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Conceptual Profiles pp 263–292Cite as

Conceptual Profile as a Model of a Complex World

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Part of the book series: Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education ((CTISE,volume 42))

Abstract

The conceptual profile theory is considered in this chapter from a sociocultural-historical perspective. From this point of view, this theory can be a candidate to represent the teaching-learning process in formal or nonformal school activities. Therefore, some aspects of this theory will be considered in order to point out the need for an approach relating the complexity of the world and language with the structural complexity of the subjects’ cognitive states. Our main working hypothesis is that the subjects’ cognitive structures are constituted with the intermediation of language. We consider that this complex structure is mediated and constituted by language and represent several different hierarchical levels of the potential complex relations among things in the world. We also stress the fact that conceptual profiles allow us to represent learning in context, dealing with the complexity of the cultural and historical dimensions of the representations used in our daily life. Finally, we understand that the structural complexity of the embodied and situated cognitive states could be expressed by a complex conceptual profile enabling us to represent not only its epistemological and ontological but also its axiological dimensions. In this work we intend to explore some potentialities of the conceptual profile theory.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my research group for helping me to think about the world, my world, our world, and how to seek out ways to overcome our existential solipsism. Thanks to André Machado Rodrigues, Esdras Viggiano da Silva, Jaqueline Dalri, Luciani Tavares, Fernanda Cavaliere Sodré, Patrícia Weishpaut Bastos, José Luis Ortega, Francisco Amancio Mendes, Roberto Nicioli Junior, Felipe Prado, and Juliano Camillo. I also thank CNPq, CAPES, and Fapesp for the financial support.

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  1. Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Cristiano Rodrigues de Mattos

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  1. Cristiano Rodrigues de Mattos
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Correspondence to Cristiano Rodrigues de Mattos .

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  1. Faculty of Education, Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil

    Eduardo F. Mortimer

  2. Institute of Biology, Federal University of Bahia, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

    Charbel N. El-Hani

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de Mattos, C.R. (2014). Conceptual Profile as a Model of a Complex World. In: Mortimer, E., El-Hani, C. (eds) Conceptual Profiles. Contemporary Trends and Issues in Science Education, vol 42. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9246-5_10

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