A química nos museus: impressões de visitantes e educadores

Abstract

The present work, which emerged from the need for research or the potential of museums to facilitate the learning of Chemistry, consists of two studies: Visits to the Geodiversity Museum (Study 1) and How to research the educational sectors of museums (Study 2). The objectives of Study 1 were: to investigate how impressions of high school students in relation to Chemistry and Chemistry classes; investigate the impressions of these students regarding their visit to the Geodiversity Museum at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (MGeo / UFRJ); compare how impressions and the performance of students from different realities - a public school in the periphery and a private school in the middle class. For this, questionnaires were used before, during and after the visits. In general, students showed that they like Chemistry, recognize the importance of Chemistry, but do not feel motivated to use the textbook. In addition, students performed well when answering questions proposed from the content of the exhibition on display in the museum in question. The students had good impressions on the structure of the museum and the dynamics of the visit. Differences observed between the two groups of students were attributed to differences in the volume of cultural capital, assuming that public school students are at a socioeconomic disadvantage in relation to students attending private middle-class schools. Study 2, in turn, aimed to investigate the impressions of professionals responsible for the educational sectors of museums regarding school visits and the potential for learning Chemistry in these spaces. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with professionals from the following museums: National Museum / UFRJ, Museum of Life / FIOCRUZ, Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences and MGeo / UFRJ. The Content Analysis of these interviews revealed that these professionals recognize the museum as a space that facilitates learning, while preserving the specificity of museum education. The main strategy they use is human mediation, aiming to arouse curiosity, instigating students to always want to learn more. The educational sectors of museums showed interest in dialoguing with schools, in the search for a better use of visits. Some difficulties were pointed out: the lack of collaboration on the part of some teachers who take students on visits to the museum; the challenge of planning appropriate visits to different types of audiences. The interviewed professionals demonstrated to recognize the presence of Chemistry, integrated to other sciences in the exhibitions, which allows the dialogue with the professor of this discipline, in order to facilitate the planning for the learning of Chemistry in the museum space. The results of this research allowed us to conclude that it is necessary to think about a different dynamic: adding the specificities of formal education with those of non-formal education (museal), producing something new and of quality. To contribute, in this sense, didactic material was elaborated containing suggestions about school visits and possibilities of approaching Chemistry at MGeo / UFRJ.