Este trabalho surgiu de minha experiência pessoal em sala de aula usando ficção científica para lecionar física, astronomia e outros tópicos de ciência. Por aproximadamente quatro anos eu desenvolvi diversas atividades de sala de aula com filmes, romances e contos de ficção científica, empregando-os não apenas para discutir os produtos da ciência - conceitos, leis e fenômenos - mas também os mecanismos da produção do conhecimento científico e a relação entre o trabalho da ciência e o contexto social. A partir destas experiências práticas, investiguei e estudei a respeito da própria ficção científica, como um gênero literário e cinematográfico e empreendi também uma pesquisa sobre as experiências atuais envolvendo a ficção científica em sala de aula. Estes estudos auxiliaram-me a desenvolver instrumentos teóricos de análise para lidar com a ficção científica a partir do ponto de vista do professor de ciência. Tais instrumentos são o conteúdo principal do presente trabalho. Eles foram desenvolvidos a partir da constatação de que as abordagens mais comuns para a ficção científica em aulas de ciências eram baseadas em duas estratégias um tanto ingênuas: a identificação dos erros (ou acertos) conceituais de ciência nas obras de ficção científica ou a discussão dos diversos níveis de distorção em relação a ciência e aos cientistas \"reais\" nelas apresentadas. Assumindo a ficção científica como uma construção empreendida sobre um discurso social a respeito da ciência foi possível tratar tais \"erros\" e \"distorções\" de um outro ponto de vista. Ao invés de distorções, podemos pensar em determinadas posições ideológicas sobre a ciência que podemos identificar tanto na esfera social como nas obras de ficção científica. Na maioria das vezes, tais posições podem ser descritas em termos de polaridades onde cada pólo representa crenças ou descrenças em relação aos papéis da ciência em nossas vidas. Eu nomeei tal análise por pólos temáticos. Em substituição à dicotomia erro/acerto, procurei um critério de análise que pudesse descrever os elementos de uma história de ficção científica (nomeados aqui como elementos contrafactuais) não em termos de uma valoração estrita de sua precisão científica, mas como construtos ficcionais projetados para produzir efeitos literários específicos no leitor. Em tal abordagem, a precisão científica é vista como estando sujeita à lógica do discurso literário e à intencionalidade do autor. Após desenvolver estas ferramentas de análise, retomei minhas experiências anteriores de sala de aula tanto para colocar a análise teórica em um contexto concreto sobre o qual eu poderia falar com segurança quanto - ao mesmo tempo - para apresentar aspectos adicionais não dados do uso da ficção científica em sala de aula. Muitas das atividades de sala de aula descritas se deram antes de eu iniciar este trabalho, assim elas não foram nem uma validação empírica da teoria nem um processo sistemático de coleta de dados. Seus papéis neste trabalho foram os de ilustrar e desenvolver alguns detalhes da análise teórica e mostrar como esta análise pode ser realizada para levar a atividades concretas de sala de aula. Adicionalmente, aspectos específicos dos três gêneros (filmes, romances e contos) de ficção científica usados forma discutidos em função de sua adaptação ao contexto de sala de aula. / This work arose from my personal classroom experience in using science fiction to teaching Physics, Astronomy and other Science topics. For about four years I developed several classroom activities with science fiction films, novels and short stories and I used them to discuss not only the products of science - concepts, laws and phenomena - but also the mechanisms of scientific knowledge production and the relationship between science work and social context. From these practical experiences, I investigated and studied about science fiction itself, as a literary and cinema genre and I undertook also a research about present days classroom experiences involving science fiction. These studies helped me to develop theoretical analysis instruments to deal with science fiction from the Science teacher point of view. Such instruments are the present work\'s main content. They were developed from the realization that most common approaches to science fiction in Science classes were based in two somewhat naive strategies: identifying science conceptual errors (or hits) in science fiction works or discussing the several levels of distortions about \"real\" Science and scientists science fiction presented in its stories. Assuming science fiction as a fictional construction built over a social discourse about science was possible to treat such \"errors\" and \"distortions\" for another point of view. Instead of distortions we can think about certain ideological positions about Science we can identify both in social sphere and in science fiction works. Most of times, such positions can be described in terms of polarities where each one of poles represents beliefs or disbeliefs related to the roles of Science in our lives. I named such analysis as thematic poles. In substitution to the hit/error dichotomy, I was looking for analysis criteria that could describe the elements of a science fiction story (named here as counterfactual elements) not in terms of a strict valuation of their scientific accuracy, but as fictional constructs intended for producing specific literary effects in the reader. In such approach, scientific accuracy is seen as being subjected to the literary discourse logics and to author\'s intentionality. After developing these analysis tools, I retrieved my previous classroom experiences both to turn theoretical analysis into a concrete context I could surely speak about and - at same time - to present additional aspects of classroom use of science fiction not given in the theoretical development. Most of described classroom activities occurred before I start this work, so they were neither an empiric validation of the theory nor a systematic data collection process. Their roles in this work were illustrate and develop some details of theoretical analysis and show how this analysis could be performed to lead to concrete classroom activities. Additionally, specific aspects of the three used science fiction genres (movies, novels and short stories) were discussed in view of their adaptation to the classroom context.

