School alienation from the perspective of objectification theory: looking at Science teaching

Abstract The present theoretical study aims to present and discuss the concept of educational alienation from the perspective of Theory of Objectification (TO), a theory of teaching and learning proposed in the 1990s. Inspired by dialectical materialism and by Vygotsky's school of thought, TO seeks to break with the traditional and individualistic teaching conceptions adopted in schools. In order to explain the meaning of alienation according to TO, key concepts in this theory are discussed: knowledge, knowing, and learning. Through activity or joint labor, knowledge is set in motion and the subject is transformed, thus overcoming situations of alienation. The study contributes to thinking about educational alienation, which is still very common nowadays in schools and advocates TO as a likely break with the rationalist models of education that sustain.