Aprendizagem móvel no canteiro de obra: a utilização de smartphones como ferramenta pedagógica complementar ao processo de ensino e aprendizagem no Programa Escola Zé Peão

Abstract

With the popularity of mobile devices and ease of access to the internet, consumers of this technology are able to appropriate a wide range of information and extend communication on a global scale. Society has followed a digital revolution, that is, education must renew its pedagogical practices by accompanying technological developments and introducing into its methodology suitable resources to this new social situation, which has an array of educational possibilities. By using mobile devices as a complementary pedagogical tool aimed at educational processes it expands the interaction between teachers and students inside and outside school. This very new way of teaching and learning is called mobile learning. Through the monitoring of contextualized learning activities in tandem with the use of smartphones, we seek to examine the development of young learners and adults in literacy processes with respect to the acquisition of reading and writing competences as well as digital inclusion. The Zé Peão School Programme (PEZP) has implemented mobile learning through two projects, such as Programa de Letramento na Língua Materna (PALMA) and Aprendizagem Móvel no Canteiro de Obras (AMCO). Both projects are mainly to apply activities with the use of smartphones to support the development of reading and writing practices and digital inclusion. The present monograph has the objective of analyzing the educational impacts from the implementation of such mobile technology in the educational context. PALMA and AMCO are applied to Youth and Adult literacy courses developed by PEZP. The latter is based on the literacy of young adults and construction workers and accommodates classrooms that are located in the very construction areas, which serve two specific literacy programmes: Learning on the First Floor (Aprendizagem na Primeira Laje - APL) students, that is, the ones who have no mastery of reading and writing; and Brick on Brick (Tijolo sobre Tijolo - TST) students who have some knowledge of reading and writing practices. The methodology used in this research is of an exploratory nature so as to investigate, observe and generate explanations as well as implement interventions at its conduction, which characterizes action research. Data have been collected through instruments such as observation forms, an online-based management system for monitoring activities, surveys, interviews, and more. The results indicate the need for a greater investment in mobile learning, especially in the adult education context and specific teacher training for the introduction and use of mobile devices in teaching methodologies.