Background:
In this paper, abstraction is associated with an activity in the sense of activity theory by Vygotsky. To him, participation in social activities is a fundamental act for the child in order to achieve higher mental functions. The present paper aimed to experimentally investigate the abstraction process and illustrate how meaning emerges on social plane from the perspective of theory of abstraction.

Materials and methods:
The analysis is from a science classroom activity.The activity was videotaped, transcribed, and later translated into English.

Results:
The results indicated that in the course of the activity, four nested contexts emerged. And, the contexts were created through the interaction amongst the teacher, students and the cultural tools.

Conclusions:
In a contextualizing action, therefore, five central elements play important role, scene, agent, purpose, act and agency.