Crianças e o conceito de Lucro: análise de situações de produto e serviço estudantes dos anos iniciais do Ensino Fundamental

This study investigates the understanding of profit, through the lens of the Theory of Conceptual Fields, among early elementary school children in Recife. Specifically, it aims to: (i) identify financial elements mobilized in situations involving judgments about profit; (ii) analyze the factors considered when evaluating whether a sale price is profitable; and (iii) examine whether reasoning differs when profit involves products versus services. To this end, 80 children from the 3rd and 5th grades completed two sets of activities: free word association involving the concept of profit, and judgment tasks based on scenarios involving products and services. The results indicated that the word profit was predominantly associated with money. Fifth-grade students demonstrated a greater diversity of associations and provided more elaborated justifications compared to third-grade students. Overall, students in both grades showed a better understanding of profit in service-related scenarios than in product-based ones, although 5th-grade performed similarly across both types of situations.