A science project as part of a student's curriculum, which we call student science, might be the answer to two problems for a low-income country like Ethiopia: conventional science can be expensive and many students lack training in practical skills. Earlier studies have been conducted with respect to lay people (citizens or students) conducting (parts of) research (e.g. citizen science), but rarely in the context of a public university in a lowincome country. A student science project at Arba Minch University (Ethiopia) has been evaluated in three steps. Firstly, best practices for student science projects are derived from the literature. Secondly, it is evaluated to what extent these best practices were executed in an air quality student science project executed by 33 groups of undergraduate students at Arba Minch University. Thirdly, the scientific contribution of the project is evaluated by assessing the quality of the data in comparison to studies in similar scenarios, as well as its relation to a knowledge gap and a problem for the community. We find that the best practices from earlier studies are feasible in the study context. Furthermore, we find a scientific contribution, as most of the students' work resulted in quality data that relates to knowledge gaps which are a problem for the Arba Minch community. Student science at a public university in a low-income country is feasible and can, as such, serve both scientific and educational needs. It is recommended that public universities in low-income contexts implement part of their curriculum goals in such projects.
Students in a country like Ethiopia face a double air pollution challenge: they are frequently exposed (both outdoors and indoors) to sources of incomplete combustion and therefore to unhealthy concentrations of particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon monoxide (CO), while they also face increased carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in crowded dormitories and classrooms. Research on air pollution in the environment of Ethiopian students is scarce. This lack of research can be fixed by involving students in science through a student science project, essentially a subset of citizen science. Students of Arba Minch University, Ethiopia, conducted measurements of PM2.5, CO, and CO2 under self-selected circumstances. Their measurements are compared to guideline values related to health effects to identify priority areas for future research. For PM2.5, students’ measurements show likely exceedances of guideline values for an inside coffee ceremony, close to open waste burning, at a bus station and close to a diesel generator. For CO, exceedances are revealed in kitchens and the visitor’s area of restaurants using biomass fuel, close to outdoor charcoal cooking and close to waste burning. For CO2, exceedances are found within student dormitories. These areas can be considered priority areas for further research. Students can conduct additional measurements to distinguish other relevant scenarios. Insight into exposure can be improved if, besides different concentrations under different circumstances, also time durations of these different circumstances are studied. The findings reveal that students themselves can be a partial solution to research and resource gaps in their context.
The burden of disease from ambient and indoor air pollution is highest in low-income countries, while their resources for monitoring air pollutants are the lowest. PM2.5 is the primary indicator of air pollution. Reference monitors of PM2.5 are expensive, but there is an increased use of low-cost sensors (LCS). Three LCS, the UCB-PATS+ (PATS), Airvisual Pro (IQAV) and Sensirion SPS30 (SPSA) are being used in Arba Minch, Ethiopia, but their quality has not yet been evaluated under circumstances common to low-income countries, and the variety of metrics used in evaluation studies make comparisons difficult. This study aims to evaluate the three LCS under circumstances encountered in Arba Minch, with metrics commonly used and officially prescribed. Measurements were conducted with the LCS at 2 ambient and 4 high exposure (kitchen) concentrations, and at four of those locations with the gravimetric reference method as well. The quality of the three LCS was evaluated within identical, with reference, and between different types, with commonly reported (regression slope and R2) and officially prescribed (Pearson correlation, bias, accuracy, expanded uncertainty) metrics. The SPSA has low within variation in both ambient and high-exposure situations, meets official requirements compared to the reference, and shows a stable bias across different time and concentration levels. The IQAV and PATS within variations are not up to official standards but show strong linear associations. The IQAVs as a group, and PATSs individually, meet official reference requirements at daily level. Between comparison reveals that all LCS show strong linear associations even at 10-minute average level. For SPSA the association is similar across all ranges, and for the others the association is strong when different ranges are taken into account. Generally, all LCS are a good alternative for expensive reference methods. The strong linear associations suggest the possibility of correcting LCS measurement data based on other studies’ results and based on other LCS, across different concentration ranges. Projects with a budget of $600 can already supply 10 measurement locations. Higher-budget projects can contribute to the quality of low-budget projects when they do not only use expensive monitors, but also LCS at the same location.
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