BIOPOKÉMOLOGY: PROPOSAL FOR A GAME BASED ON POKÉMON FOR THE TEACHING OF FOOD CHAINS AND FOOD WEBS FOR HIGH SCHOOL

Abstract

In this report, the effectiveness of an educational virtual game for teaching food chains and webs for high school was investigated. Pokémon characters represented real organisms, and users were able to analyze interactions in food chains and webs. In the classroom, students were divided into 2 groups: traditional teaching vs. games. The students of traditional education had the content basically through expository classes and the game group was quickly introduced to an expository content and then was exposed to the virtual game on a television and were exposed to various situations, to which they had to make decisions, choosing "yes" and "no" signs. At the end of each method, the students answered a questionnaire about their perceptions. The data revealed that for learning, interest in Biology and stimulation of extra-class studies, the game was better evaluated than the traditional method. Interestingly, the students submitted to the game were more critical of the method, showing their analytical performance throughout the process. In the analysis of test scores, the afternoon students in the game group performed better, unlike the night students, who performed better after the traditional method, showing that the demand for greater performance by the students can lead to a worse result in certain situations; Despite this, overall, the performance with the game was better. According to the data, the Biopokémologia game proved to be effective in teaching Biology, both in terms of student evaluation and evaluation performance.