A formação de conceitos científicos em crianças de cinco anos fundamentada em mediações sistematizadas

Abstract

The Thesis was based on the theoretical framework of Historical-Cultural Theory based on the studies of Vigotsky, Luria, Leontiev, Elkonin, Mukhina, Galperin, who brought fundamental contributions about the concepts developed in this research with regard to the theoretical and practical aspect. The research was carried out in a public school unit of Early Childhood Education, in the interior of São Paulo, with five-year-old children, and presented the following research question: What types of instruments and methodological procedures are necessary to identify the cultural needs of five-year-old children, regarding the concept formation process, as well as systematized mediations in the Zone of Proximal Development? The central objective was to analyze the methodological instruments and procedures necessary to carry out activities with regard to the formation of concepts with five-year-old children and presented, from this central objective, the following specific objectives: 1) to identify the needs children's cultural activities and work in the Proximal Development Zone (ZDP) through planned activities; 2) analyze the potential of mediations and mediators used in intervention sessions with a view to promoting advances in the formation of children's concepts. The methodology includes intervention, through experiments, for data collection, with systematic mediation being one of the main elements. The planning of activities started with the needs of the children and included the following instruments and methodological procedures: participant observation; conversation wheel; drawing; game of track and systematized mediation. The results show the importance of planning the methodological procedures developed from the experimental intervention methodology of this investigation. In addition, they proved that systematized mediations have a fundamental role for the identification and performance of the Proximal Development Zone, enabling advances in the development of concepts. In this way, even though the conceptions of Historical-Cultural Theory prove that conceptual thinking happens in adolescence, it is possible to carry out work aimed at the formation of the concept in early childhood education.