Science Education and the Many Uses of Scientific Objects in the State of São Paulo at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century

At the turn of the nineteenth century in the State of São Paulo, Brazil, public and private secondary and higher schools, both confessional and secular, began to acquire scientific teaching objects on a regular basis in support of modern science education. Not only did these many objects function as visible markers of modernity in the classroom given the natural phenomena they could demonstrate or measure, they also sanctioned the associated modernized curriculums. For at least one school, the Colegio Marista Arquidiocesano in São Paulo and its school museum, “the planning and organization of the inventory of scientific objects" acquired an added purpose in encouraging the teaching of history of science via their materiality. Moreover, other unplanned reasons for the acquisition, commerce, circulation, and practices with these artifacts used for the teaching of the sciences took place: some teachers used their progressive representations in order to market them; others promoted them by converting their collections into places of visitation and tourism; and a few used them as a resource for self-training so they could compete against other schools. My talk will discuss these many different uses given to scientific materiality, pointing out social practices unrelated to what was originally expected of them, and taking into consideration the interface between the history of science, history of education, and ethnography of giving access to representations of science in everyday life in São Paulo.