Desenvolvimento do pensamento computacional nas aulas de matemática por meio de construção de aplicativos

Abstract

This research aimed to investigate and present suggestions for activities that promote the development of Computational Thinking (CT) in Mathematics classes through the construction of applications. Currently, digital information and communication technologies are part of people's daily lives from early childhood and are integrated into various sectors of society. Resources such as software, applications, robots, artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, the Internet of Things, metaverse, among others, are present in industries, agriculture, commerce, medicine, education, homes, and social life. In a technological and digital society, there are important concepts and skills that need to be addressed in education, such as CT, which refers to the ability to solve problems in an organized and systematic way using abstraction, decomposition, generalization, and algorithms. Many countries have already included Computing in their school curricula at the international level. However, in Brazil, this movement is still limited, although CT is already mentioned in the National Common Curricular Base, specifically in the Mathematics area. In a technological and digital world, it is crucial to educate individuals who not only know how to use technologies but also have the ability to create them. In this sense, the importance of addressing CT in schools is emphasized. Several authors, such as Papert, Wing, Brennan and Resnick, point out that programming activities help to develop CT. Therefore, this research started with the problem: "How is it possible to develop Computational Thinking in Mathematics classes through the construction of applications?" This study aimed to propose and evaluate activities that promote the development of CT in Mathematics classes through the construction of applications. The MIT App Inventor platform was selected as the computational resource for building the applications due to its accessibility, simplicity, and ability to support the creation of engaging and useful applications. In this way, a pedagogical intervention was developed, along with opinion surveys with students and teachers, as well as a literature review. The pedagogical intervention took place in a public school, with a class of 24 9th-grade students in Elementary School. It consisted of 16 sessions, with a total duration of 27 hours and 50 minutes, during Mathematics classes. The data collected during the pedagogical intervention and the opinion survey conducted with students and teachers from the application school composed the research corpus, which was analyzed using the Discursive Textual Analysis technique and the Brennan and Resnick Framework. It was observed that the participating students developed various CT competencies and skills through the computational experience of creating and programming applications. Furthermore, the practice favored interaction among students, collaborative work, autonomy, creativity, critical thinking, decision-making, as well as the review and application of mathematical concepts. Through the evidence generated by the data analysis, it was found that the construction of applications is an attractive, effective, and viable strategy for incorporating programming and CT into Mathematics classes, contributing to the learning of this knowledge area. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]