This study presents results of a research that aimed to investigate how schools operate in the confrontation between the student's previous knowledge and the school knowledge in History learning. Seventeen teachers and twentysix students of municipal schools in the city of Londrina, State of Paraná, Brazil, participated in the empirical research. Based on a qualitative approach, this article presents research conducted with the aim to identify the children's previous knowledge about the history of the city of Londrina. To achieve this goal, students were interviewed on two occasions: first when attending second grade (before studying the History of Londrina) and then during third grade (during the study of the History of Londrina). For research and analysis of the results, we relied upon investigations conducted by researchers such as Lee (2001), Cooper (2002), Barton (2004), Barca (2007) and Schmidt (2010). The results indicate possibilities for understanding the ideas of the subjects for the construction of historical knowledge in History classes at the elementary school.
History Teaching; History Education; Early Grades