O jogo da vida como ferramenta para desenvolvimento do pensamento matemático e computacional no ensino médio

Abstract

The Game of Life, although not properly characterized as a game, was created by John Conway in 1970 and is one of the most well-known examples of a cellular automaton. Its main characteristic lies in the fact that, starting from a relatively simple set of rules, the patterns generated from a given initial configuration, through successive iterations, can lead to diverse and highly complex behaviors on a two-dimensional grid in which the entire dynamics unfold. Motivated by the potential applications of the Game of Life in the development of mathematical and computational thinking and in the heuristic analysis of systems sensitive to small perturbations - aspects that have a significant impact on the teaching and learning processes of Mathematics - , this work presents an introduction to the Game of Life, highlighting some of its most notable patterns. The objective is to support the formulation of a didactic sequence proposal that incorporates the Game of Life and Digital Information and Communication Technologies (DICTs) as pedagogical tools in secondary education