Dungeons and Soils: uma prática gamificada para ensinar o conteúdo de índices físicos da disciplina de mecânica dos solos nos cursos profissionalizantes

Abstract

Professional and Technological Education proposes the omnilateral training of individuals, in this area, it is necessary to develop/apply alternative teaching methodologies that fulfill the purpose of promoting improvement in teaching and learning processes. Thus, the main goal was to create a gamified practice, supported by an educational product (game), as an alternative methodology for teaching the content of Physical Indexes, present in the discipline of Soil Mechanics in the Technical course in Buildings at the Federal Institute of Acre – IFAC. Therefore, it was necessary to carry out a bibliographical survey on the use of gamification in the educational context, focusing on the exact disciplines and reflecting on difficulties in learning logical reasoning from mathematics and physics. Thus, a didactic teaching proposal can be developed through the application of a game as a methodological complement. Subsequently, the gamification practice was applied to discuss the use of gamification in the teaching and learning process of the Soil Mechanics discipline in the Technical in Buildings course. The dissertation is divided into five chapters. The research problem is showed by the factors of evasion (Chapter I) from the technical course on buildings and its relationship with the basic, transversal and technical disciplines, giving special attention to the discipline of Soil Mechanics. Subsequently, in the search for theoretical references, more in-depth bibliographic surveys are conducted on the history of games (Chapter II) and how they are methodological alternatives (Chapter III) for teaching, looking from their origin to their arrival in classrooms and in the technical and technological professional education. Afterwards, a discussion was conducted on the existing methodologies for the creation of games/gamifications (Chapter IV) for technical and technological professional teaching, in which they inserted goal, dynamics, mechanics, elements and pedagogical needs and, thus, elaborate a script suitable for creating a game. Finally, a specific methodology was developed, based on the studies conducted in the previous chapters, scripting the process of creating the game (Chapter V) and executing the gamified practice as a gamified teaching activity combined, in the end, with an analysis of the results obtained in its execution. At the proper time, due to the pandemic events, the game was adapted in part to meet the online model of classes. Thus, as a result, there is the educational product, entitled "Dungeons & Soils: the journey to learn the content of Physical Indexes" as a finalization (continuation) of the research process of the present dissertation, in which it passed through the scrutiny of players (students), was considered as a potential complement to the teaching activities of the Soil Mechanics subject, with the possibility of replication by other teachers who teach the same subject, helping to spread a methodological alternative of teaching through gamified practices, not as a substitute to current classes, but as a complement and reinforcement of the teaching and learning process, making teaching an attractive object for the student, so that he is motivated by a playful engagement within this process.