The only way to continue to develop is to educate from an early age, what to do to improve air quality, and actually even more importantly, to raise awareness of what to do to not pollute the air.
The issue of air quality has already been included in many educational programs and school textbooks, but it does not take up as much space as would be required to educate society on the topic of low emissions in order to meet established air quality standards by law.
The process of developing new programs and textbooks takes too long, and the issue of low emissions is not the only one that should be expanded. Therefore, a good solution is publications that present practical information on low emissions in a form ready for use by teachers, appropriately tailored to different levels of education, which they can supplement their chosen program with.
This year’s proposal by the Mayor of the City of Myszkow is such a practical solution: it includes educational booklets entitled “Myszka Frania protects the air”, intended for grades I-III, as well as a floor board game.
The above-mentioned materials are teaching aids for children, so that they can easily and enjoyably expand their knowledge about air protection. In the lessons that were conducted in our school in grades I-III, it was shown in an interesting way how to present to students what low emissions are, how to care for air quality, giving examples that are most familiar to them, the problem of air pollution such as SMOG, which is formed among other things in the process of burning waste in furnaces. It was very important to explain to students why it is necessary to act in a certain way and what the consequences of this behavior are for the environment and for ourselves. If they understand this, they will be able to pass on this knowledge in a credible way to their family, neighbors, or peers from the neighborhood.
This is therefore the best model of environmental education, raising awareness from an early age of what each of us can do for the environment. The various tasks included in the booklet facilitated the understanding of often difficult concepts and processes related to low emissions, especially for the youngest. The lessons were planned to ensure independent thinking in terms of shaping habits and attitudes, and teamwork where cooperation is important. The implementation of such activities has allowed to spark students’ interest in their immediate surroundings and encouraged them to take active actions for the environment, which is particularly important in the case of air quality. Each class participating in this environmental education tried to present their ideas, visions, and interest in this topic in the best way they could.