Memories at play - generating objects in History teaching. A didactic sequence on the Brazilian and Argentine dictatorships.
History Teaching; Memory; Military Dictatorships; Generating Objects; Soccer.
This study analyzes the pedagogical potential of using multiple languages and playful resources in History teaching within Basic Education, focusing on the memories of the military dictatorships in Brazil and Argentina. Developed within the Professional Master’s Program in History Teaching (PROFHISTÓRIA/UERN) and implemented in a 9th-grade class of Middle School at the 3rd Military Police College Tenente Mário Lima (Maracanaú-CE), the research is grounded in theoretical discussions on History and Memory (Halbwachs, Pollak, Jelin, Napolitano), the concept of "generating objects" rooted in Freirean pedagogy (Régis Ramos), and theories of play and games (Huizinga, Brougère). The didactic intervention was structured into three articulated stages: the screening and debate of the film The Year My Parents Went on Vacation (2006), referring to the Military Dictatorship in Brazil in 1970; followed chronologically by the exploration of material absence and the struggle for human rights through the pedagogical sticker album Madres y Abuelas. El pueblo las abraza, referring to the Military Dictatorship in Argentina in 1978; and culminating in the practical game "Memórias em Jogo" (an adaptation of human button football on a court combined with conceptual challenges and the sound control of the jingoistic song Pra Frente, Brasil). The formative assessment, measured using a Likert scale, demonstrated significant student engagement, autonomy, and a rupture with traditional pedagogical passivity, highlighting the effectiveness of playful-material artifacts in fostering critical thinking and defending human rights.