This paper presents a systematization of the reflections that guided our decisions about how to design a science textbook that best encouraged students to develop basic scientific concepts. We drew upon the theories of Vygotsky and Bakhtin to support our conviction that what a word means is not revealed in a dictionary, but in its use in social contexts. We present extracts from a science textbook, exemplifying strategies aimed at establishing mediations between personal meanings relied on in the everyday life of the students and the scientific concepts with more stable meanings.
Textbook; concept formation; social-constructivism; language and cognition
