Introduction

The work with the discipline (curricular component) “Text production” in basic education, especially in high school, shows that it is a task that has its challenges and its achievements, therefore, it is a field of fruitful demands for work of research. Currently, students in this stage of the cycle, especially third-year students, are involved in concerns about the selection processes and the National High School Exam (ENEM, Portuguese initials), and the essay is always a cause for wear, because it generates anxiety, demands, search for results, insecurity regarding evaluation and expectations, image that the subjects have of the act of writing, of themselves as text producers, among others. On the teachers' side, challenges also abound, among them, charging the management team for results, expectations of students and their families, workload of the discipline, didactic material available and opportunities for specific continuing education. Added to this scenario are the beliefs about the use of technologies in the classroom, proposals for active methodologies and new documents, such as the recently approved National Common Curricular Base (BNCC, Portuguese initials).

In view of this fruitful terrain, it is proposed in this study to better understand the relationship between the problem-solving methodology combined with the use of technology in the classroom with a view to proposing a work script for text production classes in High school. To this end, a specific bibliographic study was carried out, starting with reference authors in the area and official documents (Enem's Competence Matrix, BNCC, Pedagogical Political Project of the School where the research is carried out), in addition to an action research to from a sequence of writing classes in 3rd grade classes at a private school in the countryside of São Paulo.

The objective of this research is, therefore, from a theoretical-practical study, to propose a viable model for the classroom that is aligned with theoretical, methodological and documentary assumptions and that, above all, gives meaning to the teacher and student. The goal is to reflect on conditions in which the teacher can actually experience the position of mediator in the learning process (MEIER; GARCIA, 2011) and that the student does not see writing as a mere task, but as a significant gesture in his integral formation (BRASIL, 2018, p. 14). The concern here will always be twofold: on the one hand, those who are in the classroom and want, intentionally and no longer intuitively, to create the conditions for active learning; on the other, who is in charge of the guidance of a group of language teachers, among them, several of writing, and wants to consolidate in this group also the teaching of writing with intentionality and reasoning for working with active methodologies.

Methodology

The discussions and approval of the BNCC raised important issues for the Brazilian education scenario, in addition to statistical indicators that have been generated for some time (Programme for International Student Assessment - PISA; Basic Education Assessment System - SAEB; National High School Exam - ENEM). The current challenge lies in overcoming a purely statistical and market context towards a qualitative and reflective treatment of this scenario. Thus, the present work will highlight some points of this state of affairs in relation to documents, theories and indicators that will support the research.

Regarding documents, the Enem Competence Matrix ⁴ (2009) points to the need to work with skills and abilities from a set of cognitive axes common to all areas of knowledge. Among these axes, three concern aspects of textual production that are to be analyzed in this work: III. Facing problem situations; IV. Build argumentation; V. Develop proposals.

The development of such axes is guided by a set of 09 competencies and 30 specific skills in the Languages ​​area. In addition, there is an Enem Participant Handbook that is published every year to guide students in relation to the test, but it is also widely used by teaching systems, teaching materials and teachers to guide work in the classroom with a view to meet the expectations of managers, maintainers, systems, students and family in relation to the quantitative performance at Enem. This manual brings the Reference Matrix for the assessment of newsrooms, organized by specific competencies, among which the fifth stands out: “To elaborate an intervention proposal for the problem addressed, respecting human rights”. Failure to comply with this criterion in its entirety (failing to submit the proposal related to the topic of writing and/or violating human rights with the proposal) leads to a penalty of zero in this competence.

Regarding this requirement, the booklet explains to the participant that the text he will produce in the test must, necessarily, bring an intervention proposal to the problem addressed by him. Such proposal, still according to the official document, should express the student's vision of the possibility of solving the problem and, still, respect human rights, guided by principles of citizenship, freedom, solidarity and cultural diversity (INEP, 2018, p. 22).

It appears that this booklet and, by extension, the theoretical bases that support it, envision an education that forms citizens capable of reflecting on everyday problem situations and of solving them in an autonomous and authorial way (“your vision, as an author”, INEP, 2018, p. 22), mobilizing several mechanisms from their school and extra-school formation (since the use of a productive socio-cultural repertoire is also part of the evaluation criteria - Competence 2). This presupposes an education model aimed at reflective and emancipatory learning that rarely happens on a large scale, with some exceptions. Often, students do not understand the importance of these requirements or fulfill them out of mere obligation, reproducing formulas ready for intervention proposals. If that were not already, in a way, a critical point in the state of affairs, respect for human rights also becomes a cause for doubt or stir.

First, this requirement comes from an alignment of Brazilian and international policies related to the treatment of human rights:

• Universal Declaration of Human Rights (DUDH, 1948, Portuguese initials);

• Federal Constitution (CF,1988, Portuguese initials);

• National Human Rights Education Plan (PNEDH, 2006, Portuguese initials);

• United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Education and Training (DNUEFDH, 2011, Portuguese initials);

• National Guidelines for Human Rights Education (DNEDH, 2012, Portuguese initials);

• World Programme for Human Rights Education (PMEDH, 2014, Portuguese initials).

