Science-related conversations during family visits to a health exhibition at the Fiocruz Museum of Life (Rio de Janeiro/RJ)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20318/recs.2025.9311Keywords:
health communication, science museums, science-related conversations, family audiencesAbstract
Introduction: In this article, we investigate science-related conversations that took place during family visits to the exhibition “Aedes: What Mosquito Is This?” at the Museu da Vida Fiocruz (Rio de Janeiro/RJ/Brazil). Objectives: To analyze group dynamics within these conversations; identify strategies used by adult family members to promote children’s learning; reflect on the potential and challenges for children’s engagement and health learning during the visits. Methodology: Interactions during the visits were recorded using a GoPro camera attached to the chest of one child from each group. Science-related conversations considered complex were qualitatively analyzed. Family dynamics were identified through analysis categories that emerged from the data. Results: Adult visitors played an active and leading role, seeking to promote children’s learning through various strategies, with explanations given by adults to children being predominant. Identifications and associations with everyday life and prior experiences were also recurrent, mainly in the form of accounts of experiences with diseases, which proved fruitful for engagement and learning. Conclusion: The visit to the exhibition enabled health-related learning.
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