Aventuras de Atomildo: guia didático

Abstract

Quantum numbers arise naturally from the wave equation of physicist Erwin Schrödinger with the function to characterize an electron in the atom. In education, these numbers have caused students some discomfort in relation to learning difficulties, among which we can highlight the issue of abstraction of content, a decontextualized approach and the absence of a historical construction linked to these numbers. Looking for help the teaching of the theme presented, we propose the use of the Atomildo Adventures game, a digital game designed to be used as a technological resource in the learning of quantum numbers, which uses the historical narrative of understanding the atom and the models idealized for explain the structure/organization of electrons in the atom, with reference to the principles of gamification, for 1st year high school students studying Chemistry at a public school in the Manaus city. Gamification is commonly understood as the use of elements contained in games, in a non-game context, with the purpose of motivating and engaging the target audience. During the methodological journey, we adopted a qualitative approach, taking action research of the strategic type as a method, which performs only one application cycle. The data collection techniques and instruments used were bibliographic research, participant observation, questionnaire and interview. Based on structures presented in the literature on how to gamify, we developed as an educational product, a digital game based on the gamification of content that consists of applying game elements and thoughts to change the content so that it looks like a game. The developed resource is inserted in a didactic sequence that has basically four steps. The results show evidence that the game is promising, as it was possible to observe the learning of the content from the perspective of the process of knowing, recognizing quantum numbers and applying its concepts to understand the structure/organization of electrons in the atom. As for the game, it was well evaluated by the students considering several aspects, namely, usability, gameplay, challenge, satisfaction, fun, among others.