Thus, it is to be expected that these documents and guidelines are of ample and deep knowledge of the management body and the faculty and their assumptions are worked on in the classroom, in all subjects, since students would build their intellectual autonomy and, therefore, their authorial capacity in all school space-times. However, students report difficulty in handling this knowledge, since it is not intentionally part of many pedagogical activities, being restricted, at best, only to the hidden curriculum. Society, in turn, also has its difficulties with the concept of human rights, a fact that can be seen in the simple observation of the doxa around the theme, materialized by speeches such as “human rights for right humans” or “human rights serve to defend criminals”. The level of non-internalization of human rights could also be seen in the movement that questioned the validity of evaluating respect for them in Enem's wording, culminating in a change in the application of the evaluation criterion⁵.

One of the purposes of this article is precisely to make this work of autonomy, authorship and citizenship noticeable and understandable to students, so that they recognize themselves in this position, can commit themselves to this vision of learning and start to see this criterion do Enem not only as a method of analyzing their performance in a large-scale evaluation, but as an objective of comprehensive formation. This, in the view of BNCC, refers to the intentional construction of educational processes that promote learning in tune with the needs, possibilities and interests of students and also with the challenges of contemporary society (BRASIL, 2018, p. 14).

This time, in view of human rights education “understood as a systematic and multidimensional process that guides the formation of the subject of rights”⁶ (PNEDH, 2006, p. 25), attention is drawn to the dimensions of this educational process listed in the table below. These dimensions are related to some methodological procedures in the text production classroom used by this research, which is intended to be proposed at the end of this study, as a possibility of didactic planning for other writing classes. This relationship between dimensions and procedures is shown in 01, below:

Table 01

- Relation between dimensions of human rights education and procedures applied in research

Source: Devised by the authors.

In addition, the way in which the BNCC indicates that comprehensive education is achieved involves the 10 general competencies, among which the 1st, 5th and 9th stand out for the analysis proposed here. Such competences are related to the valorization of the knowledge historically constructed to understand the reality and collaborate for the realization of a society based on justice, democracy and inclusion (1st); the understanding and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) with a critical, reflective and ethical posture to solve problems and be a protagonist in society (5th); the exercise of empathy, dialogue, cooperation and conflict resolution respecting human rights (9th) (BRASIL, 2018, p. 9).

There is an alignment of views between these important current documents of Brazilian education (Matrix, BNCC and PNEDH), whose main issues are the starting point of this article. However, the materialization of this vision of education must include reflection on the curriculum, formation and the teacher's role, methodologies and teaching materials. It is noteworthy that this is not only a Brazilian concern, given the notion of education for global citizenship proposed by Unesco (2015, p.15), which aims to create conditions for students to engage and take active positions, in local, but also global spheres, “to face and solve global challenges and, finally, proactively contribute to a more just, peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, safe and sustainable world”⁷.

In view of these broad assumptions that justify the commitment to this work, we will move on to its immediate context. The scenario for the development of this research was a private philanthropic and confessional school that has existed for 100 years in the interior of the state of São Paulo. The institution has about 400 students enrolled in high school (academic year 2019), among them, approximately 130 in the 3rd grade, therefore, about to undergo the selective exams and Enem. Among the students, there is a population coming from the upper-middle and upper class and also students with the right to gratuity (proven socioeconomic need), all studying together in the same classrooms without any type of identification, differentiation or distinction. This creates an interesting learning environment, heterogeneous in relation to expectations, life projects and the “cultural capital” (BOURDIEU, 2011, p. 67). The school adopts didactic material handled throughout the cycle, but there is a freedom offered by the management body for teachers to use other resources in the classroom, according to needs.

The institution's curricular matrix divides the language area into specific components, with different teachers taking responsibility for them: Art, Physical Education, Spanish Language, English Language, Portuguese Language (grammar), Literature and Writing Techniques (TR, Portuguese initials). In high school, one teacher works TR in the 1st grade (2 class hours per week) and another in the 2nd grade (2 class hours per week) and in the 3rd grade (3 class hours per week). The 3rd class TR workload was expanded in 2016 with a view to intensifying practical work in the classroom.

The institution's management organization chart is made up of a general director, an assistant director in each sector (early childhood education, elementary school beginning years, elementary school final years and high school), pedagogical coordinators by sector and four specialist teachers who, in addition to working in the classroom, they guide other teachers in relation to specific questions in each area of knowledge (Languages, Human Sciences, Natural Sciences and Mathematics). These specialist professors are part of the Area Orientation (AO), created by managers in 2017. AO deals daily with the continuing education of teachers, with reflection on assessment instruments and methodologies, with the analysis of didactic material and with the monitoring of results of internal and external evaluations. The institution's objective was to create an internal space for formation and self-assessment of the teaching staff, in which there is a strengthening of coherent practices appropriate to the specific context of the school itself and in line with current theories and documents. Thus, the results presented in this article fall within the scope of these concerns as well, that is, make a reflection that can extend to more teachers, reaching the work of other teachers.

