ECO-game: amazon forest - active learning methodology for elementary school II

• Grant number: 21/13482-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2022
• End date: December 31, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biology
• Principal Investigator: Lígia Souza Lima Silveira da Mota
• Grantee: Nayara Fagundes Domingos Souza
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Amazon biome occupies 49.29% of the national territory, and is the largest biome on the planet, covering several countries in South America and playing a fundamental role in the balance of several ecosystems in Brazil. It is the main ecosystem in the world, due to its importance in areas that include climate and rainfall regulation, fauna and flora richness, and biodiversity, in addition to being a national symbol. However, due to the harmful anthropic actions to this biome observed in recent decades, it is known that the Amazon Forest is under threat, which causes damage to both the ecosystem and to other regions of Brazil, such as example, the loss of the hydrological cycle. In view of the problem presented, the conservation, recovery, and sustainable use of the forest depend on the efforts applied in the development of public policies to raise awareness of the importance of this biome. As human actions play a fundamental role in the balance of the human-animal-environment triad, scientific dissemination is important to elucidate concepts about the conservation and preservation of this biome. In this sense, demonstrating its importance to current generations is essential, highlighting the unquestionable need to develop accessible and easy-to-assimilate knowledge forms in order to attract the interest of these populations. In this way, games have a great advantage over traditional teaching methods, as a method of helping the teacher and as an efficient method of learning. Therefore, the present project aims to develop a multiplayer digital educational game for 2 to 3 players on the theme "Amazon Forest Conservation Biology", enabling discussions on social responsibility, the importance of the biome, and how to preserve it, with content provided for in the Curriculum Guidelines Nationals for Elementary Education II. The game will be developed in partnership with the Fellowship of the Game (FoG) university extension group, linked to the Institute of Mathematics and Computer Science of the University of São Paulo, and will be applied in a public school in Botucatu to assess its effectiveness. To this end, an extensive literature review will be carried out on topics such as reduction of preservation areas and increased deforestation, exploration, preservation, biodiversity of fauna and flora, exploitation of natural resources, agricultural production, and environmental laws. The information collected will serve as a basis for the production of board dynamics during game programming, which will be carried out by the FoG group in close contact with the scholarship student, so that all information and dynamics are optimally allocated to the gameplay. The programming will be performed using the application "game engine" Unity. It is expected that the game will act as a facilitating didactic tool for the teacher of the topic, as well as acting as a tool capable of generating individuals who are sentinels of their actions and of society, in addition to understanding their relationship with the fauna and flora that surround them, understanding the repercussions that this interaction can bring. It is also expected that the scholarship student will have better theoretical and social training through involvement in education in the basic network.(AU)