Students will find air a relatively familiar subject, so start the activity with an experiment to demonstrate a link between physics and chemistry. The following experiment can help your students prove the following hypothesis: Air occupies space and air has mass. Share the video which you can find at source 1 with the students on Edmodo. Don’t give the students any additional explanations before they watch the video, but ask them to think about the experiment they will see and make a few conclusions. When they have watched the video, the students can perform the experiment themselves. Using the TodaysMeet digital discussion tool, encourage students to discuss their thoughts on the experiment. Continue the discussion on air and air composition in class. Display the volume share of air components in graph form using the MS Office suite (Microsoft Excel, pie charts). It would be a good idea to compare the composition of the atmosphere today and in prehistoric times, and thereby revise the material covered in biology class at the beginning of the seventh grade, on the topic of the emergence and development of life on Earth. Today, life on another planet can only be seen in science fiction films, while in the future scientists are planning and preparing conditions suitable for the creation of a human colony on Mars. Talk to the students about the conditions which need to be met to sustain life. People have volunteered to take part in this adventure. Talk to the students about the decision to use people in scientific research and whether this is acceptable, especially since the outcome of this project is unknown.

 Translation of the summary (originally in Croatian) of the video transcript (source 1):

You can do the experiment at home or in class. You will need a wide bowl filled with water, a dry paper towel, a dry cup, a table tennis ball. Place the ball on the surface of the water in the bowl. Place the dry cup over the ball with the rim facing downwards. Push the cup towards the bottom of the bowl. Explain your observations. To prove that water did not enter the cup, repeat the experiment with the dry paper towel in the cup. Push the cup towards the bottom of the bowl, remove it from the bowl and carefully remove the paper towel from the cup.

The paper towel remained dry, proving that water could not enter the cup because there was air inside.

Activities to support Special Education Needs students

The teacher can engage all the students in brainstorming, thereby encouraging them to find out how much they know about a given subject. Students with disabilities can be asked guiding questions, while students with intellectual disabilities and students with autism spectrum disorder can be given a picture template. Demonstrating a link between chemistry and biology using facts about air is useful for all students. After watching the air properties video, students with disabilities should be given a summary accompanied by an image or images. This is especially important because English is used in the video. In the discussion activity, everything that is being done for the first time must be carried out so that students with disabilities (vision impairment, hearing impairment, intellectual disabilities, autism spectrum disorders, dyslexia, etc.) go through all the stages of the activity together with the chemistry teacher.

It is necessary to outline the activity, preferably using visuals. For some of the tasks involving the resources and tools which the activity provides links to, it is a good idea to pair students up with those who are independent users.

Divide the students into groups and ask them to plan a hot air balloon ride.

The groups will use Prezi to present their "imaginary trips" to their peers. Naturally, before taking off in a hot air balloon, the students will need to independently explore and explain the principle behind hot air balloon flights, as well as how air is heated, based on what they already know from physics classes. Draw their attention to the need to define the precautions the balloon passengers should take. To help them deliver accurate and convincing explainations, they can perform an experiment to compare the density of hot and cold air.

To perform the experiment, prepare the following chemistry equipment and chemicals: an Erlenmeyer flask, a balloon, a glass of hot water, a glass of cold water.

Procedure: Place a balloon on the neck of the Erlenmeyer flask. Pour hot water into one large glass and cold water into the other. Immerse the flask with the balloon in hot water and describe the changes. Next immerse the flask in cold water and describe the changes. Compare the volume and density of hot and cold air.

Tell the students that a license is required to fly a balloon in Croatia and that it can only be obtained in accordance with a special ordinance. Students who want to find out more on this topic can do so at source 2 (Croatian Ordinance on Professional Training, Examinations, Licenses, and Authorizations of Balloon Pilots). Students can use Google Maps to plan the travel route. Set the school address as the starting point and a place with local historical and cultural sights as the destination.

With Google Maps students can determine the distance from the starting point to the destination. In their presentation, they can also include photographs of historical and cultural sights which can be seen on the trip, as well as some interesting information, such as who the balloon pioneers in their region were, the height and distance a balloon can reach today, and the ranking of Croatian balloon pilots in the competitive global environment. More information on free photographs which students can use to prepare the presentation and which are published under Creative Commons licenses may be found at source 3.

Activities to support Special Education Needs students

The experiment in which students compare hot and cold air density, prepare a presentation in Prezi or use new links to discover information on how to obtain a virtual balloon license should be planned and carried out with occasional breaks if needed. This may be necessary if students with difficulties are more easily distracted, tire more easily, etc. (especially students with motor disabilities, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism spectrum disorders). It is best for students to work in pairs and have an abstract accompanied by an image and a conclusion. Praise can be a very important source of encouragement for students with disabilities, as well as for other students, such as those who are markedly withdrawn and insecure or those who are more skilled and provide support to their partners when they work in pairs or small groups.

Professional sports sometimes unfortunately feature news that are not characteristic of sportsmanship. One such downside involves doping – the use of different (groups of) pharmacologically active substances which are banned, or engagement in various prohibited practices. This is against ethics in sports and medicine. More information can be found on the website of the Croatian Institute for Toxicology and Anti-Doping (CITA) (in Croatian).