The problem addressed in this study concerns the desire to make writing classes more meaningful for students and teachers and, for them, charged with more intentionality than intuitiveness, in a gesture of leaving the hidden curriculum. The methodology chosen to make these objectives materialize is to solve problem situations. It is a strategy that aims to start from meaningful, contextualized and real situations, and the role of the teacher becomes that of who provides conditions, resources, guidance and instruction to students throughout the learning process (ARAÚJO, 2014, p. 113). According to Machado (2016), the strategy of problematization and contextualization in the learning of concepts goes against the fragmentation of learning, as it puts the student in the face of real, complex problems, which will instigate him to provide answers and solutions that are also complex. Macedo (2005) proposes, regarding the resolution of problem-situations, that they be thought from tasks for the realization of which the student must mobilize his available resources to then make decisions (MACEDO, 2005, p. 31).

The choice for this strategy sought to take advantage of all the possibilities that it would open to enhance the learning processes, since jointly the groups of students analyzed real problems, from predetermined roles, and judged among their peers the effectiveness and validation of their interventions. However, in addition to all the gains that this approach could have in the learning processes, there is an interesting relationship between it and Brazil's performance in an analysis that also takes it as a method. In 2015, PISA carried out a Collaborative Problem Resolution (RCP, Portuguese initials) assessment and, although our official documents have addressed this competence for a decade and are reinforced by subsequent documents, Brazilian students are still deficient in this activity.

PISA defines RCP as the capacity to engage in a process in which two or more subjects work together to solve a problem, in order to share understandings, efforts, knowledge and skills (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-OECD, 2015, p. 3). The PISA matrix for RCP highlights the following competencies: establishing and maintaining shared understanding; act appropriately to resolve the problem; establish and maintain team organization. From this, the guiding question of PISA-RCP was “Are 15-year-old students prepared to work collectively, productively?”. The evaluation had 52 countries and economies (32 OECD member countries and 20 partner countries/economies) participating. One of the results of the report points out that, on average, 28% of students from OECD countries were able to solve only low complexity problems and which required lower levels of collaboration. In the case of Brazilian students, this index jumps to around 60%, drawing attention to the difficulty that our students have in solving problems and collaborative activities.

Therefore, this worrying result was seen as an opportunity to shed light on problem-solving strategies as great opportunities to get the student to develop multiple skills, develop their cognitive and socioemotional skills, build their place of speech with autonomy and authorship starting from the internalization “of values, attitudes and social practices that express the culture of human rights in all spaces of society” (PNEDH). This reinforces the option of this article for the UN assembly simulation models, as it is believed that it is a materialization of the problem-solving approach combined with collaborative, investigative, dialogical work and based on real problems that started from the observation, analysis and choice of the students themselves.

The simulations of the Assembly of the General Council of the United Nations (UN) take place in universities⁸, especially where there is a degree in International Relations, so that students can experience diplomatic practice during discussions of real problems that always have a purposeful goal. In the case of this specific research, in addition to forming working groups, choosing the country they would like to represent, discussing in groups that represented diplomatic delegations from countries, students chose subjects, researched about them, formulated themes and presented them in debate sessions, exercising, among other competencies, the writing of some textual genres, such as the working paper and the argumentative-dissertative essay writing Enem model. The teacher-researcher assumed the role of mediator and observer of the strategies used by the students and conducted the self-assessment of the groups of students in relation to the proposed activities.

This whole process also included the use of digital technologies in the classroom. Moran (2007) draws attention to a view of the school as “a space for research, experimentation, production, presentation, debate, synthesis”, with multiple possibilities from the use of cell phones, for example, which would emerge from a situation of condemned by part of the problems and would go to work tool condition. This occurred from the use of basic online research tools, to the use of interaction tools, such as Mentimeter, and the real-time collective elaboration of textual genres related to simulations, such as the working paper and the dissertative-argumentative text, Enem model, itself.

The present work had an applied nature, since it intended to produce knowledge from the theoretical review, observations and use of active methodology in order to apply this knowledge generated in practice to solve problems in a specific context. Such knowledge is both a reflection on the practice of teachers in writing classes, as well as a possible methodological model proposed from such reflection so that it can be applied in new learning situations in text production classes.

The research was developed from a qualitative approach with an exploratory objective, considering the intrinsic and founding relationship between the objective world and the subjects involved. Such a relationship is opacified based on gestures of interpretation (ORLANDI, 1996) that intend to understand and act on it, making explicit the challenges and the ways to better deal with them. Action research was chosen, taking into account the role of all participating subjects (teacher-researcher and students) because it enables ways to analyze, understand and try to explain problems of a certain system, in this case the classes and the AO work developed at the school in question, to generate practical knowledge (LACERDA et al., 2013). In addition, it should be noted that action research has the following main characteristics: a. the researcher takes action; b. it involves two goals: solving a problem and contributing to science; c. requires interaction (cooperation) between researchers and research participants.

Above all, action research was chosen because it allows research and action to go hand in hand towards the goal of transforming the situation, involving self-criticism, evaluation of results and negotiation with the subjects involved in it (MARQUES, 2012, p. 65). This approach would place teacher-researcher and student-participants in a horizontal position and, in the case of this research, this can be verified from the discussions of the procedures of the activities that were proposed, analyzed, adapted and reconfigured by everyone jointly, especially by the group of students. The idea is that the rules become part of intersubjective agreements and not imposing agreements (FRANCO, 2005, p. 492).

