Student engagement through the use of digital games, Physics, Natural Sciences, High School, Mathematics.

This work takes place just after the 2020 school year, which was mostly held online due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus and along with the numerous challenges and changes in education, such as the implementation of a new high school model in Brazil. Besides that, there is also a difficulty to find digital resources that address the subject of the Natural Sciences, that meet the requirements of students in such level, to introduce the subjects into their studies. In such context, this work proposes the planning of activities with the development of digital games as a strategy to increase student engagement in classes, based on the concept of meaningful learning theory. This study started with a bibliographical research on the state of the art in this subject, carrying out a survey of the requirements from teacher in order to organize and plan the use of digital games in their classes. Then, it was developed the proposed methodology for planning and monitoring the use of digital games development for teaching Natural Sciences and Mathematics curricular components. This research was conducted using qualitative research, with practical action research as the methodological strategy chosen to carry it out, aiming to diagnose the problem in its specific context to improve engagement in the classroom. Finally, the students were encouraged to learn physics in a more fun way, through the development of digital games using TDICs based on evidence, scientific knowledge, ethics and socio-environmentally responsible principles. It was found evidences that these students have increased their engagement in studying the proposed subjects, expanding their reflections, exploring problem situations and interpreting phenomena from their daily lives.