Defense
Student: Lucas Teles de Oliveira
Program: Professional Master's in Astronomy Teaching (MPEA)
Title: "An educational Astrobiology game for the final years of elementary school and for high school"
Advisor: Prof. Dr. Roberto Dell'Aglio Dias da Costa
Judging Comitee:
- Prof. Dr. Roberto Dell'Aglio Dias da Costa (Chair and Advisor) - IAG/USP
- Prof. Dr. Amancio Cesar Santos Friaça - IAG/USP
- Prof. Dr. Fábio Luiz Teixeira Gonçalves - IAG/USP
- Prof. Dr. Fábio Rodrigues - IQ/USP
Other Members:
- Profa. Dra. Elysandra Figueredo Cypriano - IAG/USP
- Prof. Dr. Ramachrisna Teixeira - IAG/USP
- Prof. Dr. Marco Aurelio de Menezes Franco - IAG/USP
- Profa. Dra. Amanda Gonçalves Bendia - IQ/USP
Abstract:
This work aims to create an educational board game to be used in Science and/or Natural Sciences classes, designed for 9th-grade students in Elementary School and 1st- and 2nd-year students in High School. The main goal is to understand how developing this educational product can help teachers address concepts related to Astronomy and Astrobiology through gamification an active learning approach that has become increasingly popular in basic education because of its close connection with students. To achieve this goal, a teaching sequence with three lessons was applied. The first lesson explored students’ prior knowledge; the second involved playing the game; and the third aimed to identify changes in students’ understanding after the activity. Based on this process, we analyzed the effectiveness of the educational product developed, called “Space Adventure.” The project takes students on a journey through the Solar System and other regions of space, making the experience light, fun, and educational by encouraging scientific curiosity and promoting meaningful learning.
Keywords: Astrobiology, Science Education, Astronomy, Active Learning, Educational Games.