research-article

Low-Cost Programmable Air Quality Sensor Kits in Science Education

Authors:

Bjørn Fjukstad,

Maria Wulff Hauglann,

Joachim Sveia Knutsen,

Morten Grønnesby,

Hedinn Gunhildrud,

Lars Ailo BongoAuthors Info & Claims

SIGCSE '18: Proceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

Pages 227 - 232

https://doi.org/10.1145/3159450.3159569

Published: 21 February 2018 Publication History

Abstract

We describe our citizen science approach and technologies designed to introduce students in upper secondary schools to computational thinking and engineering. Using an Arduino microcontroller and low-cost sensors we have developed the air:bit, a programmable sensor kit that students build and program to collect air quality data. In our course, students develop their own research questions regarding air quality before using their own air quality sensor kit to answer their respective questions. This project combines electronics and coding with natural sciences providing a truly interdisciplinary course. We have open-sourced the teaching materials including the building and coding instructions. In addition, students can contribute to our web-based platform for storing, visualizing, and exploring the collected air quality data. It also provides an open API for anyone to download air quality data collected by the students. Through the website, available at airbit.uit.no, students are motivated to contribute air quality data open to the public. We describe lessons learned from our pilot project in a Norwegian upper secondary school and how we are deploying it in 10 schools across Northern Norway. In the pilot, students successfully built and coded the air:bits, and after two months of data collection they could correctly describe local patterns in the air quality. We believe that by combining electronics and coding with the natural sciences we motivate students to engage in all scientific disciplines.

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https://doi.org/10.69643/kaped.1360244
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cover image ACM Conferences

SIGCSE '18: Proceedings of the 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

February 2018

1174 pages

ISBN:9781450351034

DOI:10.1145/3159450

General Chairs:
Tiffany Barnes
North Carolina State University, USA
,
Daniel Garcia
University of California, Berkeley, USA
,
Program Chairs:
Elizabeth K. Hawthorne
Union County College, USA
,
Manuel A. Pérez-Quiñones
UNC Charlotte, USA

Copyright © 2018 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than the author(s) must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected].

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SIGCSE: ACM Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education

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New York, NY, United States

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Published: 21 February 2018

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SIGCSE '18

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SIGCSE '18: The 49th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

February 21 - 24, 2018

Maryland, Baltimore, USA

Acceptance Rates

SIGCSE '18 Paper Acceptance Rate 161 of 459 submissions, 35%;

Overall Acceptance Rate 1,595 of 4,542 submissions, 35%

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SIGCSE TS 2025

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The 56th ACM Technical Symposium on Computer Science Education

February 26 - March 1, 2025

Pittsburgh , PA , USA

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https://doi.org/10.69643/kaped.1360244
Otu EAshworth KTsekleves EAckley A(2024)Empowering London Primary School Communities to Know and Tackle Air Pollution ExposureSustainability10.3390/su1617749116:17(7491)Online publication date: 29-Aug-2024
https://doi.org/10.3390/su16177491
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Tomico ORosén AKeune SAltarriba Bertran FWilde DFernández Galeote DLenskjold TTikkanen RBuruk OSpors V(2024)Seeding a Repository of Methods-To-Be for Nature-Entangled Design ResearchProceedings of the 2024 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference10.1145/3643834.3660745(1101-1115)Online publication date: 1-Jul-2024
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