«Difficult Breathing»: to the Problem of Overcoming the Natural in the Cultural

The problem of transforming everyday concepts of a child into scientific concepts and their interaction posed by L.S. Vygotskii is still relevant. This article analyzes the transformation of the everyday concept of breathing and respiration to the scientific concept, starting with the ideas of a preschooler and up to the end of school age. The material of the experimental teaching within the framework of a five-year biology course for middle school is presented in comparison with the traditional introduction of the scientific concept. Teaching-learning processes are investigated as a series of mediation acts. Analysis of the students learning activity and their learning difficulties demonstrates the dynamics of conceptual changes. It is possible to see the relationship between the initial (‘everyday’) and the emerging scientific concept. Observations are analyzed from the point of view of Lev Vygotskii and his scientific school and other investigators also. The conditions for overcoming the ‘encapsulation’ of scientific concepts in human consciousness are discussed. The way of development and final appropriation of a scientific concept is shown. The nature of the transformation of an everyday concept in interaction with the scientific concept are discussed.