In addition, as it aims at a transformation not only in the specific situation of the classroom with the participating students, but also among the other writing teachers of the institution, a posteriori, with the discussion of the didactic sequence, the formative and emancipatory (FRANCO, 2005, p. 485) of the action research approach. Formative, since the subjects, throughout the activity, must become aware of the transformations that they themselves undergo, as well as the process itself. Emancipatory, bearing in mind that, through a conscious participation in activities, subjects may have the opportunity to leave behind negative images about themselves and about the act of writing, about the need to resolve problem situations ethically and respecting human rights, which can be, to some extent, barriers to a greater transformation of how they see themselves as autonomous citizens prepared to exercise citizenship also outside school.

In summary, the specific proposal was, based on bibliographic reviews and previous knowledge of the situation (institution, students, matrix, PPP, context), to adapt the UN General Council Assemblies simulation model for the TR class in High School as a proposal for collective problem solving. The product of this didactic sequence (ZABALA, 1998, p. 18) was, in addition to the debates among students, the writing of essays in the Enem model for them to realize (and this was the number one assumption in the present research) that success written production takes place from the exercise of autonomy, from collective and practical work, from research and personal engagement, from the significance that the purposes of this writing assume in addition to the quantitative result of the Enem test. Therefore, the research also analyzed excerpts from students' productions to verify their engagement with human rights and the impact of the discussions that took place in the assemblies. The product of the research, in addition to the theoretical-methodological contribution, will be the modeling of a set of actions organized in a didactic sequence that can be applied in other writing classes, with other groups of students and by other teachers.

Results and discussion

In view of the objectives of this research, centered on the development of writing production with high school students in an active way and in the elaboration of a didactic sequence that can serve as an instrument of continuing education in service for other writing teachers, this section will be divided. This procedure aims to organize the results of the research in order to facilitate the visualization of the stages.

Writing classes based on UN simulation models

In view of the theoretical-methodological assumptions already discussed, the focus now falls on the students' actions throughout the research process. The primary objective was to reflect on some important current issues for the writing of essays in the ENEM model, but that this reflection was based on their interests and not imposed by an agenda outside the students themselves (didactic material, previous entrance exams or teacher, for example). It was also hoped that the classes were a space for production, action and not for the unilateral speech of the teacher in the position of those who offer, like a lecturer, merely expository classes. It was also intended that there should be a deep understanding of the criteria for evaluating the ENEM wording, especially with regard to the requirement for an intervention proposal with respect to human rights, especially so that it does not become a concern exclusively linked to quantitative performance in that assessment criterion, however, taking a position in relation to global demands (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization-UNESCO, 2015). The processes that occurred and the reflections they raised are described below.

First, the proposal for simulations of UN assemblies was presented, simplified in the form of debates (textual genre already known by students of previous writing classes), as a starting point for discussing topics and mobilizing argumentative strategies. The students welcomed the idea, because they are very fond of making this type of activity more practical, but when they learned that they would define the subjects, themes, countries, the schedule and a minimum set of rules, there was some discomfort. Talks emerged among the students pointing out that they would not know how to do it and that they were afraid of making mistakes. They also did not understand how the teacher would fail to bring ready proposals and would only mediate activities. Other students raised the hypothesis that they were not “training” enough writing, given the need to prepare for entrance exams, and that it would be necessary to have, in addition to the debates, expository classes, because it was necessary that the teacher also teach expository classes.

This fear of taking a more active stance is understandable, since for years the school, as an institution, places them in a passive position of those who “listen” to the classes “given” by the teachers. As much as they had prior knowledge about argumentation (they have had dissertative-argumentative essay writing classes since the 8th grade of elementary school), about writing, about current debates and topics, they felt insecure and wanted to take refuge in the comfort provided by traditional classes, essentially expository, based only on mechanical learning (MOREIRA, 1999, p. 26 and 35), with intervention proposals almost decorated, “loose”, “not articulated”, arbitrary in relation to cognitive models of understanding. This kind of escape route makes perfect sense, in a system in which schools (apparently supported by entrance exams processes) reinforce that the success in the evaluation results from received, decorated and repeated strategies to hypothetically known situations because, precisely, they are exhaustively trained. Thus, the first finding of the research was that it was necessary to be sensitive to these fears and give confidence to the students so that they would dare to unleash their full potential, to show that they could have the expected success if the teacher sat next to them and did not remain ahead standing up saying what to do in a dreamed step by step, just like a placebo that would ensure a certain result in the face of any new situation.

In a way, this was a first challenge, because, at first glance, it would be imagined that offering this “power” to the teenager would generate instant engagement, but it took more. Gradually, they realized that they had full conditions to do everything that was necessary and that, at the end of the weekly rounds of debate, there would be writing proposals from which they could systematize the discussions into argumentative texts that would be corrected by the teacher and returned with notes and suggestions for improvement. Thus, it was possible to start the work effectively. In the first week, the students were divided into groups of 4 to 6 members, without the teacher's interference in relation to the team's formation criteria, and they chose which country they would like to represent, aware that this would imply acting throughout the debates aligned with the political, historical, geographical, economic and ideological positions of the chosen country. For that, they should use what they had learned in human science classes and their research. To instruct them, the teacher sent them, via official school communication device, “links” containing videos of UN assemblies, explanatory text about the assemblies, importance of diplomatic discussion of problems and other consultation materials. The teacher also offered a reading and discussion class on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to recall the relevance of this set of rules for the effective realization of relations of peace and respect in society. Thus, in possession of this information, in addition to the grid with criteria for correcting the Enem essay defining what a complete intervention proposal should be like, students had an entire class (45 minutes) to list the subjects that were of interest to them. Without the teacher defining a rule for this, they could list any subjects that arouse in them a desire for deepening and intervention (understood as a clear desire to understand a reality to interfere and modify it).