Atualmente, a literatura juvenil é direcionada para o entretenimento e lazer do leitor, com personagens marcantes e histórias que despertam a imaginação por meio dos recursos da fantasia. Obras juvenis de sucesso e popularidade entre os jovens nos mostram que a leitura pode ser prazerosa quando não é obrigatória. Considerando o interesse dos jovens leitores em literatura de fantasia e entretenimento, com base nos estudos de pesquisadores dessa área e em nossa experiência em sala de aula, onde vimos que relacionar alguns temas científicos com a fantasia tornava a aula mais atrativa e compreensível para os alunos, decidimos explorar as possibilidades de aplicação das obras dessa vertente no ensino de Ciências. Selecionamos quatro séries juvenis para explorarmos suas potencialidades no ensino, são elas: Lucky Starr de Isaac Asimov, Artemis Fowl de Eoin Colfer, Como treinar seu dragão de Cressida Cowell e Percy Jackson e os Olimpianos de Rick Riordan. Estas séries possuem o enredo baseado em recursos da fantasia. O percurso gerativo do sentido da semiótica greimasiana, nos auxiliou como referencial de análise na verificação de como a ciência é representada nos livros de fantasia. De maneira geral, vimos que a ciência está presente nas séries de forma implícita, através da tecnologia e seres imaginários como fadas, deuses e dragões. Por ser mais recente e conhecido entre o público, selecionamos o livro O Ladrão de Raios, primeiro livro da série Percy Jackson e os Olimpianos, para o desenvolvimento de atividades e aplicação. As atividades foram aplicadas em uma escola municipal de São Paulo SP, dentro de um projeto de clube de leitura denominado LUCIA (Leituras Universais e Ciência Investigativa para Adolescentes), organizado pelo grupo de pesquisa no qual este trabalho faz parte. O público alvo foi formado por alunos do 8º e do 9º ano do ensino fundamental, com participação dos professores da escola e alunos de graduação da EACH-USP, que atuaram como monitores. Aplicamos duas atividades com uma hora e meia de duração cada, e nossos objetivos foram de verificar se os alunos perceberiam como a ciência estaria representada no livro O Ladrão de Raios, por meio da leitura de trechos da obra, discussão, elaboração de desenhos e questionários, que indicassem a compreensão dos alunos sobre a relação entre a ciência e a mitologia grega presente no livro. Como resultado, depreende-se que a obra escolhida foi viável para a discussão de temas científicos implícitos na história. Além do mais, acreditamos que a literatura juvenil, mais precisamente as obras lidas e admiradas pelos alunos, podem ser utilizadas em sala de aula, permitindo que a ciência seja divulgada, explorada e questionada por meio da fantasia. / Currently, juvenile literature is intended for entertainment and leisure of the reader, with remarkable characters and stories that awaken the imagination through fantasy resources. Juvenile works of success and popularity among young people show us that reading can be enjoyable when it is not mandatory. Taking into account the interest of young readers into fantasy and entertainment literature, based on the studies of researchers in this field and in our experience in the classroom, where we saw that relating some scientific issues with fantasy make the lessons more attractive and understandable for students we decided to explore the possibilities of application in teaching science. We have selected four juvenile series to explore their potential in teaching, they are: Lucky Starr by Isaac Asimov, Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer, How to Train Your Dragon by Cressida Cowell and Percy Jackson & the Olympians by Rick Riordan. These series have the plot based on fantasy resources. The generative trajectory of the greimasian semiotics helped us as an analytical reference in the verification of how science is represented in fantasy books. Overall, we have seen that science is implicitly present in series, through technology and imaginary beings such as fairies, gods and dragons. Because it is more recent and known among the public, we have selected the book The Lightning Thief, the first book of Percy Jackson & the Olympians series, for development activities and application. The activities were implemented in a public school of São Paulo-SP, in a book club project called LUCIA (Portuguese acronym for Universal Readings and Investigative Science for Teenagers), organized by the research group in which this work is part. The target audience consisted of students from the 8th and 9th grade of elementary school, with participation of school teachers and undergraduates of the EACH-USP, who acted as monitors. We applied two activities with an hour and a half each, and our goals were to assess whether the students would realize how science would be represented in the book The Lightning Thief, by reading the book excerpts, discussion, preparation of drawings and questionnaires, to indicate the students\' understanding of the relationship between science and Greek mythology in this book. As a result, it seems that the chosen literary work was feasible to discuss scientific issues implicit in the story. Moreover, we believe that juvenile literature, specifically the books that are read and admired by students, can be used in the classroom, allowing science to be disseminated, exploited and questioned through fantasy.

