SIX-YEAR OLD CHILDREN AT SCHOOL: IS IT PLAY TIME OR STUDY TIME?

Abstract

One of the main concerns with regard to six-year-old children attending compulsory school is the fact that they are placed so early in a formal learning situation that their right to play is jeopardized. Based on this, a study was carried out, to investigate how the teaching of six-year-old children can be organized in a way that eases transition from play to study. Analyses were based on the Historical-Cultural Theory (Vygotsky, Leontiev and Elkonin). A didactic experiment was developed with fi rst-year students in the fi rst year of a government school in Maringá PR Brazil. Although play and learning activities do not have the same properties, one factor that they share is their subject matter, which is present in both play and in study. Activities on this subject matter comprise the pedagogical method during the transition period. This enables the children, during play activities, to go beyond the reproduction of daily relationships common in free play, and broaden their knowledge of the world. It therefore brings them closer to the scientifi c knowledge in the school curriculum.