Panorama of Brazilian research on Science Education in museums

Abstract:

There has been an expressive growth in Brazilian research on Science Education over the past four decades. The volume of scientific production demands studies to describe and analyze the researches, which have been rare in Brazilian scientific literature, particularly in Science Education. In this context, this paper identifies and describes the main features and trends of the research in the field of Science Education in museums. This is a qualitative and quantitative research, based on a bibliographical review, which analyzes doctorate theses and master dissertations produced from 1981 to 2010. The empirirical material consisted of 122 dissertations and 31 theses that were mapped into six categories. The studies analyzed indicate that the area in question appears as an emerging topic of research in the field of Science Education.

Keywords:
educational research; non-formal education; Science Education