Many subjects arose in each of the four high school 3rd grade classrooms of the school where the research took place and they needed to be delimited so that we could reach the most relevant subjects for each class. The teacher asked everyone to use their cell phones to vote on the three most important issues for each group (delegation) using the Mentimeter tool⁹, answering the question previously made available on the tool by the teacher: “What are the 3 most important issues for you today?” The responses were analyzed and the tool itself generated, in real time, word clouds that came to represent the profile of interests in each room, which could be viewed by each student on their “smartphone” and projected by the teacher in the classroom. room screen, as shown in figure 01, below:

Figure 01
- Word Clouds produced by students in the classroom
Source: Devised by the authors.

The students did not know the tool and the teacher let them manipulate it, for being minimally intuitive, but also for wishing that the cell phone had a place in the classroom that was to provide a learning experience. Many students have used world clouds in previous works, but have never produced their own, downloaded ready-made images and reproduced them. Another class was spent analyzing the information provided by the word cloud and realizing what subjects really interested them and, from there, the students made thematic clippings. It is worth saying that, traditionally, in writing classes, students receive the themes ready in the proposals, but this time it was necessary to produce it before it became part of a debate and a production proposal. This step was laborious and the students asked for more support from the teacher, but in the end they did a good job of proposing themes, as you can see below, followed by a vote to decide which group would take care of each theme, as observed in 02, below:

Table 02

- simulation themes defined by class and by team/delegation

Source: Devised by the authors.

To end this more preparatory phase, aimed at work logistics, it was necessary to make a schedule. The teacher's expectation was that the students would also be able to do so, considering the possibility of yet another autonomy gesture. However, after some unsuccessful attempts, the teacher had to draw up the schedule and take it to the class to discuss it. Once discussed, it was accepted by the groups, who were able to concentrate on defining the basic rules for conducting the debates (speaking times, posture, organization of the room, what would not be accepted and how they would share the results of the discussions), as can be seen below. It was very interesting to note that when the time for rules came, students were clearly safer than at the beginning of the work, because, despite some difficulty in producing this manual of rules (considered more of a textual genre, inserted in the injunctive typology, worked at throughout the project), because it was necessary to reach a consensus among the four high school 3rd grade classrooms, they realized that they were no longer producing a genre because a ready proposal had been imposed with a purely evaluative purpose, as was common in previous year's writing classes, when they learned textual genres and typologies and trained with proposals from the University of Campinas (Unicamp) and the State University of Maringá (UEM) entrance exams. Now, production involved them directly and that was significant. The result is the set of rules shown in 03 that follows below:

Table 03

- rules defined by student teams through consensus

Source: Devised by the authors.

The debates could begin. However, the students suggested producing badges with the identification of each delegation and, although this implied more preparation time, worrying the teacher and the fulfillment of a schedule of the school and the research in question, the idea was welcomed by the group of students who decided that those who had more skill with drawing and tools for that take charge. Then, they took a vote with the three graphic badge proposals presented and chose one that the school's copy room produced. This moment demonstrates, once again, that despite a general fear at the beginning, when they were given the space for authorship, it could be well occupied by students. But it also marks that it is not so easy for the teacher to be available to not have control over all parts of the work process, as the teacher felt that she should step back from the research schedule originally proposed in favor of the availability of student engagement. These bilateral discomforts (teacher and student) need to be divided among groups of teachers as a way of strengthening themselves in the face of active and decentralized methodological practices, so that everyone realizes that it is possible. Also perceive the possibility of occupying the space of the unpredictable in a productive way.

At the end of this more logistical step, students would have three weeks to prepare for the start of the rounds of debates. They did this at home or at school, virtually or in meetings between them, without the presence of the teacher. They were able to request the help of history and geography teachers from the school and consult all the material they wanted. However, another challenge was posed to the project: the students met to tell the teacher that they were now unsure again because it seemed very difficult for them to carry out the task of conducting the discussion and behaving like the chosen countries. Before the fear grew and undermined the students' confidence, the teacher made a proposal: based on the notion of process homology (SCHÖN, 1992), she would simulate being part of the group of students and would have a discussion practicing all the previously established rules and regulations of the group. The students who were part of the first group to be the driving seat for the first round of debate would be part of the teacher's group. This was done and there was no explanation, via an expository class, of how the simulations of the assemblies would take place. There was a simulation and the students questioned the teacher as if she were one of them. It was an interesting moment of the research, because there was a certain horizontality, not only because everyone was in a circle, but because the teacher and they did the same activities, based on the common rules defined by them, not imposed. Although being in the position of the speaker is part of the teaching routine, being in that position was different, since they were all subject to the same prerogatives and this contributed, to some extent, to the confidence of the students.

