Jogando, construindo e transformando o jogo queimada nas aulas de educação física

Abstract

This study emerges from concerns experienced in everyday school practice, particularly regarding the hegemony of futsal as the only legitimized bodily practice in Physical Education (PE) classes at a public school in Santos, Brazil. This scenario highlights the impoverishment of the curricular component and the limited students’ understanding of the diversity of body culture, as well as the need to discuss the methodological issues that guide teaching practice. The objective was to analyze the teaching and learning of the dodgeball game (queimada) as PE content through the development of a teaching unit (TU) with a 5th-grade elementary school class, valuing it as a cultural manifestation and a formative element. A qualitative approach was adopted, using action research methodology, through the implementation of a TU consisting of nine lessons, grounded in the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) model. Data were produced through lesson diaries written by the teacher-researcher, containing observations and records of students throughout the practices. Data analysis allowed the identification of three categories: (1) Participation, Student Agency, and Teacher Mediation, which showed that the organization of modified games fostered greater student engagement and autonomy, reinforcing the teacher’s role as a mediator of learning and revealing transformations in teaching practice through reflective processes; (2) Tactical Understanding, Assessment, and Space Management from individual to collective, indicating advances in game reading, decision-making, and understanding of dodgeball’s tactical relationships, enhanced by small-sided games; and (3) Inclusion, Equity, and Socioemotional Climate, demonstrating that pedagogical adaptations and collectively constructed rules expanded participation, reduced conflicts, and strengthened cooperative attitudes. The results indicate that dodgeball, when intentionally planned and grounded in active methodologies such as TGfU, constitutes a powerful content to diversify the curriculum, promote meaningful learning, and contribute both to students’ holistic development and to the teacher’s professional growth.