1 Introduction

This article presents the results of two workshops (pilot test) held in 2022, describing and analysing participants' experiences with the Comenius Pocket game, which is part of an ongoing master's research. The main objective is to problematize and analyze the Comenius Pocket game as a method of training teachers on the use of media in the expansion of media literacy through training workshops. In this condition, the players create class proposals and carefully evaluate the players' planning on the use of media as pedagogical tools, object of study and authorship. The work of the workshops is justified by the need to expand teachers' media literacy for the use of collaborative media in pedagogical practices. Its intention is to "[...]guarantee competencies that offer scientific and pedagogical knowledge to teachers about media-education, making them operators and critics of these media literacies in the context of education" (^{Cruz, 2016}).

Comenius Pocket is a card game that promotes learning about how teachers can use media in the classroom to make their lessons more engaging and meaningful. Players are challenged to plan lessons on a variety of content by choosing the best media to be able to win. Initially, they need to deal with problem situations, using their creativity and school resources to plan the lesson and get a score. Then, in Creative Mode, it is the players who propose problem situations about their teaching practices to be carried out by their classmates as new cards in the game.

For ^{Soares (2002)}, the condition or state of literacy is related to the expansion of the formative repertoire that allows reading and writing as doors to the world, as ^{Freire (1982)} considers. Therefore, in order to effectively develop literacy, it is necessary to promote reading and writing practices that are different from traditional forms of literacy and literacy. In this case, the term "literacy", according to ^{Marcuschi and Xavier (2004)}, among the essential aspects of digital media, focuses on writing, considering that the internet continues to be important for communication, despite the possibility of integrating images and sounds.

Digital literacy involves the need to assume transformations in the ways of reading and writing verbal and non-verbal codes and signs, "[...] such as images and drawings, if we compare them to the forms of reading and writing done in the different printed media, because the medium on which the digital texts are located is the screen, it is also digital" (^{Cruz, 2016}, p. 145). The author points out that media literacy is not only about the technical ability to use the media, but also about the critical ability to understand and analyze media language and its effects on society, which is essential for the formation of critical and participatory citizens, capable of understanding and questioning the information and media discourses they receive (^{Ramos; Silva, 2019}). Media literacy includes the skills necessary for the insertion of subjects in contemporary society and for personal and professional development.

To educate with, about and through the media, it is necessary to expand the media repertoire. Thus, as ^{Cruz and Ramos (2021)} explain, education "with" the media refers to its use as a didactic medium, as support media for the teacher who is planning classes or for the learning subjects (reading books, consulting the internet, watching television, etc.). On the other hand, education "for" or "about" the media takes place when we study the media, its language, its characteristics and its effects, as well as its modes of production, or economic, cultural and ideological conditions that influence its production. The core purpose is the critical appropriation of the contents of the messages as well as the practices that it allows or encourages. On the other hand, education "through" the media is related to the production ability that it enables as an instrument of creation and authorship in pratical activities aimed at the protagonism of learning subjects. In summary, the use of media can be thought of in a more complex way, understanding the term as: hardware, software, culture and language.

When discussing the curricula of Pedagogy courses, media-education should be contemplated in the initial training of these professionals, especially with regard to socially and pedagogically critical, instrumental and productive knowledge about the multiple languages of the arts, media and information and communication technologies (^{Fantin, 2006}). According to ^{Bonilla (2009)}, the appropriation of media concepts in education by teachers cannot be understood only in its technical sense. It is necessary to go further, to think about the digital inclusion of teachers "[...] as a comprehensive process, which provides the opportunity [sic] for the subjects to be able, using digital technologies, to participate, question, produce, decide, transform the social dynamics" (^{Bonilla, 2009}, p. 29).

Among the media, game-based learning has high potential for application in the field of education, as it is a space that provides problem and collaborative situations to enhance the involvement of learning subjects. One of the potentialities of educational games, such as memory games, dominoes, crossword puzzles, among many others, is to promote problem-based learning and social relationships. In this way, educating with the game can bring important results in the process of appropriation and creation of knowledge. ^{Cruz and Ramos (2021}, p. 12) point out that "[...] Games provide educational experiences by creating a context of active learning, in which the player needs to act and constantly evaluate the actions that are developed in an environment contextualized in the narrative."

