School Students participation in monitoring solar radiation components: Preliminary results for UVB and UVA solar radiant fluxes

As the planet is experiencing dramatic environmental problems mainly due to human activities, education plays an essential role in the formation of pupils’ attitudes toward the environment, both social and natural. That is, the depletion in the concentration of ozone layer in the stratosphere significantly increases the UV radiant flux levels (mainly the part of UVB, from about 290–315 nm) reaching the earth’s surface. These modifications have raised concern among the scientists and policy makers during the last two decades so that numerous field experiments have been conducted illustrating deleterious UVB effects on both ecosystems and human beings. Indeed, in recent years, the ultimate action of education is to sensitize the pupils as well as the public toward environmental problems laying the foundations for both students’ and citizens’ active participation in the protection of the environment.