The Spatial Notions of the Cultural Universe of Childhood - Maps for the Future Children Education and Internet - page 249

Fig. 20.1 Material used in the activity: Tatipurum, Pirilamp ´ ia, Tom, Dick and Jameleira
When we finished telling the story, we asked the students to get in pairs. I
informed that we would perform an activity with the materials I had brought
(Fig. 20.1 ). These materials consisted of a green foam ball and the pictures of the
following elements: Pirilamp ´ ia, Tom, Dick, Jameleira and the balloon. The
students were supposed to place them in the correct place on the foam ball.
We distributed the material to each pair which caused some conflicts among
the students, as in this stage of development egocentrism is a characteristic of the
children. Some students explored the material rolling the foam ball on the floor or
throwing it up. After, we gave them character Tom.
(TEACHER) Who is this?
(JES) Tatipurum.
(TEACHER) Tatipurum is the planet that is on your table. This boy wearing a blue
hat is Tom.
Then we gave them character Dick. We asked them to place the two characters
(Tom and Dick) in the planet “Tatipurum”. We observed that some students as JHE
had already started to do this, before we asked them to do so. However, we noticed
that the pair MAR and JES was not doing what they were supposed to, instead they
were disputing the material. JES asked me which figures were MAR's, and it was
necessary to talk about the division of the material and the proposal of the pair
work.
As the pairs placed the characters, they talked a little about their actions. JES
stated that the characters were organized that way because MAR “did it the wrong
way”: