Estimulando o pensamento computacional e o estudo de matemática por meio da construção de fractais no Scratch: uma proposta didática para alunos do ensino médio

Abstract

The importance of students knowing mathematics comes to the fact it is an indispensable tool in several areas of knowledge. However, in the latest evaluations made by the International Student Assessment Program (PISA), Brazil has been taking the last positions when compared with other countries. The results have shown that a large number of Brazilian students have insufficient mathematical knowledge and are unable to solve routine and elementary questions. For this reason, it is necessary to think about strategies to solve this problem. In this work, we propose a didactic sequence to stimulate the study of Mathematics and the development of computational thinking under the construction of fractals in Scratch. The activities were developed aiming at raising student’s interest and curiosity through the beauty and connection between nature and the Mathematical concepts of fractals in addition to exploring technologies, which has been a great ally for the teaching of Mathematics and other subjects. More specifically, we propose a workshop with eight meetings for high school students, in which we present a brief history, some definitions, their characteristics and examples of fractals in nature, and their applications in some areas of knowledge. Next are requested tasks that encourage the recognition of the formation rules of some fractals and facilitate the construction of their algorithms in Scratch. Finally, some activities can be performed by visualizing fractals in Scratch to improve or deepen the knowledge of some mathematical contents. To make the application of the didactic sequence that we propose in this work easier, all the material produced will be made available on the internet. In this way, any elementary school teacher will be able to download and edit it, if necessary.