PROCESSO DE FORMAÇÃO DO CONCEITO DE COR EM CRIANÇAS DE 8 - 10 ANOS: BUSCANDO INVARIANTES OPERATÓRIOS: THE COLOR CONCEPT CONSTRUCTION PROCESS IN 8 - 10 YEARS-OLD CHILDREN: LOOKING FOR OPERATIONAL INVARIANTS

This work shows the result of a research conducted with 63 children from 8 - 10 years of a public school in Minas Gerais, which is inserted in a longitudinal research is still in progress. Our main was to identify operational invariants used by children in a situation involving the formation of colors and shadows, by means of experiments with projector. Follow the solutions proposed by the children and their production. Operational invariants identification is based on the Conceptual Fields Theory. Our findings indicate that children perceive colors as distinct intensities of darkness. Our contribution to the field is placed in the interpretation of the process of concept formation of color in children from the Conceptual Fields Theory. Este trabalho foi resultado de uma pesquisa conduzida com 63 crianças de 8 - 10 anos de uma escola pública de Minas Gerais, que está inserida em uma pesquisa longitudinal ainda em curso. Nosso objetivo era identificar invariantes operatórios utilizados pelas crianças em uma situação que envolvia a formação de cores e sombras, por meio de experimentos com projetor. Acompanhamos as soluções propostas pelas crianças e seus registros gráficos. Usamos a Análise de Conteúdo de Bardin e realizamos a identificação dos invariantes operatórios com base na Teoria dos Campos Conceituais. As conclusões indicam que crianças concebem as cores como intensidades distintas de claridade e escuro. Nossa contribuição original é o uso da Teoria dos Campos Conceituais para interpretar o processo conceitualização de cor em crianças. This paper was a result of a longitudinal research which is still on course. This research counted with 63 children, students in a public school, from 8 to 10 years old in Minas Gerais state (Brazil). Our goal was to identify which operational invariants were used by the children on a color/shadow construction situation through the use of a projector. We considered the solutions proposed by the children and also their own graphic notation. We’ve chosen Bardin’s Content Analysis as the methodological approach and we’ve done, based on Conceptual Fields theory, the identification of the operational invariants. The conclusions point out that the understanding of colors by the children is a result of a differentiation between shades of brightness and dark. Our contribution relies on the new feature brought to Conceptual Fields theory’s analytical framework which is the ability to evaluate the colors’ conceptualization process in children.