Authors:
Pedro Clarindo da Silva Neto
;
Arthur Octavio Confessor
;
Suellen Lages
;
João Paulo Delgado Preti
;
Tiago de Alameida Lacerda
and
Thiessa Esteves Leite
Affiliation:
Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Mato Grosso, Campus Cuiabá - Cel. Octayde Jorge da Silva, Rua Zulmira Canavarros, 95 - Centro, Cuiabá, Brazil
Keyword(s):
Unplugged Computing, Computational Thinking, High School Education, Unplugged Memory.
Abstract:
Courses such as Algorithms and Programming Language face significant challenges in High School technical education in Brazil due to the high levels of abstraction required, leading to low grades, high repetition, and dropout rates. To address these issues, unplugged activities were implemented in the Programming Fundamentals course to foster Computational Thinking concepts: decomposition, pattern recognition, abstraction, and algorithm design. These activities included the creation of board games designed to simplify complex topics such as dynamic memory allocation and pointers. By breaking down abstract concepts into tangible and playful activities, students demonstrated greater engagement and reduced learning barriers. The feedback of the students indicated high satisfaction with the approach, highlighting its potential to bridge the gap between foundational and advanced technical concepts. This paper introduces Unplugged Computing as a practical strategy for improving the teaching
-learning process in Programming Fundamentals during the year 2023.
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