To think about the stages of the simulations (preparation - debate - conclusion) based on problem-based learning (PBL), it was proposed to use the Arco de Maguerez (BERBEL; SÁNCHEZ GAMBOA, 2011, p. 269), as shown in figure 02, below.

Figure 02
- Arco de Maguerez10
Source: BERBEL; SÁNCHEZ GAMBOA (2011, p. 269).

1. 1. 1

   observation of reality: it consisted of the observation of the contemporary context, by the students themselves, so that they could define (more general) subjects, themes (cut-outs of the subjects) and one or more problem situations (theses) that represented real situations;

2. 2. 2

   key points (or synthesis): it involved the identification of the central points of the problem to be solved, what would be the possible related theoretical contents that should be understood in order to be able to solve the problem and the variables involved. At this stage, the students needed to define the scope of the debates: such problem would be discussed in view of the context of which country and how each delegation could contribute to the understanding of the problem situation;

3. 3. 3

   theorization: focused on the theoretical study of the concepts that must be understood. The student will understand the problem not only based on his experiences or situations, but on the theoretical principles that explain it. In this stage, students resorted to research, classes in other disciplines and other teachers, in addition to the introductory case study to be presented by the delegation responsible for the round. Some concepts such as immigration, endemic diseases, intolerance, sexism they already knew from specific classes, however now they would need to transfer these concepts to a new problematic reality chosen by them;

4. 4. 4

   solution hypotheses: activity to exercise students' creativity to create possibilities for solving the problem analyzed, basing the proposals on the theoretical study previously carried out and on the basic rules of an intervention proposal of the ENEM model (agent responsible for the action + concrete intervention action + mode of execution + effects intended with the action + details);

5. 5. 5

   application to reality: it consisted of the main action of the discussions, since it presupposes the verification of the solution hypotheses created, which should be voted by the delegations based on feasibility, but also on the minimum set of values of each delegation. At this moment, even, in the rooms where there were countries with veto power in the UN General Security Council (USA, France, United Kingdom, Russia, China), they could bar some hypotheses of solution and the discussion should start again. Thus, when resuming the discussion, they should, diplomatically and through arguments, seek consensus. In the end, for unfeasible proposals, students could rethink the problem, creating new hypotheses, in order to solve it. For viable solutions, they should register them so that they could be communicated to the other rooms, since part of the objective of the classes was to understand as many current topics as possible and this would be facilitated by the socialization of the results of the debates between the rooms.

As an example of the scope work that each team previously delivered (7 days before the debate) to the rest of the room via Whatsapp groups, there are two cases, as shown in 04:

Table 04

- examples of debate scope definitions made by teams/delegations

Source: Devised by the authors.

To record the discussions and intervention proposals, students used the textual genre working paper, which refers to writing in process, as it occurs throughout the discussion. For that, they could use paper, tablet, cell phone or computer. Together, the students and the teacher developed a working paper model (as shown in 05, below), as this type of text is also used in official simulations that take place at universities; however, adaptations were made according to what the students considered important to present as a concrete result at the end of each simulation. Each simulation generated a document of this type, which was shared by the teacher with all students in the four 3rd grade classrooms so that the discussions were widely socialized.

Table 05

- working paper model produced by the teams/delegations

Source: Devised by the authors.

The debates started and the simulation schedule was fulfilled. In the first, there was no resistance to participation, but there was a little inhibition, concern with “doing it the right way”, many glances looking for the teacher's consent and, reservations about sometimes doing the role of those who organize and puts different groups in order wanting to speak at the same time or even when the debate between divergent ideas should be conducted. Gradually, the students became more comfortable in this position of autonomy and began to understand what it meant to represent, with a minimum of coherence, ideologies and attitudes from different countries and, sometimes, even with their sets of values.

It should be noted that, in general, the students had a very collaborative attitude with each other, helping each other and socializing the proposals they have reached among the other groups of students. In parallel with the information collected by the PISA-RCP report, it was possible to perceive in each round of simulation a greater adhesion to collaboration between delegations and not a competitive relationship. The students in a particular room, for example, acted in the first round of debates very committed to competing with each other, acting as if their speeches and proposals should “destroy” the “opponent”, in a duel of facts and arguments. In the next class, evaluating the activity, the students became aware that the climate of the debate was not favorable to diplomatic agreements, for example, because the set of values ​​of each group overlapped that of the assembly. The teacher made an intervention in order to resume the purposes of the UN assemblies and the importance of consensus.

In the next round, this competitive climate was gradually diluted, since the profile of this room is more competitive, but in the following simulations there were already alliances, as happened more in the other rooms. The delegations went from an initial phase of many clashes of ideas to a phase of alliances, uniting in favor of resolving the problem situation of the day, so that each country can offer the best in terms of material resources and because of that specific problem. Moments of tension happened, inevitably, due to the themes and delegations, but they enriched the simulations.

