Minecraft digital game as a space of discussion, reflection and action on STSE issues

Abstract

The STSE Education – Science, Technology, Society and Environment - indicates the necessity of articulating these fields within the students’ educational development. The simultaneous focus on Socio-scientific issues (SSI) allows students to participate in controversial discussions, and raises their awareness concerning decision-making processes in citizenship education. The problematization, involvement and empowerment of students, in reference to a collective space, are basic principles in STSE education. Dialogical Action of Paulo Freire and Communicative Action of Jürgen Habermas form the theoretical basis for dicussion, participation and argumentation in this research. The purpose of this study is to ally STSE education with the Minecraft digital game, in order to incorporate argumentative elements and collective construction in the digital environment. The main goal of this research is to analyze the students’ involvement in argumentative discussions and collective constructions on Socio-scientific Issues, and assess the potential for group work by using the Minecraft game. The task has been carried out in a private school, in Curitiba city (Paraná, Brazil), as part of a Science subject, in which two 8th grade Basic Education classes participated –12 to 13 year-old
students. Students worked together to discuss and propose alternative solutions related to Socioscientific
Issues. Afterwards, they built their school in a virtual environment of Minecraft with the addition of their sustainable proposals. During this process, it was possible to observe the employment of collective construction processes of argumentation. Students evinced the establishment of proposals and connections that allied scientific knowledge and social issues, which may be proof of argumentative development. The analysis of collective argumentative constructions highlighted some indicators concerning the students’ involvement in the discussions and the development of argumentative processes with educational potential. These elements can be related to possibilities for the work with STSE, Socio- scientific Issues and the Minecraft digital game.