Análise dos impactos da atuação do projeto "Preparação para a Olimpíada Brasileira de Informática em Crateús" em uma escola do ensino fundamental

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the impacts of the outreach project "Preparation for the Brazilian Computer Olympics in Crateús: Development of Logical and Computational Reasoning for Elementary School Students," which is offered by the Federal University of Ceará (UFC) in partnership with the municipal schools of Crateús-CE, in the academic training of the 6th year students of the Vilebaldo Barbosa Martins Basic Education School. This work considered how active participation in the project contributed to the development of Computational Thinking and if influenced the problem-solving ability, logical reasoning, and academic performance of students in Portuguese, Math, Science, and Religion. Furthermore, the students’ level of engagement and interest was assessed, investigating whether the experience influenced their motivation to continue participating in the Brazilian Computer Science Olympiad (OBI) and to pursue academic and professional careers in the field of computing. As a methodology, two assessments were applied along the lines of the OBI, as well as questionnaires that allowed the quantitative analysis of learning indicators and the qualitative evaluation of the perceptions of the students participating in the project. Furthermore, Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to measure the relationship between some regular subjects and the grades obtained in the OBI simulations. The results showed that the project had a positive impact on several skills, such as reading and logical reasoning, and that participation in the project led students to improve their classroom behavior and achieve superior performance in the OBI simulations. Participants demonstrated an interest in computing and expressed their intention to pursue higher education. Furthermore, the research findings will serve to refine the project and optimize teaching strategies focused on developing Computational Thinking.