Development of childrens concept of space and child education

Abstract

Guided by Vergnauds Conceptual Fields Theory, an analysis was performed on a videorecorded episode involving ten 9 to 17 month-old children at the nursery of a public Day Care Center, aiming at identifying space conception schemes spontaneously established by the children, especially regarding space location and orientation. The episode was selected through detailed observation and revision of 1320 minutes of videorecordings. The pushing scheme was the most used by the children for the displacement of a small table around the room, and it was adjusted and even replaced by the pulling scheme when the table got stopped. The actionsrepertoire and the participation of 6 out of the 10 children indicate that the games meaning was shared by the children and suggest that they are motivated to experiment on, and to obtain information (rules, concepts and theorems) about the space in which they are inserted in more advanced ways than would be expected. Opportunities for the acquisition of concepts from other conceptual fields were also granted by the play setting.