Pedagogical practices with games are increasingly being thought of in the educational context. According to ^{McGonigal (2012)}, teachers have planned to introduce more games into their practices. Educational games are part of a moving industry and are being produced with the intention of contributing to the teaching and learning process from the curricular components (mathematics, geography, science, foreign languages, history, etc.). When they are well organized, in the teacher planning, the learning subjects participate more and become effectively involved with the objects of knowledge.

Commonly, game-based learning is not learned in isolation. Students learn the object of knowledge as if they were playing a game, making the educational experience problematizing and fun. Learning does not occur through the transmission of knowledge by teachers, but through social interaction and the active participation of students in pedagogical practices in a collaborative process, in which dialogue among the group is fundamental for cognitive development (^{Vygotsky, 1996}). Educational games can be a powerful tool to engage and motivate students, as well as promote the learning of skills and knowledge in a more meaningful way to create a thoughtful design that takes into account the needs and preferences of the players, the clarity of the learning objectives, and the ability to give feedback to the player (^{Boller; Kapp, 2018}; ^{Grübel; Bez, 2006}). These premises generated the following problem: what would be the contributions of games to education, especially in the training of teachers for the expansion of media literacy?

2 Methodology

To achieve the objective of problematizing and analyzing the Comenius Pocket game as a method of training teachers on the use of media in the expansion of media literacy, two workshops were held with students of the Pedagogy course at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).

The methodological approach is that of an exploratory research, with qualitative analysis, whose data come from participant observation, from the debates held in groups during the workshops with the participants to evaluate the game and the game experienced and from the analysis of the production of narratives about this experience based on the answers of a semi-structured online questionnaire with open and closed questions. used as an instrument for data generation.

Participatory action research aims to break the distance between the researcher and the participants, weighing aspects such as research interests, agendas, problems, data generation and analysis, authorship, responsibilities, ethics and behavior, constituting a collaborative movement. According to ^{Peruzzo (2017)}, observational participation (which also tends to be called participant research) is a type in which the researcher interacts with the investigated group in order to experience the activities related to the "object" under study and play some collaborative role with the group. The researcher acts as part of the investigated group at the same time as observing it.

The research was approved by the Ethics Committee under the number of Certificate of Presentation of Ethical Appraisal (CAAE): 60377422.5.0000.0121. All participants answered the Free and Informed Consent Form (TCLE), safeguarding their anonymity at all times.

The workshops took place in regular classes in two moments. The first took place in a class of the mandatory subject of the seventh phase, entitled Education and Communication (EduCom), on 06/21/2022, from 6:30 pm to 9:10 pm. The second was held with students from different phases, in an optional course entitled NADE - Production of Audiovisual, Digital and Hypermedia Language in Education, on 06/24/2022, from 1:30 pm to 5:10 pm. Both classes are taught by one of the authors of this article (supervisor of the dissertation in progress) and are part of the Pedagogy course at UFSC.

The NADE class (13 students) and EduCom (15 students) responded to the media profile. Of the total of 28 students, 76% were female; 99% live in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina (SC); 48% were already working as teachers in Early Childhood Education. Regarding the media practices, only 4% said they used electronic games in the classroom from time to time;6% proposed activities in which students use the internet; 10% use printed newspapers or magazines as a pedagogical resource with students; 80% said they never carried out the highlighted practices; 83% said they never used or had used social media as a pedagogical resource with students. Regarding the production of materials, 74% have already produced and shared texts of their own authorship;89% have already made and shared videos on the internet; 74% have yet to produce a digital game.

The workshops had a didactic sequence that began with the presentation of the cards and their rules. Then, the groups that played until the end in Player Mode were formed. Then, the production of cards for Creative Mode was done, followed by the evaluation of the group game and the completion of the self-evaluation form. It is worth mentioning that these workshops followed a dynamic format, because the students had previously played the digital versions of the Comenius game modules 1, 2 and 3, and had even evaluated the games in online forms.

