The Study Activity and the development of theoretical thinking in science classes

Abstract

How does a student learn and how does the development of theoretical thinking occur in science classes? These are questions that concern teachers who work in elementary school, becoming a great challenge for the organization of teaching. We analyze how the development of theoretical thinking occurs in 8th grade students of a public school in the city of Itabuna (BA), based on a Study Activity, linking Science teaching with the Cultural-Historical Theory and the Theory of Developmental Teaching. From a participant research, of a cultural-historical nature, we established relations between Study Activity and the development of theoretical thinking. The analyses were based on four categories, considering meaning processes: the degree of abstraction and generality relations; the guided participation; the cultural amplifiers and mediated action; and the meaning processes in the form of mental models. In the Activity, breathing was the nuclear concept/theme, organized from five mental actions: formation of the theoretical basis; mental analysis of the process; formation of the theoretical stance; exploration of the situated and concrete knowledge and qualitative examination of the foundations of the actions, enabling the emergence of Development Zones and the constitution of a theoretical stance towards reality. It was found that students were able to establish more elaborate mental representations, beyond the action of reproducing them through mental models (such as school productions), when asked by the operations/challenges. The work with more complex knowledge systems pointed to autonomous and creative transit in the use of concepts, in relations of generality, manifesting theoretical thinking by the students.