Educação Ambiental mediada por jogo de simulação: um estudo do “ecoethos da amazônia” e sua contribuição para a construção da Responsabilidade Socioambiental Juvenil

Abstract

Ecoethos da Amazônia is a simulation game that explores the symbolism of the five elements (Earth, Water, Air, Fire and Care) to address socio-environmental issues present in daily routine, in particular for Amazon region. It is characterized as a ludic and interactive game which consists of a colorful circular scenario with four stations, each one with a complex of landscape models representing a situation faced between people and one of the four natural elements. Faced with such a problem players have to solve it based on aspects of social demand and environment caring capacity. At the end of the tasks done in each station players are confronted with their attained scores as way to evaluate their degree of commitment in the pursuit of socio-environmental sustainability. This study aims to evaluate the potential of the game as a didactic tool for Environmental Education (EE) using the theoretical and methodological assumptions of User eXperience (UX) and Bloom Taxonomy (TB). This research was conducted with students (6th to 9th grades) and their teachers from eight public mid schools at Manaus-AM. Three different studies were used in this research. The so called Study I evaluated game potential in the interactive process, kind of social relationship and in the understanding of proceedings and rules established during the game. For this, information of 77 students that play the game were sampled and analyzed. The Study II focused on understanding players’ perception about the kind of learning and eXperience achieved after playing the game. A survey with 168 students was carried after playing the game. The Study III consisted in an interview with 15 teachers, which supervised their students during the whole process, with the aim of evaluating their opinion on the game potential as a pedagogical tool. Results indicated that the Ecoethos da Amazônia is a significant educational tool as it helps the students in understanding and applying a specific knowledge in situations that simulate reality. The learning process based on decision-making, interactivity and playfulness were key features for keeping players attention and immersedon the game tasks. Finally, the results indicate Ecoethos da Amazônia as a valuable teaching tool in addressing cognitive and affective aspects, necessary to the learning process of socioenvironmental of responsibility for adolescents.