Playful Authored Technological Environments (PATE): developing creative spaces for learning and experimentation

Abstract

This study presents a research that led to the development of the concept of “Ambiente Tecnológico Lúdico de Autoria (ATLA)”, based on theorists such as Piaget and Vygotsky, among others, from the articulation of ideas about learning, playfulness, experimentation and authorship in the construction of a proposal for a learning space. ATLA consist into spaces of learning and teaching that cover the dvantages of playfulness, potentiated by the technology and the possibility of authorship, allowing experimentation and knowledge construction in a challenging, creative and pleasurable way. As from the proposed concept, the architecture and design requirements that configures the ATLA were set up. The concept of ATLA was applied to a
prototype named Saberlândia that was framed as a platform for development of games. ATLA Saberlândia
presents structure and functionality designed in order to enable the authoring of educative and interactive 3D
games by the teacher, according to the desired concept, allowing the use of technological resources, and the
game as a tool for teaching and learning. Saberlândia provides up thus the creation of spaces that are
contextualized with the goals proposed by the teacher, in which the player can manipulate virtual and/or real
technological objects and perform experiments implementing ideas and concepts. In order to allow a broader view of ATLA possibilities, and to evaluate its completeness, tests and validations of the concept and prototype were applied to the development of the following case studies: i. The development of the game “A Era do Ânima”, and ii. The development of the playful activity “R2D2”.