Pirate discovery: o ensino de astronomia através de dispositivos Android

Abstract

This work presents an application for android devices along with a teaching sequence for learning Astronomy in High School, with the aim of fostering in students an inquiring and critical curiosity, making them have a greater proximity to Physics classes. Among the wide range of content available in the discipline, for the teaching sequence we will approach the learning of Astronomy through the problem of orientation and navigation. From the selected theme, it was possible to build a mobile game that challenges students to use knowledge of Astronomy to determine the navigation direction of a ship. Based on concepts of Paulo Freire’s philosophy such as critical learning, the importance of student’s prior cultural knowledge and how they interpret the world around them, in addition to Freire’s view that learning takes place through the interaction of individuals with others mediated by the world around. To achieve this goal, the content of teaching sequence was arranged within a game, this bringing the use of cell phones to the classroom, creating a bridge between Astronomy and the student’s daily life. Another relevant point for the use of games and technology is that teenagers are already used to working cooperatively to overcome present challenges, in addition, the technology used is capable of storing game data and providing statistics enabling indirect evaluation of the player. We believe that this work can contribute to the teaching of Physics by cultivating students’ interest and curiosity, transforming the arduous task of teachers into something light and pleasant.