A participatory and "citizen science" approach to environmental education in the framework of exposure science

Introduction. The engagement of citizens in the research process is one of the key aspects to achieve the exposure science vision of 21th Century. Moreover, enhancing education on air pollution is considered a key factor to improve health and quality of life, especially for children. This contribution discuss an environmental education intervention focused on air pollution and carried out with a participatory approach in an elementary school. Methods. The intervention consisted in a two-serie of ludic and experience-based laboratories set according to the Investigation, Vision, Action, Change (IVAC) methodology. The design of the intervention was firstly shared with the Teaching Committee of the school, and then planned according to the collected suggestions. The two modules were deliberately performed just before two personal exposure monitoring campaigns to increase the chance to recruit active and aware volunteers. To assess children incresing awareness, personal exposure data collected during the last monitoring campaign were compared to their according perceptions. Results. Altogether, 128 children from 6 third-grade classes, as well as their parents and teachers were involved in the environmental education intervention. Out of these children, 85 (66%) and 109 (85%) expressed their interest to be involved in first and second personal monitoring campaigns, respectively. Finally, thanks to the valuable collected data, a first attempt to compare children perceptions to the personal exposure measurements of Black Carbon was performed, showing that only the 33% of children underestimated concentrations. Finally, a raising awareness campaign was designed and performed inside the school by exhibiting 8 posters on SDGs 3, 7 and 8 in a public event. Discussion. This experience showed that the engagement of teachers, children and their parents in the research can both add value to the process by raising awareness on air pollution, and help to achieve valuable results.