INTERACTIVE EXPERIMENTS: PLAY AND LEARN SCIENCE

Abstract

This article presents an exploratory qualitative research, according to Trivinõs (1987). This is a case study, according to Gil (2008), applied in 2024, in a public school of basic education, in the municipality of Taquara, Rio Grande do Sul. The action addresses a Science workshop with interactive experiments, aimed at children in the 3rd year of Elementary School and created according to the Thematic Units for Science, in this school year, presented in the National Common Curriculum Base (BNCC, 2018). Three classes were attended, one in the morning and two in the afternoon, totaling 51 children in the age group of 8 and 9 years old. The main objective is to understand how interactive experiments can contribute to the learning of Science when the target audience is children. The action is part of a larger scientific dissemination project of the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Rio Grande do Sul, Rolante campus, applied collaboratively with public schools in the Vale do Paranhana region. To have a data collection instrument, the children were asked to make and deliver a drawing that represented what they learned from the workshop. The collected data were analyzed through Content Analysis, according to Bardin (2011). The results found are promising, this could be inferred through the three categories that emerged, a posteriori, being: (i) Meaningful learning; (ii) Learning built in the socio-historical context and (iii) Learning of scientific concepts. Although it is exploratory research, without a framework for generalization, in this case study the children bring us traces that interactive experiments help in the learning of Science, since they provided the construction of knowledge. In addition, the activity was well received and there was the engagement of all students in carrying out the experiments and in the proposed task, as well as the monitoring and assistance of the teachers of the classes.