3 Results and discussion

The Comenius Pocket card game seeks to promote learning about how teachers and undergraduate students can use media in the classroom, proposing a playful learning experience, but not with the pretense of defining or teaching the best teaching strategy for the students. Instead, the players, in small groups, collectively reflect and discuss the missions and didactic problems presented, in order to build their own understandings of the best way to practice teaching, including the media in their planning in a holistic way (^{Cruz; Ramos, 2018}). The mechanics of the game are based on the use of prior knowledge; To this end, there is a dialogue about the content and a negotiation between the players, actions that enable them to be reflective in their judgments and creative in their solutions. Although it is fun and can be played by anyone who likes to think about school, it was created as a training device for teachers and future teachers and is available for download (to print) for free on the Game Comenius platform¹. For this reason, Comenius Pocket is designed to be played in small groups, who reflect on the "best way to teach" in each situation while having fun.

The game is designed to be played by both teachers and undergraduate students. Because it works with adaptive contexts, it can be used by the faculty of almost any educational institution. However, perhaps the most interested target audience is not the one referring to teachers, but the one pertinent to those responsible for their training, such as: course coordinators, whether from public or private institutions, from Elementary, Secondary or Higher Education, who want to promote training for their team;pedagogical support professionals; municipal or state departments of education that seek innovative continuing education; teachers of Peda courses.

The Comenius Pocket was developed in 2019 as a transmedia complement to the digital games of the Comenius game series, developed by the Edumídia research group, linked to UFSC - National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), with the aim of fostering the use of media in schools and improving the quality of education in Brazil.

Based on the media-educational proposal of the game Comenius, it was created by Rafael Marques de Albuquerque, professor of game design at the University of Vale do Itajaí (SC). The art of the cards was produced by João Laureth, bachelor in Game Design, with characters by Flávia Ferrato, animation designer and scholarship holder of the Comenius module 2 project. Comenius Pocket was a finalist in the "Best Game on Other Platforms" category, reserved for card and board games, at the Brazilian Symposium of Games and Digital Entertainment, SBGAMES, in 2019, in Rio de Janeiro. During its production, in 2019, some tests were carried out with players in training workshops, in events in the area of games and education, before the Covid-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, it was only tested again, in person, in 2022, in the workshops that will be described.

In Comenius Pocket, players are challenged to plan lessons using media in order to win. Initially, they need to deal with problem situations, either using their own creativity as well as the school's resources to plan their lesson and get a score. Then, in Creative Mode, it is the players who propose problem-situations about their teaching practices to be played and discussed by their classmates as new cards in the game.

The game has a Rulebook and a Trainer's Manual, which suggest that it be played in groups of three to five people. The trainer needs to familiarize himself with the rules before using them in a class, course or workshop. Rules should be considered a basis; If people don't feel comfortable with the dynamics, they can adapt them to their context of use. The idea is that, at the beginning of the workshop, the mediator will make a presentation so that the players know the rules and format of the game. In each round, each group of players or the mediator himself records the scores of the feedbacks of each mission/class. The rules make it very clear that this game has no authority to say what works or what can't work in the classroom, it just encourages discussion and reflection.

The problem to be solved in the game is presented by the teacher's cards, which accentuate media planning challenges for five areas of knowledge, with teaching and learning objectives that must be solved by the players through the choice of using digital and analog media, accessible with or without internet. The missions are inspired by the ideas of educational theorists, identified by avatars: the Mathematics teacher is Antonia (Antonieta de Barros); the Portuguese, Alice (Cecília Meireles); the History Minister, Vladimir (Vygotsky); the Geography Department, Paulino (Paulo Freire); that of Biology, Jean (Piaget).

To start playing, the master opens one of the teachers cards, reading aloud the request for help with planning, described on the outside of the card. Then, each one should choose a media card in their hand that they think is most suitable for teaching the class and place it on the table face down. To enhance their classes, players receive planning cards, which bring possibilities to include more media or new procedures (debates or dynamic classes), inclusion of conditions (access to the internet or a rich collection of movies), among others, which will modify the final score, including different conditions for each move that affect the entire group. When all the players are sure about their actions, they reveal the media and planning cards, briefly explaining their proposal to teach a good class in that context challenged by the teacher card. Players can listen to the ideas of others and imitate or change their strategy if they want, as long as they stick to the media of their choice.

Next, an unforeseen card is drawn. These letters bring problems that may occur at school (lack of light, dangerous area, agitated class, forgotten at home, lack of chalk and pens and discouraged class), which will also impact the execution of the planning with the media and, consequently, the scoring of the cards. Unforeseen events may or may not affect all players, as described in each card.

