The museological discourse and its typologies in a natural history museum

Abstract:

Due to museums popularity and their social, cultural, and scientific roles, there has been a growing interest in investigating how teaching occurs at museums and their contributions to the public awareness of science. Museums present an innate type of discourse named museological, consisting of various elements found on explanations, which visitors can interact with. This study analyzes the museological discourse of a paleontological exhibition, concluding that it is essentially contemplative, with a predominance of authoritarian discourse on the exhibited texts, as seen in the pedagogical discourse. Reflecting on museum exhibitions and whom they are aimed at, with adjustments being made according to the audiences, what is important is the manner in which critical learning benefits and the importance of interactive objects and reflexive texts as facilitators of the process of the construction of meanings by the visitors themselves.

Keywords:
Museum; Exhibition; Scientific popularization; Non formal education; Discourse