A inserção do pensamento computacional na educação básica: um estudo envolvendo professores dos anos iniciais e finais do ensino fundamental

Abstract

This thesis aims to understand how Computational Thinking (CT) is being integrated into Basic Education, both in Elementary and Middle School, and to present recommendations based on the findings. The theoretical framework is based on definitions of computational thinking, articulated with the concepts of digital literacy, digital citizenship, and certain concepts from Vygotskian theory (mediation, internalization, and the zone of proximal development). In addition, national recommendations related to the teaching of computational thinking, such as the BNCC and BNCC Computação, are presented to contextualize the teaching of CT within national educational guidelines. This is a qualitative and exploratory study. Group and individual dialogued interviews were used as methods for data construction. The research corpus consists of narratives from teachers working in the Elementary and Middle School in the municipal education network of a city in northeastern Rio Grande do Sul. The material was analyzed based on the assumptions of Moraes and Galiazzi?s (2020) Discursive Textual Analysis, from which four categories emerged: Resources Used, Need for Training, Role of School Management, and Difficulties. The Difficulties category was subdivided into the following subcategories: Understanding of the CT concept and its pillars, Time for planning and the requirement to fulfill the curriculum, Infrastructure, Abstraction capacity, Teacher's digital literacy and Student's digital literacy. The results indicate that teachers lack clarity regarding the concept of computational thinking and how to incorporate it transversally into pedagogical practices. Although teachers use both plugged and unplugged resources, they seem not to recognize them, from a Vygotskian perspective, as mediating elements capable of triggering internalization processes related to the pillars of CT. Furthermore, it was observed that some teachers experience operational difficulties when using plugged resources, indicating that they are still at the stage of digital literacy. Teachers reported the need for ongoing training that allows them to experience the use of these resources firsthand, enabling them to appropriate them in a way that helps trigger internalization processes?thus avoiding mere ritualistic compliance or rote reproduction of instructions. Based on these findings, this thesis argues that integrating computational thinking in Elementary and Middle School requires teachers to participate in professional development as active agents so they can understand the concept and pillars of computational thinking, develop computational literacy, and design pedagogical practices that use plugged or unplugged resources as mediating elements. In doing so, they can operate within students' zones of proximal development, helping them initiate internalization processes related to the pillars of CT. Grounded in this knowledge, students will be able to act ethically and responsibly within the contemporary digital context, using computational thinking as a foundation for exercising citizenship in this environment. Finally, the thesis also highlights the connection between computational thinking and Polya's Heuristics for problem-solving as a pathway for teachers to understand CT pillars in alignment with computational literacy. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]