Abstract
This article deals with the interrelations between representations and practice in effective action, through the analysis of masons activities. Two opposite positions have dominated the debate polarized between the representations predominance and situational and physical aspects in the competent action. For cognitivism, representations determine the effective action but for the already located action, the incorporated skills and local interactions explain the action effectiveness. We present an alternative that places human intelligence within the practice, its representational dimension emerging as cognition in the action, through an empirical study of two construction workers solving problems at the construction site. The Course of Action methodology proves to be suitable for this purpose because it allows to analyze the activity without tending into cognitivism. The results confirm the relevance of carrying practical intelligence to the level of the practice itself, thus confirming the paradigm of situated action.
Keywords:
competence; representation; situated action; construction site
