HISTÓRIA E MEMÓRIAS DE FEIRAS DE CIÊNCIAS EM ESPAÇOS ESCOLARES

Abstract

In this work, which is available in the Research Groups Directory of CNPq PUC Goiás Education, History, Memory and Cultures in different social settings and in the Research Line Education, Society and Culture, the subject matter of Science Fairs in the school environment is discussed under the theoretical perspective of Germano and Kulesza (2006) on the Popularization of Science (dissemination, vulgarization, popularization and scientific literacy) and the different senses related to it, articulated with the construction of the concept of Modern Science, as a scientific field, its expressed disputes over objects of investigation, epistemologies, methods, beliefs and criteria for truth verification. The historical social emergence of Science Education in secondary school, promoted in school institutional settings, necessarily permeates a particular conception of Culture, Science and Philosophy which guide scientific and citizenship education. This work seeks to retrieve: what are the memories and history of Science Fairs occurred during the schooling process? Therefore, the following research questions were defined: a) what history and memories do people keep from Science Fairs? b) what is the dominant notion of Science that such Fairs build as a cultural disposition able to being internalized as Habitus? c) what is the theoretical framework of Science Fair initiatives as a strategy for the Popularization of Science? This is an exploratory research, one of a qualitative and comprehensive nature grounded on the historiographical studies which favor the concepts of culture, history and memory. Based on the elaboration and appropriation of the state of knowledge of the subject matter, document analysis and interviews made with 35 (thirty-five) people, out of 70 approached, inserted in different age groups, from 20 to 69 years of age, it was possible to notice that the narratives highlighted that Science Fairs, focused on the exhibition of experimental work, encourage knowledge production as well as creativity, considering that they constitute important events for the dissemination of science. It was also possible to identify among the different science notions involved in school memories which hegemonic notion of Science was culturally internalized by the people interviewed, as well as their acceptance or resistance to the hegemony of Positivist Science, a feature which is structurally present and built symbolically by Science Fairs in school settings.