After receiving the unforeseen cards, the players receive feedback on their choices by reading the inside of the teacher card, which evaluates the choices, bringing the scores for each media, on a scale of 1 to 4, containing an explanation of why they were qualified in this way. Thus, based on the theory that the teachers represent, the game evaluates each media solution, taking into account, mainly, the reaction of the students to each media and the achievement of the objectives of the class with the use of that strategy. At this point, the players may negotiate their solutions, adjusting the score, based on the reflection on the ideas they had with the group, which, in the end, decides how many points each one gets at the end of the round.

Next, it is time for the inspiration letters, composed of phrases from educational thinkers: Vygotsky, Angela These cards can be received both at the beginning, before reading the mission, and after setting the round score. In the workshops described in this work, players received an inspiration card for each point earned from the feedback of the missions, exchanging the repeated cards for new ones. According to the original rule, whoever gets seven different inspiration cards wins the game. It is worth remembering that the rules of the Comenius Pocket can be modified in the workshops according to the suggestions and reflections of the group in each situation, constituting a flexible basis that directs the training to the media. With the completion of this stage, the game seeks to have educated "with and about" the media.

After completing the five completed missions, Creative Mode can be played, the last stage of the Comenius Pocket, which aims to encourage players to act as authors, game designers, through the creation of your own missions. Creative cards have the same format as teacher's; the difference is that they are blank, and can be filled in with pens, colored pencils, etc., allowing the players to also propose problem situations about their pedagogical practices, defining in the same way the feedbacks of each media and their scores to be carried out as a new game. Alternatively, instead of the group playing the cards created, it can be proposed that each one explain why they created the card, reflecting and discussing the experience they had with the Comenius Pocket, among other possibilities. They can also create inspiration or "inspiratied" letters from existing ones, discussing with the group their own classroom experiences and areas of study. It's important to note that all players who participated in the workshops produced a mission in Creative. This stage of the Comenius Pocket aims to enhance creativity in the use of games and the development of media literacy in the teacher training path, aiming to educate "through" the media, that is, with authorship.

The offer of the workshops aims to raise subsidies to verify the students' reflection on how much the objectives of the game have been achieved. The main observations about the training offered in the workshops, the reflections and the results of the interactions and narratives created in these events will be succinctly described below.

4 Final considerations

By investigating the practice of initial teacher training in workshops to expand the media literacy of Pedagogy students, using the card game Comenius Pocket, the empirical data of the research revealed some aspects that are worth commenting on. It was evidenced that, in addition to competitiveness, collective collaboration plays a fundamental role in the game, encouraging participants to play, create and evaluate together.

Another significant result was recognition: the vast majority of Pedagogy students stated that they had acquired new experiences in the use of media in the classroom through pedagogical practice. They reported that they understood how to apply this knowledge in their initial training in curricular disciplines such as Didactics, Teaching Methodology, Internships and simulations of practical experiences in the classroom.

When it comes to the experience with the Comenius Pocket game and its rules, it is worth reflecting on player feedback. Almost half did not know how to express an opinion, while the other half said they would not make changes to the rules of the game. It should be noted that the time available for discussions after the creative phase of the game proved to be limited. The students were tired, after all they had completed the game's five missions, written a card in Creative Mode, and played again with cards produced by the other players. At this point, the round of conversation for evaluation and self-evaluation was an extra effort, which occurred at the end of the class, so it was carried out quickly, resulting in the absence of participation of many players.

In view of the reasons presented, it is suggested that the game be offered more often, in new situations, with different audiences, generating the opportunity to evaluate possible criticisms or suggestions for improvements related to the rules and mechanics of the game so that the necessary adjustments can be made. Additionally, it is important to consider improving the timing of discussion, allowing adequate time for further analysis. This approach would promote a more thorough assessment of the game's rules and performance, taking into account players' perspectives. Despite these limitations, the results of this study provide evidence that the practice of initial teacher training in workshops to expand media literacy, using the card game Comenius Pocket, is a promising strategy for the training of Pedagogy students.

It is hoped that this work will stimulate other researchers to explore and expand this approach, thinking of the game and the game as a space for ethical reflection and the teacher's responsibility in relation to the critical use of the media in pedagogical practice, considering issues such as representativeness, diversity, social impact and the ethical challenges brought by the media.