THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON PUBLIC EDUCATION HISTORY AFTER THE PANDEMIC Guilherme Melo de Almeida Razões, Irineu Baptista Neto, João Victor Sales da Silva, Luiz da Silva Freitas, Marcia Regina Silva do Vale, Raphaela dos Santos Gonçalves, Camilla Santos Lima

Abstract

After the years of pandemic that ravaged Brazil and other countries, we have witnessed an unprecedented technological advancement. The internet has become significantly faster, providing access to virtual visits to museums and other cultural sites, such as art galleries and theatrical performances. In the discipline of History, this advancement was crucial in providing students with more engaging studies than before, when in-person visits were the only option. The aim of this work was to demonstrate how, in practice, technology positively or negatively influences students' daily lives. We conducted research in a municipal school in Santos/SP, with approximately 120 students from the Middle School, through a case study, using tablets provided by the school, which students could access in the classroom. In this case study, we addressed a specific History topic for each grade level and asked students to note which websites, blogs, TikTok, among others, they accessed and how they used them to understand the topic or the lesson. We made daily notes and later developed a spreadsheet to specify the use of technology in the class. As results, we noticed that the biggest concern of parents was the inappropriate use of technology and the time teenagers spent using tablets, cell phones, and notebooks. Our concern with this research was to highlight that these tools can be used for study and knowledge acquisition, but young people need to be guided on their proper use. Each lesson or topic generated specific handling and access, which allowed us to observe and note the most popular ones among teenagers and the reasons for that. Additionally, we fostered oral discussions among students to discourage the excessive use of this technology. We encountered difficulties both from teachers and students, as we realized that the dynamics were more effective in longer classes, where there was more time to spark students' interest. To date, we have only been able to conduct the study in one classroom. We also observed that many students were unclear about why they chose certain websites or social networks, being unable to assess what would be beneficial or harmful to their lives. In conclusion, we highlight the significant impact of technology on the teaching of History and other subjects in Middle School for both students and teachers. The use of technology facilitates and excites both within the classroom, but so far we have noticed that our teenagers are drawn to some social networks and sites that do not correspond to their financial, religious, and social reality, being hypnotized by conveniences that do not exist in a realistic life.