Educational Robotics with 5th Grade Elementary School Students: Designing a Game about the Brazilian Cerrado

Abstract

This text is a report on activities carried out with 5th-grade elementary school students at a rural school under the Regional Education Coordination of Brazlândia. The activities aimed to integrate scientific concepts about the Cerrado biome with the development of Computational Thinking skills as part of preparations for a robotics competition held in December 2024. The guiding teachers introduced the specific characteristics of this biome and encouraged student participation through projects involving Educational Robotics and the creation of games using the Scratch platform. This led to the proposal for the game “With Our Feet in the Cerrado.” The activities were conducted using the school’s mobile computer lab and four Makey Makey boards. This game was submitted as an innovation project at the Robotics Tournament organized by the Social Service of Industry (SESI). The pedagogical initiative highlighted student learning about the Cerrado biome, especially during the creation of game questions, as the variety of questions demonstrated their understanding of the region’s fauna, flora, and environmental conservation strategies. During the tournament, students developed various skills such as teamwork, problem-solving, logical reasoning, and more.