In a simulation in a certain room, delegations from the United Kingdom, Russia, France, the USA and Canada, among others, were debating the legitimacy of the use of nuclear weapons. Each delegation began to expose its position in this regard and then began to blame the others for violations of international treaties on uranium enrichment, trade and storage of nuclear weapons. The delegations began to align themselves in two blocks, around Russia and the USA, and there was a strong polarization of the topic. It was possible to feel the change in the mood of the discussions over those 45 minutes, to the point that a member of the board that was headed by Mexico intervened and questioned the United States and Russia about apparent bilateral threats. From this simulation, several elements would stand out for the research proposed here (arguments validation and convincing strategies, extensive research on such a specific topic, effort to occupy the speaking position of countries with such a clear stance on the subject and, at quite conflicting with students' attitudes, among others). But it is necessary to focus on two more carefully.

Firstly, one of the pre-conceived images by students about their performance and writing was that they were not good enough, their texts would not be well evaluated, if the teacher did not continue with the lectures they would not learn only through debates. These prejudices needed to be transformed from the inside out, based on an action that was emancipatory (FRANCO, 2005), so that they understood that they had skills and abilities developed for this and that they could exercise autonomy. This debate about nuclear weapons, like others, showed them that they were capable of much. What they managed to build that week surpassed, in some situations, what they were able to produce when they only received a ready essay proposal, taken by the teacher, with a specific delivery deadline. Students who have never participated in traditional classes have demonstrated a leading role and an attitude of excellence, placing themselves in discussions, defending their points of view, especially in situations of complete unpredictability, because there were many questions from one delegation to another without being scheduled and all should be answered.

Furthermore, even though some teams did not make as many references to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the teacher expected, many concepts in this international document were guiding the discussions and operating small reflections. Days after the nuclear weapons debate, a member of the US delegation, talking to the professor about the simulations, said he felt very excited in all the discussions and very provoked. He commented that when he was avidly debating with Russia and its allies, he only thought about the strategies he would use to impose himself, but after the simulation he started to think that everything was really happening in the UN Assemblies, but with real countries, discussing things that they could really change the lives of millions of people and that many had no idea of ​​that. And that in the end, everyone was like her, just a person in the real world who does not ride in armored cars, nor has bunkers at home, but who is subject to decisions beyond her. This type of awareness of themselves, their role and the importance of empathy would hardly happen in a mechanical written production, centered on the reproduction of a model, with a shaped intervention proposal, the result of a completely traditional class.

Another relevant fact of the research is that, at a given point in the schedule, some students expressed concern regarding compliance with the writing “content”, specifically, if they were learning what would be necessary for the entrance exams. This reaction, in a way, was already expected by the teacher, who intervened pointing to everything they had produced and learned up to that moment and to the importance of written productions as materializations of the whole process, at the same time that they were also the instrument of entrance exam. But comfort came only with the observation of newsroom notes, as traditional concrete evidence, habitual that everything was moving in the direction expected by them. This fact was seen by the teacher as a persistent feature of the traditional view of concept assessment, although it cannot invalidate the learning process as proposed in this study. Perhaps we are in a transition process, in which these grades, concrete evidence of performance, can serve as validation of an active methodology so that it gains the confidence of students and, in a way, of family members and managers, who still need to visualize the result. performance of students in the bulletin. Thus, observing the averages of the ENEM model writing notes prior to the simulations in relation to the posterior ones, it is possible to notice a quantitative leap that reflects the quality of the discussions, as shown in 06, below:

Table 06

- comparative average of student performance in two essay criteria

Source: Devised by the authors.

Each of the five criteria in the ENEM correction grid is worth 200 points, staggered at each 40, totaling a maximum score of 1000 points. Criterion I assesses performance in an educated standard; the II, the fulfillment of the textual genre, the attendance to the theme and the use of repertoire; III, the quality of the argument; the IV, the use of textual cohesion strategies; and V evaluates the intervention proposal. The institution where the research took place periodically applies ENEM simulations, corrected by technicians external to the school, whose results are comparable to other students who do the same simulation in the network of institutions that use that simulation.

Therefore, an increase in notes is noticeable, which may reflect, in part, the effort dedicated to simulations and the transformations that resulted from them. The resourcefulness, the posture, the self-confidence, the moderating and collaborative capacity of the students, along with their argumentative skills and greater mastery of some themes, seems something very noticeable in the observations, accompaniments and written texts. However, the idea of the research is that the notes are not the end in themselves, but only a part of the process. It is believed that, compared to the other writing teachers of the institution, there is also an expectation about the quantitative result of the methodology, and the challenge is to value, in addition to this, the qualitative as well.

Teaching sequence proposal

As for the objective of producing elements for a methodological proposal of didactic sequence for writing classes, it was written and organized and, in the institution's planning week (January 2020), a writing teacher workshop may be offered to them to get to know and discuss the active methodology based on the proposal resulting from this research work and can reflect and propose new didactic sequences based on problem solving learning.

Starting from Zabala (1998, p. 18), the didactic sequence was thought from the structuring of a series of ordered and articulated activities to reach a pedagogical objective, in this case, the learning of the written production of dissertative-argumentative texts in an active. Such set of activities must have a beginning and an end and must be known by both the teacher and the students. This perspective of didactic sequences is combined, in this research, with its potential to dilute tensions caused by decontextualized teaching-learning situations (GUIMARÃES; GIORDAN, 2011), disconnected with the reality of the school and the world. It is also understood the elaboration and reflection on the didactic sequences as a possibility of renewing the practices of the formative process (GUIMARÃES; GIORDAN, 2011).

