COMPARING WORKSHOPS WITH PLUGGED AND UNPLUGGED ACTIVITIES: HOW TO AROUSE STUDENTS' INTEREST IN THE CLASSROOM?

Abstract

This report addresses the experiences of two workshops for teaching basic programming logic, the first of which is focused on activities without the use of the computer (unplugged activities) and the second using this resource (plugged activities). These workshops were offered to students in the final grades of public elementary education in the northern coast of Rio Grande do Sul, to present the concepts of computational thinking, encouraging the search for learning with a playful methodology. Another purpose of the workshops is to publicize the IFRS teaching institution to these students, many of whom are unaware of the benefits of the federal network, and who then have the possibility of enrolling in the selection process for technical courses integrated into high school, besides promoting the opportunity of digital inclusion for many participants. So far, in 2022, 43 students have already been assisted, but the project has already assisted more than 450 participants in previous years, since 2017. The results obtained in 2022 show an improvement from 20% to 70% in the number of correct answers to the questions worked on, and reinforce the need to use digital resources, in an appropriate and playful way, to awaken the students' interest and autonomy in relation to the worked contents.