Análise de interações de alunos do ensino secundário em ambientes virtuais

Abstract

In this study an environment was created to make teachers and students "believe" they were in a classroom, even though they were physically separated. We designed teaching-learning activities related to programming, in this case, 3D object modelling, with the purpose of analysing the interactions between students from three vocational education classes from three secondary schools, in a Virtual Reality environment. This exploratory study (case study) consisted in teaching three classes in a Virtual Reality environment, in the subject Programming and Information Systems of the first and second years of the Professional Course of Management and Programming of Computer Systems (TGPSI). The students programmed objects in 3D modelling. The motivation for using this environment is related to the idea of providing teachers and students with a new teaching and learning environment that facilitates the exploration of the initial concepts of programming and algorithms, which can be extended to any level of education. Simultaneously, it is intended to explore new environments, which can be customised. Starting from the experimentation and exploration of a classroom (identical to the real one), the study focused on discovering the benefits and challenges regarding the potential of these environments, considering the students' perspective. The aim was to understand how these environments can be facilitators of the teaching/learning process and promoters of socialisation, capable of involving and motivating the students. Based on the analysis of the results obtained, these environments were considered promising and innovative, with the potential to be applied not only in the current context of the pandemic, but also later when returning to classroom teaching.