Drawing as a system of representation and spatial thinking: a cultural-historical approach in school cartography

Abstract

Two questions arising from previous research results (FAPESP n° 10/02973-8 and 13/22654-2) and the obligatory of Early Childhood Education from 4 years of age are taken as a guide: how can higher psychological functions and creation activity be involved in the formation of a logos associated with topological and projective relations? What elements make drawing a spatial representation system capable of mobilizing and expanding spatial thinking? The guiding questions of this research are based on the premise that if space-time thinking is initiated in childhood, within social groups, the genesis of spatial representation and conceptual construction is found in Early Childhood Education. The problem addressed by this research is the absence of theoretical-methodological references about the drawing as a space representation system. The execution of this research is justified because it involves studies on School Cartography based on historical-cultural psychology, examining the development of higher psychological functions as a structure for spatial thinking and the representation of space through drawing and considering the development of spatial thinking throughout the formative processes at school and cartographic literacy. It aims to establish theoretical and methodological references on drawing as a system of spatial representation in early childhood education, and is developed through the qualitative analysis of graphic productions of children in teaching activities that make up the collection of previous research. This research is in the scientific area School Cartography, an area constituted at the interface of Education, Geography and Cartography and is based on historical-cultural theory, it consists of a study on the relationship between thought (spatial) and language (drawing and speech). (AU)