For the project MISSION ATTO, we developed interactive augmented reality lessons on behalf of the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena and in collaboration with the communication agency familie redlich. These lessons can be used in addition to print materials in school classrooms. The focus is on the German-Brazilian research project ATTO (Amazon Tall Tower Observatory), which aims to study the Brazilian rainforest and its significance for the world.

Nowhere else live so many different species of animals and plants as in the South American Amazon region. Its rainforests play an important role worldwide in the carbon cycle, water resources, and thus the global climate. At the same time, they have come into focus of public attention due to further deforestation and their role as a potential tipping element in climate change. To bring this highly topical issue into classrooms, project staff have designed interdisciplinary educational materials (biology, chemistry, and physics) for active learning. The materials are designed so that students from grade 8 onwards can work through the content themselves – ideal, for example, for substitute lessons, project days, and also extracurricular educational institutions.

Among other topics, the materials cover the carbon cycle, volatile organic compounds, the so called "flying rivers", and the global journey of small particles across ten double-sided handouts. Additionally, the students get to know various career fields and take on the role of reporters or experimenting researchers.

The interactive augmented reality lessons include a three-dimensional exploratory base of the ATTO camp and interactive units on each individual research area, that can be worked on either individually or in groups in addition to the analogue material.

The educational materials were created as part of the ATTO research project by the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena and funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) is a German-Brazilian research project involving the Max Planck Institutes for Biogeochemistry and for Chemistry (Mainz), as well as the National Institute for Amazon Research and the University of Manaus in Brazil. ATTO is funded by the BMBF, the Max Planck Society, and the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology.