PAL NYSciBlog

Funded by the New York Community Trust HIVE Digital Media Learning Fund, and in partnership with the NY Hall of Science, this new STEM program in the Bronx teaches 100 middle school youth the harmful effects of different pollutants, how to minimize their impact, and correct damage that has already occurred. 

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PAL Kids shared their findings using PowerPoint! Participants presented their findings and showed all of the great work they’ve done to younger students, who got to see what they might look forward to next year

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PAL Kids are performing experiments and making observations! 

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How Can We Fight Pollution?

My solution is to put big belly trash cans on the corner in my neighborhood. They are solar powered and can hold more trash then the regular trash cans, so we would not need dump trucks to be driving by as often as they do now. Which also helps with pollution.  We would get a petition signed by PAL parents at my center and then try to go to other centers at check out to have other kids parents sign the petition to make the Bronx better for all. – Francisco

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Some thoughts this week...

We’re going to test out different soils today to see if they have a lot of pollution. I’m really looking forward to doing this because it seems fun. This is my 1st day here with this program.

- Alisha

We’re learning about pollution - the different types of pollution like land, air and water and how they affect our environment. We did two experiments so far, the first experiment was to show how water is polluted. We cleaned the water out that had garbage and found how hard it is to actually clean It. The second experiment we went outside to collect soil to test it for nitrate or phosphate. We learned that pollution affects many things and people don’t see it.

- Sarah

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My Special Place

My Neighborhood, soundview, has only a little bit of pollution. There is wrappers and plastic on the sides of the streets. I see people throwing garbage on the floors. People play lots of music that’s loud and it creates noise pollution. My neighborhood is special to me because I grew up there.  – Tamia

A special place that I go to is my old block. There are a lot of people on the block, there is garbage on the floor, It’s special because I grew up there and I know everybody on the block there all like family to me. There noise pollution because it’s really loud with music they blast.  – Shanel

School is my favorite place. Middle School is where I’m currently getting my education. It’s were some of my friends are. There’s teacher that actually care. The kids cause noise pollution – Francisco

My special place is soundview park. It’s beautiful and peaceful and quiet just how I like it. I go there and have a peaceful time, but in the water there’s garbage and oil –Desera

My special place is Orlando, Florida. Air pollution by cars. When those cars are running the gas comes out. Also it pollutes the air. It has noise pollution also. It is by the horns from cars. – Cianna 

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Last weekend, HIVE program participants presented their findings on Pollution at PAL’s Annual Science fair! These kids had one of the best projects at the event, winning third place for oral presentations! Great job guys! 

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This week students are testing out the Aircaster - a device that detects temperature, humidity, NO2 levels, CO levels and sound - out in the park near their center. They are taking careful notes on their observations and using them to compare and contrast different areas of the park! How Cool?!

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Our thoughts this week...

The thing I have learned about is pollution. Pollution could be found anywhere such as gas and the ocean. All around the world people always litter or throw their garbage on the floor. Because of people’s actions there are more floods and animals are getting affected by it. A way we can change this is by having recycling bins in every corner so that people are able to throw their trash away. - Allison

I learned how pollution can affect the world. I also learned that there are ways to fix the problem. -  Democardo

I think we should put a backboard behind a trash can. This would inspire basketball people to throw away their trash. -  Milljean

My strategy for fixing pollution is to have three different cans on street corners which would contain different things like bottles bags and food. -  Adam

Something I have learned during this science club - We learned about all of the types of pollutions and plutons. For example air pollution, water pollution, land pollution and noise pollution. Pollution is everywhere around us. An example of water pollution is dirty water, air pollution is smoke, land pollution is littering and noise pollution is traffic noises. -  Laisha

What I learned so far is that carbon dioxide changes the water and is killing a lot of animals that live in the sea -  Julian

I learned that it is not right to pollute. Also that we should recycle so that we can make the world a better place. Pollution is a terrible problem in our city. It could kill animals such as fishes, dogs, cats, or any living things. - Madison

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The thing I have learned about is pollution. Pollution could be found anywhere such as gas and the ocean. All around the world people always litter or throw their garbage on the floor. Because of people’s actions there are more floods and animals are getting affected by it. A way we can change this is by having recycling bins in every corner so that people are able to throw their trash away. 

