ENSINO DE ASTRONOMIA NO BRASIL - 1850 A 1951 - UM OLHAR PELO COLÉGIO PEDRO II

Abstract

The teaching of Astronomy in Brazil is analyzed in the 18 programs of the Pedro II School, relative to the 1841 to 1951 reforms, based on the understanding that the curriculum is the result of a process made up of conflicts and disputes between different traditions and social conceptions. The Astronomy was first identified in the Cosmography subject, although it is absent from the curricula in some periods (1856/58 and 1951) and returns, at other times, included in subjects like Geography and/or Physics (e.g. 1858 and 1931). The non-linearity of the temporal evolution in the curriculum is also observed in the maintenance of subjects such as seasons or eclipses in all the reforms and in the disconnected absence of subject matter like the methods for the star observation or the characterization of the Sun in some of them.