O uso da plataforma Google classroom na prática de ensino dos professores de Geografia do Sudoeste do Paraná no período da pandemia da Covid-19.

Abstract

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) take on increasingly significant spaces in everyday school life and change relationships between people, especially regarding to the access to information and its relationship to the construction of knowledge. In this way, they bring pedagogical and methodological challenges to the teacher. Different technologies apply to the construction of school knowledge and add to ICT. In this context, the contribution of Learning and Knowledge Technologies (LKT) and Technologies of Empowerment and Participation (TEP) in promoting significant changes in the training and emancipation of subjects are highlighted. The main objective of this research is to analyze how Geography teachers from the Southwest of Paraná used the Google Classroom application as a teaching technology during the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as to analyze the existence of a continuous training process for the state education network teacher to work with applications and other digital media at school, mainly the Google Classroom application. The theoretical approach is presented from authors who work with the theme starting with the contributions of Gama (1986) and Vieira Pinto (2005) on the concepts of technique and technology; Feenberg (2013) about the philosophy of technology; Lévy (1999) who highlights the specificities and relationships between hypertext and information, knowledge space and knowledge; Kenski (2012) who conceptualizes and discusses ICT in the same way that Capella (2012) addresses CAT and authors Freire and Shor (1986) discuss TEP. Seed/PR documents (2010, 2014, 2021) on Distance Learning and Guidelines for the Use of Information and Communication Technologies were important sources for bibliographical research and data collection. Stands out in this framework: Brandalise (2019); Beline (2006); Cantini (2008); Coelho and Pretto (2014); Menezes (2021); Oliveira (1997); Tavares (2021) and Tono (2003) who contributed by fostering discussions on the implementation of public policies for the use of technologies at the federal and state levels. Field data were obtained through the application of a closed questionnaire containing ten questions answered by 177 teachers from the Regional Education Centers (REC) of Pato Branco, Dois Vizinhos and Francisco Beltrão. The intent of this research is to contribute to the debate on the insertion of ICT in the teaching process, analyzing how teachers have been prepared by Seed/PR for the use of this resource. It was identified through this work that women predominate in teaching in the Southwest of Paraná, who work simultaneously in Elementary and High School; have an average of 15 years of teaching; during the term of remote teaching, they had access to good quality internet, at their own costs; knew the existence of the government program “Sala de Aula Conectada” and “Conectados 2.0 Cultura Digital” but did not participate in its execution; who did not participate in any type of training regarding the use of the Google Classroom platform before the pandemic and had to learn on their own during this period. They also consider that the pandemic contributed to teachers to seeking greater knowledge about ICT; that the Google Classroom platform regularly contributed to the teaching of Geography during that period; and that consider it important that Seed/PR promotes courses on the use of the Google Classroom platform, even after the end of the pandemic. Despite this, most of them consider it important to look for other softwares to improve the teaching of Geography, in addition to learning better about the potentialities11 and limits of Google Classroom. The results obtained indicate that the training process promoted by the State Secretariat lacks improved dissemination and training mechanisms so that, consequently, teachers can develop the potential for interaction, knowledge and skills related to it, strengthening the educational process aimed at training of students capable of performing critical analysis and helping in the construction of geographic space.