A robótica educacional como ferramenta mediadora em uma formação continuada com professores de ciências à luz da teoria da atividade

Abstract

Educational Robotics is a relatively new science and is expanding, as it is an information and communication technology tool it was initially only used in the areas of computing and engineering, it began to be explored also in education and with a great interdisciplinary potential, although its costs Robotica Educacional is present in most public schools in Pernambuco, but they are used, in most cases, only for competitions that take place every year. This work, an Intervention-Research, sought to investigate the limits and possibilities of the use of Educational Robotics in science content, especially the human body, through the training of teachers by Didactic Workshop, we conducted this study based on the theoretical and methodological assumptions of Activity Theory. Data were collected through the answers to the previous questionnaire, throughout the didactic workshop, with discussions on the possibility of using educational robotics, in the assembly and programming processes of robot prototypes, during the presentation of lesson plans in the content of the human body and in the answers given through the semi-structured interview at the end of the process. Seven science teachers, residents of the Metropolitan Region of Recife, participated in the process, as despite the fact that the entire process was carried out online, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was necessary to deliver the Lego Mindstorms Robotics kits to the teachers. Could participate theoretically and practically in the workshop. We analyzed the data through the elucidation process based on the Activity Theory, first dividing the problem into activities, then outlining the context of activities through the third generation diagramming proposed by Engeström and finally describing the hierarchical structures of the activities and identifying the reasons and actions involved. From the data analysis, we identified some more general limitations for the use of Educational Robotics, such as the cost of material and its maintenance, in addition to the difficulty in the assembly process and especially in programming, other limitations are more in the science area, such as the issue of time for classes within the official schedule. Regarding the contributions, this tool is very promising, as it can stimulate research with problem solving, can be used to carry out practical science activities, but mainly create a favorable environment to stimulate protagonism and autonomy, develop empirical, computational and logical reasoning, engagement, motivation, creativity and teamwork.