Educational Navagability in Crisis

the Real World of Teachers in Disconnection with the Synthetic Virtual Worlds of Students

Abstract

This study is part of a broader research project developed within the scope of the Pedagogical Residency Program, linked to the Extension Project “Creation of Learning Communities and Practices in Synthetic Worlds,” of the Faculty of Education of the State University of Minas Gerais. This is a basic exploratory and descriptive investigation that sought to answer the following question: what is the perception of teachers about the synthetic worlds in which 3rd and 4th grade elementary school students navigate, and how can this virtuality be endowed with a pedagogical learning strategy? The data were collected in 2023 from 52 students and 10 teachers at a public school in the municipality of Belo Horizonte. The results indicate that there is an undeniable crisis of navigability that radically separates teachers from their students. A crisis diagnosed in two ways: teachers who are unaware of the virtual worlds in which students navigate and students who are unable to transfer their digital knowledge to the real world of school. Overcoming this crisis requires many actions. One of them, perhaps the most relevant, is the provision of qualified initial and continuing training in digital culture for teachers.