The purpose of this study is to examine the issue of teacher education related to understanding the essential aspects of the constitution and historical development of thought and language. Our argument is that teacher education should aim to promote the universal conditions in the constitution of individual subjects, to overcome the determinist conceptions of psychology and education guided by the influence of environment and / or biological basis. So, our study presents a synthesis of phylogenetic and ontogenetic roots of thought and language, and proposes what is necessary for the educational activity to promote higher mental functions. We conclude that both thought and language must be regarded as appropriations that are objectified in human activities. In education, it is fundamental that teachers learn about mental processes. Teachers need to know how the processes occur and how to organize actions in the pedagogical activity, creating opportunities for the enhancement of higher psychological functions
Thinking; language; Historic-cultural psychology