This article analyzed the written records of Third Grade students of Elementary School at Escola de Aplicação, Universidade de São Paulo, gathered during the Science classes of the 2001 school year, in which activities about physical understanding were used. Created by the Laboratory of Research and Teaching of Physics - LAPEF, of the College of Education of USP, the activities "The Problem of the Submarine", "The Problem of the Little Boat" and "The Problem of the Pressure" required the students to solve problematic situations through experimentation, developing arguments and write about the phenomena. The study developed a framework of how the records are presented by the students, considering the types of texts they produce, the use of the first person, the use of verbs of action, the respect of the chronological order of events and the types of explanations the students give for the phenomena used.
activities of physical understanding; Physics in Elementary School; write activities in classes of Sciences; discussion in science classes