A finalidade desta pesquisa realizada na Creche Oeste, que se localiza no campus da USP em São Paulo foi investigar, a partir do referencial de Vygotsky, como ocorre o processo de atribuição de significados sobre os seres vivos, entre crianças pequenas, quando estas participam de interações discursivas mediadas por adultos. Para isto, um grupo composto por 16 crianças de 4 anos foi acompanhado durante oito meses nas atividades relacionadas ao desenvolvimento do projeto Pequenos Animais, quando estudaram com maior profundidade as borboletas. Neste trabalho, utilizou-se metodologia qualitativa, e os registros foram feitos por meio de gravações em áudio e vídeo, durante as rodas de conversas e nos momentos de elaboração de desenhos por parte das crianças os quais puderam ser coletados para posterior análise. Constatou-se que as crianças foram negociando entre si os significados das palavras, no decorrer das próprias interações discursivas, ou seja, na medida em que brincavam com as idéias. Esta brincadeira com as idéias, essencial para o processo de significação, foi possível quando as crianças foram autorizadas e estimuladas a se expressar livremente, por meio do uso de múltiplas linguagens. Ademais, verificou-se que o acesso à ampla variedade de fontes de informação, bem como a boa qualidade destas a expressão boa qualidade diz respeito à abundância de ilustrações, legendas e textos explicativos interferiu significativamente no processo criativo das crianças, o que, por sua vez, favoreceu a atribuição de significados. Nesta investigação, concluiu-se, ainda, que as crianças, além de se apropriarem de alguns conhecimentos sobre borboletas (aspectos morfológicos dos animais, fases do ciclo de vida, diversidade de espécies, hábitos alimentares e estratégias de defesa contra predação), incorporaram, em seus desenhos, modos de representação semelhantes aos encontrados nos materiais de divulgação científica disponibilizados às crianças, merecendo destaque o formato sequencial de apresentação das fases do ciclo de vida das borboletas. / The purpose of this research, which was conducted at the Creche Oeste daycare center located on campus at USP São Paulo, was to investigate, referenced on Vygotskys work, how the process of attributing meanings to living beings occurs among young children when they participate in discursive interactions mediated by adults. To this end, a group of sixteen 4-year-olds were monitored for eight months in their activities relating to the development of the project Small Animals, during which they made an in-depth study of butterflies. This work was carried out using a qualitative methodology, with data collected through audio and video recordings during group conversations and while the children drew pictures, which were collected for subsequent analysis. It was found that the children negotiated the meanings of words among themselves during the discursive interactions, in other words, as they played with their ideas. This playing with ideas, which is essential to the process of signification, was enabled by allowing and encouraging the children to express themselves freely through the use of multiple languages. Moreover, access to a wide variety of information sources, as well as their good quality the expression good quality refers to the abundance of explanatory illustrations, captions and texts , interfered significantly in the childrens creative process, which in turn favored the attributions of meanings. It was also concluded, from this investigation, that the children not only assimilated some knowledge about butterflies (their morphological aspects, phases of their life cycle, species diversity, feeding habits and defense strategies against predation) but also incorporated into their drawings similar modes of representation as those they encountered in the scientific materials made available to them, with special emphasis on the sequential format of presentation of the phases of the life cycle of butterflies.