- Allison, Grade 6

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In the Bronx this Week...

In order to evaluate current science projects, the class group (ages 11-13) discussed the film “Racing to Extinction”. The film was used to evaluate the method of environmental science & justice on a global scale as it relates to their own local environments. Students will utilize the video ongoing for the duration of the program. 

“In the video it talks about people making food out of endangered species animals of the world. Also, scientists were able to use devices to listen to whale sounds.  Also, scientists used environmental science to learn about the last male of a type of bird species.  These are some of the environmental impacts of global warming and pollution in the World.” -Marceda R.

“I watched a video of animals becoming extinct. Many animals are dying. People even eat exotic animals. Not many animals are being treated with care. People are not treating some animals in our environment fairly” - Madison N.

“What we watch affects our community because people don’t care deeply about our environment. When people don’t care it affects others because we eat animals that help our environment. Also, the environment when polluted kills species we need to survive.” - Makkedah R.

“The video we watched affects our community because if all species die then we humans may be next. Some people hurt our environment by eating exotic animals and if they die out it will affect our environment as humans too.”- Laisha D.

“There were already 5 species extinction in earth, earth has to be careful, protect our environment.”- Jamel G. 

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What We Learned This Week

This past week, students discussed the health effects of pollution, and analyzed the causes of air pollution, water pollution and soil contamination. We compared primary and secondary pollutants, then prepared for soil testing next week. 

Students discussed the background on phosphorous pollutants and the impact on environmental safety, evaluated the methods for next weeks soil testing, and wrote down their procedures in their Lab Notes. Next week, they will test their experiments and evaluate their findings. 

Student Lab Book Excerpts:

What you want to know?  

How much phosphorous is in different types of soil in my neighborhood.

What you learned today?

I learned that phosphorous is a pollutant and that it comes from fertilizers and was recently found in dish washing detergents.

What hypothesis do you want to test in your community?

I think there is a high level of phosphorous in the soil in our neighborhood.

-Heaven W.

 What you want to know?

Is the level of phosphorous in our soil high or low?

What you learned today?

Phosphorous pollutant sources are fertilizer and dish washing liquid. Also, phosphorous has ions or particles, which causes too much phytoplankton to grow.

What hypothesis do you want to test in your community? :

I think it will depend on how much soil we pick up, large amounts of soil may have a lot of phosphorus.

-Emilio W.

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If I Can Make an Environmental Community Test of My Own...

Here are some amazing journal entries on this topic from our PAL Kids working with the New York Hall of Science:

Observations: I see there is a lot of air contamination in my community.

Hypothesis: What does the smoke do to the air?

Tests: Test the air quality in my community

How does this impact my community: Testing contamination can keep our community clean

-Luiz D.

Observations: I observe that air pollution may be causing cancer in my community. Air pollution is known to make humans have nerve damage

Hypothesis: How does air pollution cause nerve damage and cancer

Test: I would measure different kinds of smoke and the number of people in my community getting cancer

Significance: How does this impact my community: Based on the data collected we should do more experiments on how smoke can affect the human body.

-Miguel R.

 Observations: I see that exist affects the air in my city

Hypothesis: The buildings in my community trap smoke

Test: I am testing to see if smog levels increase during rush hour by taking photos based on the time.

Significance: I will warn a good amount of people I know to avoid certain places at certain times. I hope this will bring down air pollution levels to lower levels.

-Kevin N.

Observation: I will be observing air pollution and its effect.

Hypothesis: Air pollution is known to cause issues with nerves. The temperature can also impact air pollution leading to global warming.

Test: I will test the levels of air pollution by comparing nighttime levels to evening levels.

Conclusion:  I would be able to know the specific temperatures and conditions that promote bad air in my community.

- Heaven W.