An example of banned practices which aim to enhance sports results is blood doping. Tell students what blood doping is and give them research questions: Can an athlete who, for a time, just before the competition, trains at high altitudes test positive for blood doping? Explain why this athlete has an advantage over other athletes who train at lower altitudes. To address the research questions, refer students to source 4 (a seminar paper titled Blood Doping, with the abstract available in English). Before they start, it is a good idea to revise with students what they know about the structure and role of erythrocytes – Digital Educational Content > Biology Teachers > Blood. These online materials can be found at the Nikola Tesla National Distance Learning Portal (a portal containing digital teaching materials in Croatian for students and teachers).

When the students have collected useful and interesting information, suggest that they create a comic to tell other students about the topic. They can use Pixton for this. Suggest that students vote for the best, the funniest and the most successful comic.

Ask a school sports club to give a talk to the students on the possible consequences of doping in sports.

For homework, recommend that the students watch a video (in Croatian), available at the educational portal of Croatian Radiotelevision (the national public broadcasting company), to revise what they know about air and air composition. In a subsequent class divide the students into groups and use the interactive whiteboard to do a  Kahoot quiz. You can create the quiz on your own or use a ready-made quiz on the Earth's atmosphere and air composition, with students previously divided into groups. To run the quiz, you must first register at Kahoot.

Note: To refer students to further research, download the topics from source 5 (in Croatian), (more information about doping, as well as lists of prohibited agents).

Activities to support Special Education Needs students

Pupils with disabilities as well as other students should practice individual or group sports in accordance with their interests. Some follow sports events with their families. The seminar paper on blood doping should be divided into smaller segments of text and the students should be divided into 4–6 groups. Students can use the INSERT strategy (Interactive Notation System for Effective Reading and Thinking) to mark those parts which confirm what they already know (√), those which refute what they think they know (-), and those they have questions about (?). They can ask the teacher these questions after they have read the text critically. Most students with disabilities can either use a plan to present what they learned by reading or they can present on behalf of the group they have worked in, with guidance in the form of questions or visual reminders. Images in the comic should be marked with ordinal numbers and ordered from top to bottom for students with reading disorder and students with autism spectrum disorder.

The topic can be linked to current events if you tell the students about the article available on net.hr under the headline "Shock for Great Jamaican Athlete" (an article on Usain Bolt and doping). The news reveals that the Jamaican team was stripped of the gold medal for the 4×100m relay at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 after it was confirmed that the blood of one of the runners, Nesta Carter, tested positive for doping.

When you are planning a quiz, it is important to provide simple, brief and clear instructions about the task and how to participate and to make sure that the students understand these. If the quiz involves a complex task (e.g. performing several separate activities and then completing the quiz), divide the activity into stages. Encourage students to work on quiz activities in pairs or small groups.

Air pollution needs to be studied as a global as well as a local problem. Suggest that students do a mini-project to investigate the greatest air pollutants in their environment. Ask students to think of and present measures that could be taken to reduce the impact of some pollutants. Ask them to explore the consequences of acid rain and smog on plants, buildings and monuments where they live. If they notice any changes, have them investigate which substances are the most common causes of these modern ecological problems and find how they have impacted the situation in their environment. In addition, have the students explore the consequences that air pollution may have on our health. You can connect to other schools, share research results, and exchange ideas. You can initiate a collaboration with other schools through the eTwinning portal for inter-school collaboration. You can join a project which is already under way or propose a new project and cooperate with interested schools.

Students can regularly record meteorological data (air temperature, wind direction and speed, air humidity, air pressure) and add these to the school website – they need to check with the website administrator first. If there is no meteorological station near the school or if the school is not taking part in the GLOBE project (Globe Programme Croatia), students can install a weather app on their smartphones, for example application 1 or application 2.  Real-time meteorological data can also be found on the Meteorological and Hydrological Service website. Regular monitoring of meteorological data can help the school plan various activities – outdoor teaching, sports day, activities in the school garden, etc.

Note: At source 6, you can find information on the GLOBE science and education programme and the requirements should a school wish to join the project.

Activities to support Special Education Needs students

Most students with disabilities can engage in guided discussion on air pollution. Those with impaired vision, impaired hearing, motor disturbances or ADHD will benefit from a discussion plan. Students with intellectual disabilities and students with autism spectrum disorders will need guidance. To record and enter observation data, you should prepare simple tables or graphic organisers. If a text or instructions are in English, summaries and step-by-step guidance through the activities should be prepared in Croatian. If students are working in pairs or groups, make sure students with disabilities are active participants in all activities (discussion, recording and entering data, accessing websites, etc.), and not passive observers in the group.

It is important to make the activities meaningful and available to each student in the group. Praise for work well done is a crucial component.

For students who want to know more

Sitting on the quay of a Croatian town on the Adriatic coast, Alfred Hitchcock, the famous American film director, noted that he was watching the most beautiful sunset in the world. Have students explore which city was he referring to and find photos of the described sunset online: Creative Commons, source 7. Suggest research topics to the students, for example: Why is the sky blue? Why do we see the colour red at sunrise and sunset? Why are sunsets particularly colourful against the backdrop of the sea or the skyline of a large city? Students can create posters in the Canva web tool to present the results of their research at their school’s open house event. You can find additional information at source 8 (text from a scientific news web portal in Croatian that reveals why the sky is blue) or source 9 (professional paper in Croatian on why and how we see colours).