A alfabetização científica é um processo que capacita os estudantes se posicionarem de modo crítico às questões científicas presentes no cotidiano. Para isso, mais que memorizar termos e conceitos, faz-se necessário a comprensão por parte dos alunos do papel da ciência na sociedade, bem como dos aspectos envolvidos na produção do conhecimento científico. Para a promoção deste processo de Alfabetização Científica em sala de aula é necessário que as atividades propostas aos alunos propiciem momentos para o desenvolvimento de habilidades próprias do fazer científico. Segundo Sasseron e Carvalho (2008) essas habilidades ocorrem em atividades investigativas e se constituem em Indicadores de Alfabetização Científica, que foram posteriormente ampliados por Penha, Vianna e Carvalho (2009). Dessa forma, o presente trabalho teve por objetivo investigar como são as atividades experimentais, no contexto do ensino por investigação, que promovem a Alfabetização Científica. A escolha pela atividade experimental se deu ao fato de que muitos professores acreditam que esta seja uma estratégia essencial para o ensino de ciências. Com esse propósito, uma aula experimental investigativa aplicada aos alunos do sétimo ano do ensino fundamental foi analisada e em seguida, foi identificado Indicadores de Alfabetização Científica presente nesta atividade, bem como a frequência com que estes indicadores aparecem em cada etapa da aula proposta. Os resultados apontaram que a atividade experimental, no contexto do ensino por investigação, possibilitou os alunos desenvolverem, além das habilidades propostas por Sasseron e Carvalho (2008) e por Penha, Viana e Carvalho (2009), outra habilidade requerida na formação de individuo alfabetizado científicamente, configurando assim um ambiente propício para o desenvolvimento de habilidades específicas. De tal modo, a presença dos indicadores de Alfabetização Científica na atividade experimental investigativa está diretamente relacionada com a maneira que a atividade é estruturada pelos professores. Ademais, em aulas de ciências, para o entendimento de um conceito específico é necessário a abordagem de conceitos interdisciplinares, por vezes considerados coadjuvantes pelos professores, porém quando bem trabalhados em aula experimental é decisivo para a resolução do problema proposto pela atividade investigativa. / Scientific literacy is a process that enables students to position themselves critically to scientific issues present in everyday life. In this regard, more to memorize terms and concepts, it is necessary to understand by the students of the role of science in society, as well as the aspects involved in the production of scientific knowledge.To promote this process of Scientific Literacy in the classroom is necessary that the activities proposed to students propitiate time to develop own skills of scientific work. According Sasseron and Carvalho (2008) these skills occur in investigative activities and constitute Scientific Literacy Indicators, which were subsequently extended by Penha, Vianna and Carvalho (2009).Thus, this study aimed to investigate how are the experimental activities in the context of education by research promoting Scientific Literacy. The choice of experimental activity was given to the fact that many teachers believe this is an essential strategy for teaching science. For this purpose, an investigative trial class applied to students of the seventh grade of elementary school was analyzed and then was identified Scientific Literacy Indicators present in this activity as well as the frequency with which these indicators appear at each stage of class proposal. The results showed that the experimental activity in the context of education for research, enabled students to develop, in addition to the proposed skills by Sasseron and Carvalho (2008) and Penha, Viana and Carvalho (2009), another skill required in individual training literate scientifically, thus creating an environment conducive to the development of specific skills. In this way, the presence of Scientific Literacy indicators in the research experimental activity is directly related to the way the activity is structured by teachers. Moreover, in science classes, to the understanding of a particular concept it is necessary to approach interdisciplinary concepts sometimes considered supporting the teachers, that when well worked in experimental class is critical to solving the problem proposed by the investigative activity.

