In this article, it is investigated how Brazilian science education researchers, referenced in the Vygotskian perspective, conceive and characterize the notion of problem and its selection criteria in didactic and pedagogical activities. Interviews were conducted with five researchers in science education who use as reference Vygotsky's assumptions, which were analyzed by Discursive Textual Analysis. The results indicate that the criteria used by researchers to choose problems that guide the didactic and pedagogical activities are mostly attached to scientific concepts. However, it was found that some researchers have come to perceive that the problem has a role in the selection and organization of scientific concepts. Such perspective is closer to the notion of problem presented in the work of Vygotsky.
Problem function; Vygotsky; science education.