Utilizando um jogo virtual para enfatizar conceitos físicos no estudo da atmosfera no ensino fundamental

Abstract

The physics greatness is directly related to the understanding of the most diverse daily phenomena. However, students' understanding of their concepts is often compromised due to the way they are worked in the classroom. This becomes more evident at middle school, in the Science discipline, in which these concepts are present. Among the factors that contribute to this, and that can act in isolation or together, are: teachers who do not have specific training in the area of Natural Sciences, especially Physics; use of methodologies that favor the textbook; the non-approach or superficial treatment of these concepts, neglecting their potential to explain daily situations. Thus, this undergraduate thesis presents the application of an educational product, which corresponds to a didactic sequence, from the virtual educational game Viagem Na Atmosfera Terrestre, making use of digital game-based learning, which, in turn, intended to develop give students meaningful learning by placing them at the center of this process. This game, which simulates the earth's atmosphere, was developed in the Unity 3D software, with the purpose of emphasizing the concepts of the physical quantities present in the study of the earth's atmosphere, at Middle School (final years), in the 6th or 7th grade of this teaching stage. Such quantities, namely volume, mass, weight, density, pressure, temperature, heat and humidity, are present in daily situations and phenomena. The presentation and analysis of the results of this intervention proposal application, in a 6th grade middle school class from a school, in the city of Afonso Bezerra/RN, points to a satisfactory fulfillment of the objectives initially intended, with wide acceptance of the game and participation in the other stages of the didactic sequence, evidenced in the opinion questionnaires and student comments during the execution of the proposed activities.