Museus Digitais de Ciências e Tecnologias: Sentidos (Re)Produzidos sobre o Patrimônio Cultural, Científico e Tecnológico.

Abstract

The consolidation of the Internet, combined with the development and expansion of digital platforms, has significantly expanded the spaces and ways of disseminating scientific knowledge. In this context, Digital Museums of Science and Technology (MDC&T) have emerged with the potential to diversify the different ways of teaching and learning Science, since interaction with museum objects can favor the learning of scientific knowledge. Furthermore, these digital artifacts can also contribute to the production of meanings by teachers and students, with regard to the construction of scientific knowledge supported by knowledge of Cultural, Scientific and Technological Heritage (PCC&T). In this context, this research investigated the meanings that teachers with degrees in Natural Sciences and Natural Sciences (Biology, Chemistry and Physics) attribute to MDC&Ts and to museum-based PCC&T. This is an exploratory and qualitative investigation, whose analyses are guided by the foundations of Historical-Cultural Psychology and contemporary discussions of Museology and Cultural Heritage. To produce the data, the techniques of systematic literature review, documentary research and semi-structured interviews with Basic Education teachers were used. The research demonstrated that the teachers interviewed attribute different meanings to the MDC&Ts and the PCC&T in museums, since such meanings are formed from a process that articulates the teaching activity, their academic training, personal experiences, the cultural mediations that create the habit of frequenting museums and the objective conditions of access. This is a dynamic and socially mediated process, which is centered on the relationship between the personal reasons that drive the visit to museums and the social meanings historically constructed in relation to the act of visiting these spaces. From this perspective, the teachers who had experiences with digital museums, in addition to recognizing them as environments that mediate knowledge, capable of bringing students closer to the history and dynamics of Science, also perceive them as an instrument with the potential to democratize access to systematized knowledge, enrich the teaching-learning process, preserve scientific heritage and explore new forms of interaction in the school environment. From this perspective, the PCC&T is seen as a historical testimony, a pedagogical mediator, and a teaching tool that challenges the cognition of teachers and students. From another perspective, teachers who have not experienced these artifacts tend to recognize them as a simple digital repository of the physical museum collection, but they also understand that they foster expanded access to the PCC&T and that they are important for the teaching-learning process of Science. In general, all teachers interviewed are aware that the pedagogical exploration of these spaces is not yet effective in the daily life of schools and point out that this is due to a number of factors, such as the lack of digital infrastructure in schools, the lack of teacher training regarding the integration of museums and Science Centers in educational practices, and the lack of prior knowledge regarding the existence of accessible, interactive MDC&Ts with immersion elements that are attractive to students. This, in some way, explains the discrepancy between the recognition of MDC&Ts as potential environments for teaching Science and their effective appropriation in everyday school life, especially in more vulnerable contexts. Therefore, we ratify the relevance of these environments for the teaching-learning process of Science in Basic Education. However, Brazilian institutions need to invest in technological infrastructure in schools, in the creation of immersive and interactive digital museums, in the promotion of these spaces and in the training of teachers, enabling them to get to know them and construct meanings in relation to the exploration of these artifacts as mediators of educational processes.