate and the local use of wood-burning for home heating. This creates challenges with ventilation as it can let heat out and smoke in. The children quickly discovered how they can use air filtration to clean the air without opening the windows.
Our newly trained experts then held an event in the school hall to share their learning with other classes and age groups, after which it was the turn of their families and friends. Now that they have discovered that science is easy, and that their action can be very effective, the children have become fantastic advocates for clean air, not just in their classroom, but across their community.
We’ve asked the children and teachers to provide their feedback on the experience and their ideas for both how the system can be improved, and where else it might be useful. We’ll be looking to improve on the design and offer low-cost commercial services in 2026.
If you have any ideas about where this approach might help, please get in touch at info@theairqualitycollective.org
If you’re interested in the debate between automation versus education in achieving better indoor air quality, check out this article.
