Authorship of digital games by children with and without disabilities in the general education classroom

Abstract

This article has the purpose of evaluating the process of collaborative construction of a digital game by children with and without disabilities in the context of regular education. It is an applied and qualitative research, whose theoretical-methodological references are based on Vygotsky’s historical-cultural approach to the creative activity of students with intellectual disabilities, in Design-Based Research (DBR), which combines research in education with the problems experienced in practice through collaboration between participants and researchers and in the framework of creating digital games for children. Twenty-five children participated in the research, including three with intellectual disabilities, from the 4th grade of Elementary School in a municipal school in Brazil. Interdisciplinary research combines Education, Design and Computer Science in a creative process that uses pedagogical techniques and game design and the sharing of ideas and collaboration between Elementary School children, with and without disabilities, and Higher Education academics. As a result, the creation of a digital game of authorship and collective idealization of the students was obtained, in the definition of characters, scenarios, mechanics and narratives. Such results confer the protagonism of children in the creation process, the learning of children with disabilities, the integration between academy and school and the feasibility of applying the framework in contexts of regular and inclusive education.