This study examined low and high level teachers' questioning patterns and classroom implementations within an argument-based inquiry approach known as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) approach, which addresses issues on negotiation, argumentation, learning, and teaching. The level of the teachers was determined by the students' writing scores. This study was conducted in Turkey with seven teacher for preliminary study. Because scoring writing samples examines the students' negotiation level with the different sources and students learn scientific process, as negotiation, which they may transfer into their writing, in classroom, two teachers were selected to represent low and high level teachers. Data collection involved classroom observation through video recordings. The comparative qualitative method was employed throughout the data analysis process with including quantitative results. The research questions that guided the present study were: (1) How are low and high level teachers, determined according to their students' writing scores, questioning patterns different from each other during classroom discourse? (2) Is there a relationship between students' writings and teachers' questioning styles in the classroom? Analysis of Qualitative data showed that teachers' classroom implementations reveal big differences based on argumentation patterns. The high level teacher, whose students had high scores in writing samples, asked more questions and the cognitive levels of questions were higher than the low level teacher. Questions promote an argumentative environment and improve critical thinking skills by discussing different ideas and claims. Asking more questions of teacher influences students to initiate (ask questions) more and to learn the scientific process with science concepts. Implicitly, this learning may improve students' comparison in their writing. Moreover, high level teacher had a more structured and organized classroom than low level teacher.

Ecologia é definida como a ciência responsável por estudar as distribuições e abundância dos organismos vivos no mundo, diante de fatores químicos, físico e biológicos. Assim, é de suma importância entender como as diferentes variantes dentro do meio ambiente influenciam no desenvolvimento dos organismos, e como as alterações ambientais afetam essa dinâmica de interações dos mesmos. Ecossistemas ripários conseguem apresentar uma variedade ainda maior de enfoques por caracterizarem faixas de transição entre ecossistemas terrestres e aquáticos, evidenciando assim aspectos ecológicos únicos da relação entre eles. O objetivo desse projeto é possibilitar e/ou facilitar a abordagem de temas acerca da Ecologia de Ecossistemas Ripários (EER) dentro da faixa escolar entre o Ensino Fundamental II e Médio, por meio de cenários ecológicos estudados pelo Grupo de Pesquisa em Ecologia de Ecossistemas Ripários, transpostos de forma didática. Para que essa transformação do conhecimento seja possível, o estudo utiliza o conceito de transposição didática, que representa a transformação dos saberes científicos em saberes escolares. A transposição didática serve de guia para a análise dos conteúdos publicados pelo Grupo de Pesquisa em Ecologia de Ecossistemas Ripários, corroborando na divulgação dos estudos do grupo para diferentes níveis escolares. Tais estudos representam situações diversas com alterações de relevo, conservação, tipo de cobertura vegetal, estágios de recuperação, qualidade da água, atividades de entorno, entre outros aspectos, que poderão ser associados às características de interesse trabalhadas pelo(a) professor(a) e ao conteúdo pertinente ao nível escolar em questão. Indo além, e pensando na acessibilidade, também é possível que o conteúdo de interesse seja impresso pelo(a) professor(a), para casos onde a interação no ambiente virtual não seja possível. Espera-se que, apesar de ser um assunto complexo, a transposição didática consiga aproximar os conhecimentos científicos em ecologia ao ensino básico, a fim de sensibilizar desde menores faixas etárias, sobre a importância da conservação desses ambientes, e que ela seja uma plataforma transversal, deixando os conceitos mais complexos ou simples, de acordo com a demanda dos interessados. / Ecology is defined as the science responsible for studying the distributions and abundance of living organisms in the world, faced with chemical, physical and biological factors. Thus, it is extremely important to understand how the different variants within the environment influence the development of organisms, and how environmental changes affect the dynamics of their interactions. Riparian ecosystems can present an even wider variety of approaches by characterizing transitional ranges between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, and then revealing unique ecological aspects of the relationship between them. The objective of this project is to enable and / or facilitate the approach of themes related to the Ecology of Riparian Ecosystems (ERE) within the school range between elementary and high education through ecological scenarios studied by the Ecology of Riparian Ecosystems Research Group, transposed in a didactic way. In order for this transformation of knowledge to be possible, the study uses the concept of didactic transposition, which represents the transformation of scientific into scholarly knowledge. The didactic transposition serves as a guide for the analysis of the contents published by the Ecology of Riparian Ecosystems Research Group, corroborating in the dissemination of the studies of the group to different scholar levels. These studies represent diverse situations with alterations of terrain, conservation, type of vegetation cover, recovery stages, water quality, environmental activities, among other aspects, which may be associated with the characteristics of interest worked by the teacher and the pertinent content at the level of schooling she or he work with. Going beyond, and thinking about accessibility, is also possible that the content of interest gets printed by the teacher, in cases where interaction with the virtual environment is not possible. It is hoped that, despite being a complex subject, the didactic transposition will be able to bring the scientific knowledge in ecology closer to basic education, in order to raise awareness of the importance of conservation of these environments, and leaving the concepts more complex or simple, according to the demand of the interested ones.

