A engenharia didático-informática no desenvolvimento de um jogo digital acessível para estudantes surdos: contribuições do Geomaze para a aprendizagem dos polígonos

Abstract

Games, traditionally associated with entertainment and leisure, have also gained ground in the educational context. They have been used in classrooms as tools capable of motivating students and providing engaging and meaningful learning experiences due to their elements, interactive features, and narrative structures. From this perspective, the objective of this research was to develop a digital game addressing the content of polygons, anchored in the theoretical and methodological framework of Didactic-Informatic Engineering (DIE), and considering the accessible dimension to support deaf students. This is an applied research study conducted from a qualitative methodological perspective. The research methodology is based on Didactic-Informatic Engineering, specifically in the Analytic-Hypothetical and Hypothetical-Experimental cycles. In the first cycle, known as Analytic-Hypothetical, the analytical phase was carried out, starting with the application of a questionnaire to deaf students in order to assess the usability of digital games and gather information about their needs, difficulties, and expectations. This stage also addressed problems in the teaching and learning of polygon content, identified potential users, and defined the game development team. In this phase, preliminary analyses were conducted, resulting in the identification of the didactic, epistemological, cognitive, and informatic dimensions related to the content to be explored in the game, in addition to proposing the accessible dimension, aimed at promoting accessibility for deaf students in educational games. In the second cycle, Hypothetical-Experimental, usage scenarios, interaction hypotheses, and possible issues in the digital game were developed, culminating in the creation of a prototype tested with two deaf students from CAS – Mossoró. The prototype was subsequently improved based on the principles of Didactic-Informatic Engineering. This study supports the thesis that the creation of the “Accessible” dimension within Didactic-Informatic Engineering enables the development of educational digital games with the potential to meet the specific needs of deaf students, as demonstrated in the design and development process of the Geomaze game, focused on teaching polygons. The research results highlight that the use of Didactic-Informatic Engineering in game development guided the necessary elements to meet the proposed educational objectives, enabling the structuring of an educational product consistent with pedagogical principles and accessible to both deaf and hearing students.