Play and education: considerations based on the historical-cultural perspective

Abstract

The paper discusses the psychological function of play in child development, in view of its role in the school context. The role play is discussed, in which the child guides his actions based on the rules of social roles. The development is understood as historical and cultural. The article claims the semiotic nature of the culture, so that social interactions and symbolic mediation are essential to the constitution of the subject, highlighting the concept of Zone of Proximal Development. From this point of view, the origin and the function of the play are discussed. According to soviet cultural-historical theory, the game aims to carry out needs that are impossible immediately. About its function, the play’s ordinated by rules and allows the child to expand their possibilities of abstraction and self-regulatory behavior. The need of expand the dialogue between Psychology and Education is pointed, because the theme of play concerns both fields of knowledge. It is understood that is fruitful to increase the links between the theoretical questions raised by Psychology and the handling routine with children who play faced by Education.