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 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.

As the fundamental motif of my thesis I selected topic ``Symptoms of psychical deprivation of children with a combined somatic handicap and its reflection in artistic expression{\crqq}. I selected this topic on purpose since I was very interested whether physically handicapped children who spend most of their life behind the walls of an asylum with similarly affected individuals show any mental deprivation and whether it influences their drawing. The main objective of the thesis was to ascertain whether children suffering from a physical handicap experience mental deprivation, immediately connected with their primary handicap and the life behind the walls of an asylum among similarly handicapped individuals. I believe that this issue has not been examined thoroughly yet. In the introductory part of the thesis I described the issue of mental deprivation and physical handicaps and outlined art therapy techniques in several chapters. In the practical part I pursued the objective of the research, i.e. analysis of drawings and collages and the manner how mental deprivation is reflected in the artistic works. I analysed particularly three kinds of basic drawing tests: Figure Test, Baum Test (tree test) and House Test. Some children also made drawings and collages on topics: I and My World{\crqq}, ``Snow White and Seven Dwarfs{\crqq} and ``Sleeping Beauty{\crqq}. I evaluated the works according to the Blatruschov{\crq}s and Ogdonov{\crq}s Figure Test and classic Koch{\crq}s Baum Test. Considering the character of the research objective and the nature of the available data, I decided for a qualitative methodological approach, using the following information collection techniques: analysis of personal documents (artistic works of physically handicapped children) documented by elaborated case studies. The diploma thesis may be utilized by art therapists, special pedagogues, psychologists and also students of special pedagogy and other health-social branches.