It is a tool capable of breaking with the reproduction cycles of a curriculum and of a set of hidden practices, since its making the teacher demand a reflection on his practice and on his ways of operationalizing concepts, procedures and approaches, aiming at real situations of real students, with whom he shares the classroom weekly, and not with spectra of ideal or invisible students who do not belong to that learning situation. It allows the teacher to see himself in his work when planning it.

Zabala (1998, p. 63-64) warns of the need to reflect on the didactic sequences from two fundamental questions: on the one hand, its potential to provide conditions for the greatest degree of significance of the learning for the students involved, on the other, its potential to allow teachers to pay attention to diversity within the classroom. For this, the author suggests some questions that guide the validation of the activities of a didactic sequence. In short, it must be questioned whether: they are capable of allowing the gathering of previous knowledge; present the content in a meaningful and functional way; are adequate at the student level; offer attainable challenges; cause cognitive conflict and mental activity; arouse a favorable, motivating attitude; awaken the student's self-esteem and self-concept; lead the student to develop skills related to learning to learn.

Giordan and Guimarães (2011) didactically present the essential elements of a didactic sequence, which are useful for the ordering of procedures and were used in this work to organize the proposal that follows expressed in 07.

Table 07

- Didactic Sequence elaborated from the experience and reflections of the present research (continued)

Source: Devised by the authors

The proposal is, from the position of area advisor, to promote formative meetings with the other writing teachers of the institution to debate the use of active methodologies in teaching-learning of writing, as well as the use of adaptations of the UN simulation model as a pedagogical dynamic. This work aims, therefore, to encourage the other teachers to move from traditional pedagogical practices towards more active and reflective practices, which make the teacher consciously, intentionally appropriate his/her actions, so that he/she is more meaningful to the student. professional and student.

It remains to point out an element for a reflection horizon: the assessment of socioemotional competences. According to BNCC (2018, p.10), the last three general competences are related to students' socio-emotional development: 8th: to know oneself, to recognize their emotions and those of others; 9th: develop empathy, dialogue, conflict resolution and cooperation; 10th: act in an autonomous, responsible, flexible, resilient manner, determined when making decisions based on ethical, democratic, inclusive, sustainable and solidary principles. It is believed that these skills were contemplated and developed throughout the work that this research followed, however, the assessment tools built and widely validated by peers are still scarce and need attention from institutions, teachers and researchers.

The Ayrton Senna Institute has developed, since 2011, an analysis methodology that is being applied with this function in partnership with the OECD, based on the Big Five Theory, which distinguishes five domains of experience: openness to new experiences, awareness, extraversion, kindness, emotional stability. After several elaborations, in 2013, in Rio de Janeiro, an evaluation of the SENNA system was applied, which contains 92 items and crosses socioeconomic, cognitive data and information about the learning environment¹¹.

In the case of this research, the advances in relation to autonomy, collaborative problem solving, dialogue, self-knowledge and images that students make of themselves and their performance, although visible by those who accompany students, did not go through a specific evaluation matrix, but it may be a next step in view of the discussions that may still take place in the environment of the institution that hosted the research.

Final considerations

This research aimed to reflect on the use of active methodologies, in particular, the resolution of problem situations, in classrooms of written production of the 3rd grade of high school through an action research. In addition, it also intended to build reflections and propose a didactic sequence model so that the research experiences could be socialized with a group of writing professors from the same institution. Regarding the first objective, it is believed that it was achieved and demonstrates how it is possible to achieve qualitative and even quantitative results with non-traditional methodologies. It is worth mentioning that, after completing the research, it became clear that work with autonomy should only be reinforced and completed in the 3rd grade of high school, but if it is not properly started before, at least in the 9th grade of elementary school, the student performance will always be achieved after the barriers of insecurity and fear of error on the part of the students and the teacher are overcome.

Regarding the development of their socio-emotional competences, their progress was clear from the observations and listening of the teacher-researcher and from the students' self-assessment after the simulation rounds, but in a future stage of the work it would be interesting to build an evaluation matrix for these competencies, including the collaboration of the students themselves. Finally, in relation to the second objective, the instrument for the discussion of didactic sequences was constructed and should be validated with the other teachers, through formative situations in which they can reflect together on the use of active methodologies and the situation resolution approach problem situation. This faculty can also discuss the necessary adaptations to the defined groups of students and collaborate in the construction of the matrix for the assessment of socio-emotional competences, contributing to the instrumentalization, with intentionality and contextualization, of the formation practices of the integral citizen, so desired by all. society.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to the Institute for Research and Continuing Education Economics and Business Management, Pecege, in the person of Professor Doctor Pedro Valentim Marques for the support and incentive, and the Agrarian Studies Foundation Luiz de Queiroz - FEALQ for the financial assistance granted. Work awarded as best monograph defended in the MBA in School Management USP/ESALQ at XIII SIM, held in December/2019.

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Notes