Elementary school students’ knowledge about vital functions of animals and plants

Abstract

This text deals with the practical aspects of concept formation in children aged between 7 and 11, in the area of natural sciences. It derives from a master's thesis that tackled the formation of concepts of vital functions of living beings in a cooperative school in the city of Central (COOPEC), State of Bahia, in 2009-2010. In that study, we aimed to identify the students' knowledge about such contents and describe the processes they use to understand them. We conducted interviews with students for information on the spontaneous/scientific knowledge they have regarding living beings. The data analysis, from their replies, was performed in all grades based on the comparative method, in order to show what children know about vital functions of living things in the perspective of mediation of knowledge for teaching. Children in the 2nd and 3rd school years showed spontaneous knowledge, while those in the 4th and 5th years demonstrated scientific knowledge formation from more elaborate spontaneous knowledge. Therefore, we discussed these contents on the basis of the biological knowledge of children at the spontaneous and scientific levels.