<p>This study follows student teachers from initial teacher education into their first teaching jobs, with the aim of gaining insights how student teachers become teachers of mathematics and science. The study has in two stages. In the first part focus, the focus is on the beliefs and conceptions – termed here as ’personal didactics’- that student teachers have about teaching and learning mathematics and science. These are captured by open-ended interviews on completion of initial teacher education. Stage 1 is thus subject specific. Findings indicate that student teachers have an applied approach to mathematics and science. Findings of the study challenge teacher education to develop mathematics and science as a more democratic, moral and cultural enterprise. It is suggested that closer connections are needed between different parts of initial teacher with a continued discussion about how and in what areas subject teaching can develop in teacher education. The second stage of research - two years later – involved data collection through observation, field notes and post-observation interviews. This stage is a follow-up study building on the stage 1 and has a more sociological emphasis inspired by Bernstein’s concept of educational codes. The research shows how the structure of schools influences teachers and their possibilities to enact teaching that is consistent with their understanding of mathematics and science as school subjects. Schools have different codes and teachers’ practices were constrained by the opportunities that each school offered as well as each teacher’s personal didactics. Most of the teachers in the study worked in schools organised in such a way that new teachers have considerable autonomy over their own teaching. After two years of practise teachers generally felt freer to organise science teaching and put more planning and preparation of science lessons as compared to mathematics. The overall study illuminates the relationship between initial teacher education and school practice, and suggests an enhancement of initial teacher education and professional development as a unity.</p>

This study follows student teachers from initial teacher education into their first teaching jobs, with the aim of gaining insights how student teachers become teachers of mathematics and science. The study has in two stages. In the first part focus, the focus is on the beliefs and conceptions – termed here as ’personal didactics’- that student teachers have about teaching and learning mathematics and science. These are captured by open-ended interviews on completion of initial teacher education. Stage 1 is thus subject specific. Findings indicate that student teachers have an applied approach to mathematics and science. Findings of the study challenge teacher education to develop mathematics and science as a more democratic, moral and cultural enterprise. It is suggested that closer connections are needed between different parts of initial teacher with a continued discussion about how and in what areas subject teaching can develop in teacher education. The second stage of research - two years later – involved data collection through observation, field notes and post-observation interviews. This stage is a follow-up study building on the stage 1 and has a more sociological emphasis inspired by Bernstein’s concept of educational codes. The research shows how the structure of schools influences teachers and their possibilities to enact teaching that is consistent with their understanding of mathematics and science as school subjects. Schools have different codes and teachers’ practices were constrained by the opportunities that each school offered as well as each teacher’s personal didactics. Most of the teachers in the study worked in schools organised in such a way that new teachers have considerable autonomy over their own teaching. After two years of practise teachers generally felt freer to organise science teaching and put more planning and preparation of science lessons as compared to mathematics. The overall study illuminates the relationship between initial teacher education and school practice, and suggests an enhancement of initial teacher education and professional development as a unity.

<p>This thesis compared science teaching and learning in English and isiXhosa in the Intermediate Phase (Grades 4-6) in two primary schools in the Western Cape. It explored the effects of using learners' home language (isiXhosa) and second language (English) as languages of learning and teaching science. The study is part of a broader project called the Language of Instruction in Tanzania and South Africa (LOITASA). The study was conceived against the background of English as a means of social, economic and educational advancement, and the marginalization of African languages in education.</p>

This study examines a primary school teacher’s ambitions within science education and how those ambitions manifest in the classroom. This is being examined by interview with the mentioned teacher and by observations as a participant within four of the teacher’s science classes. The results of this study is categorized and analyzed with assistance of scientific literacy, vision I and vision II, fundamental scientific literacy and Roberts’ curriculum emphases. The results of the study points at both similarities and indifferences between what the teacher expresses as ambitions, and how science classes are being constituted and organized. In the light of this result, a discussion takes place around what these similarities and indifferences can be products of.