The Spatial Notions of the Cultural Universe of Childhood - Maps for the Future Children Education and Internet - page 246

consider a childhood-related cartography, the verticality of the body plays a struc-
turing role. We think that this point of construction of the corporeal scheme is the
fertile ground in which the notions about other spatial coordinates germinate. The
verticality becomes the main axis of the whole human spatial organization (

).
Therefore, it is in the childhood that the notion of spatial coordinates is originated.
The drawing of a character is not only a drawing, for it brings in itself the germ of
cartography (Almeida 2009 ).
Concerning verticality, while addressing the corporeal scheme and spatial orga-
nization, the vertical and horizontal references fundamental to constitute a system
of coordinates which establish relations of order which will in turn orient the
Euclidian space, after the topological space (Le Boulch 1982 ).
Other authors have addressed the representation of the space, among them and of
great importance is Jean Piaget, author of Space representation in the child ,co-
written by Barbel Inhelder (Piaget and Inhelder 1993). It is important to consider that
Piaget's studies did not consider the space as a geographic concept. The authors'
concerns were related to the mathematical and geometrical space, which although not
referring to the terrestrial space the same way as geography, constitutes the basis of
Cartography (Almeida 2001 ). The theory that Jean Piaget constructed with the help of
a group of researchers remains as a fundamental theoretical support for the studies
about the representation of the space, mainly because it addresses the construction of
the mathematical space by the children (topological, projective and Euclidian
relations) on which the geographical space leans (Almeida 1994 ).
The sensorial-motor activities and their relation with the corporeal scheme are
fundamental in the construction of the space by the child. Therefore, we developed
a number of teaching activities that mobilize the time-space-body organization with
the objective to analyze the performance of children aged 3-4 in learning situations.

...

20.3 The Investigation Path

To investigate the relations that children establish in the time-space-body organi-
zation we will carry out an analysis of the data obtained from ethnographic
registers, based on the methodology of the qualitative research (Bogdan and Biklen
1994 ).
In this approach, the presence of the investigator in the place of the studies
allows the understanding of the actions of the individuals who are to be studied,
their activities and environment, aiming at the approximation between researchers
and researched. The qualitative method has as basis the intensive and long-term
participation in the field, accurate registers about what happens in the field, analytic
reflection on these data and written register of the participative observations
(Erickson 1989 ). Under this perspective, the researcher should try to find ways to
understand the meaning of the manifest and latent of the behaviors of the
individuals, while trying to maintain an objective view of the phenomenon.
The researcher plays the subjective role of participant and the objective role of
observer, reflecting about the experiences of the students and about the narratives