Jogos digitais sob a perspectiva da Educação Matemática Crítica para a constituição de um acervo no Museu Game Ciência

Abstract

In the field of mathematics education, schooling plays an essential role in the holistic formation of individuals, going beyond the development of technical skills to promote a critical, reflective, and socially engaged education. In this context, the use of digital technologies emerges as a promising strategy to foster students’ interest, especially through the integration of interactive resources such as digital games. From this perspective, this study analyzes digital games designed for mathematics teaching through the lens of Critical Mathematics Education, with the aim of contributing to the establishment of a new collection at the Museu Game Ciência (Science Game Museum). Understanding science museums as sociocultural spaces of non-formal education and recognizing the formative potential of digital games, this research investigates how these artifacts can support processes of critical mathematical literacy. The main objective of this work was to conduct a critical analysis of digital games developed for mathematics education, in light of Critical Mathematics Education, in order to support the creation of a new collection at the Museu Game Ciência focused on mathematics. The specific objectives were: to survey digital games developed for mathematics teaching using two online platforms, according to defined research criteria, highlighting the content and individual characteristics of each game to refine the museum’s collection; to identify games that most closely align with the sociocultural context and intentions of the Museu Game Ciência; and to analyze these games through the perspective of Critical Mathematics Education, thus providing a theoretical basis for their incorporation into the museum’s mathematics collection. This investigation adopts a qualitative, exploratory approach, guided by Skovsmose’s theoretical framework and complemented by authors who discuss education through digital games. Based on the principles of Content Analysis, the games were organized into three main categories, defined a priori: digital games and pure mathematics, digital games and semi-reality mathematics, and digital games and reality mathematics, according to the level of contextualization and problematization of the mathematical content presented. The results reveal the predominance of the first two categories, in which mathematics appears mainly as a set of decontextualized technical exercises or as puzzles embedded in artificial narratives, reinforcing the exercise paradigm and reproducing traditional school practices. Only three titles were classified within the reality mathematics category, where mathematics is articulated with concrete social practices and integrated into realistic contexts of decision-making, revealing possibilities that are more aligned with the principles of Critical Mathematics Education. Although traditional and technicist approaches still prevail in the analyzed games, there remains potential for developing critical and reflective pedagogical practices, especially when these games are used within educational proposals grounded in mediation and intentionality. From this perspective, we believe that this study contributes to the debate on the integration between digital culture and Critical Mathematics Education, by highlighting digital games as tools that can enhance contextualized learning in museum spaces and promote dialogue between playfulness, mathematical knowledge, and social transformation.