A Roseli Lopes, por ser uma inspiração em meu caminho, pelas longas conversas e leituras cuidadosas, e sobretudo por ter confiado em minhas decisões e aceitado orientar este trabalho.A todos os colegas do CITI-USP, que direta ou indiretamente auxiliaram no desenvolvimento desta pesquisa. Agradeço especialmente a Adriana Klein, por toda a ajuda durante a terceira etapa deste estudo, Leandro Biazon, pelo auxílio com detalhes técnicos que viabilizaram a realização das atividades nas escolas, Marcelo Archanjo, pelas conversas sobre aspectos eletrônicos do kit, e Irene Ficheman, por me possibilitar a conexão com este grupo que tornou o meu caminho mais feliz.Às equipes de gestão das escolas que participaram deste estudo: Cecília Medina, Ângela Larimari, Ya Jen Chang, Claudia Siqueira, Michael Filardi e Marisa Garcia, por acreditarem na proposta e terem me oferecido tamanha liberdade. Aos professores Cida Godinho e Rodrigo Nogueira, pela nossa feliz parceria e por estarem sempre abertos às minhas ideias. Agradeço ainda a Gislaine Munhoz e Regina Gavassa da SME-SP por todo o apoio durante a realização desta pesquisa.
ABSTRACTThere has been a growing interest in introducing physical programming activities in educational environments, and there are several published works that comment on the benefits provided by such activities, stating they can provide a way to stimulate creativity in classrooms. However, there are still few scientific publications that present empirical analysis related to the evaluation of the effects of physical programming activities on the development of the creative potential of students. This research investigated how physical programming activities, designed from a tinkering approach, influenced the potential and creative feeling of Elementary School students.Our curriculum, based on the constructivist theoretical framework, was elaborated with the goal of engaging every student, and to develop their creative potential and creative confidence. Given the need to adapt and develop materials for the application of the proposed curriculum, we created a physical programming toolkit, as well as new learning resources. This curriculum was applied from successive reformulations at two private schools and one public school in Brazil. In addition to observing students' behavior in classrooms and periodic follow-up interviews with them, three data collection instruments were used: (1) interviews, (2) questionnaires about creative self-efficacy and motivation for learning, and (3) a divergent thinking test. The instruments (2) and (3) were also applied to a control group, with pre and post tests. We share the learnings that emerged from the activities, the difficulties found during the development of the curriculum, and strategies that may help with the implementation of introductory physical programming curricula in Elementary School. The results indicate that the application of the activities had a positive impact on students , as well as in their creative confidence and motivation for learning. The resu...