Pathways of Reaction: An educational game as a tool for evaluating a didactic sequence of the content development rate of the reaction.
Didactic sequence. Educational game. Paths of reaction. Rate of reaction development.
The process of teaching and learning in chemistry is still considered a great challenge for many teachers who live with the difficulties faced by the student since its content is characterized by the high degree of complexity and difficulties of understanding. For these reasons, the search for didactic resources that seeks the possibility of improving the understanding of the contents of this discipline is essential. In this sense, this work aimed to develop a didactic sequence on the reaction rate development content from different strategies (textbooks, videos, newspaper and magazine news, Phet simulator, experimentation and space for dialogue) that address questions about food, environment, fuel chemistry and catalysis. In addition to the proposal to include expository strategies, an educational game was also elaborated as a tool to help the teaching and learning process in chemistry. The research was characterized as qualitative and the choice of this theme was due to the difficulties of understanding regarding the content already existing in the literature about reaction development rate. The work was applied in two classes of the second grade of high school, and began with a didactic sequence of four blocks, two classes each block, making a total of eight classes, at the end of the blocks the didactic game was applied. The didactic game is a way for students to acquire knowledge through alternative methods to traditional teaching models, incorporating playful characteristics of games to concepts and content, as Soares points out. Data were collected through recordings (audio and video) made in the classroom, field diary and forms. For data analysis and treatment, we used the data triangulation technique, which aims to encompass the maximum range in the description, explanation and understanding of the focus under study, in qualitative research. With the results obtained in this work, it was possible to identify the previous ideas of the students, thus using strategies, tools and educational objects allied to the themes used in the didactic sequence. And so, it enabled motivation both in the game and in class by discussing the four themes. There was great interaction between student-students and student-teacher, provided by the game and also in the situations created problems in the classes. We also highlight the playfulness, especially in the game that presented a lot of fun and pleasure. During the application of the game it was possible to observe the great relationship that the game had with the content worked in the classroom. This work allowed the students, during the application of the didactic sequence and the game, to establish and relate the concepts of the rate of reaction development through the problematic questions about the themes involved. It also made possible the elaboration of an educational product, which is a didactic sequence for the reaction rate development content.