The representation of science in articles of a popular science magazine: The SuperInteressante Cosmology

Abstract

The present article is a product of a Master’s Degree in Education developed in the Universidade Federal do Triângulo Mineiro. At the time we figured that the scientific education of individuals from a specific society shouldn’t be subjugated only to the educational and non-formal environment. We believe that all members of a society, in its diversity of spaces and times, should contribute to education promotion. Also, we consider that science is a place where cultural products, material and symbolic, are built. Some of these symbolic products can be conceptions on what, who and how science is made. We understand that these conceptions are promoted by and in society through some social actors that should promote the above-mentioned scientific education. Therefore, we consider relevant investigating how science is presented in the digital version of a popular science magazine that has youngsters as their audience in Brazil, SuperInteressante, between 2010 and 2019. We outlined our research to the articles that had Cosmology as their main subject because we see it as curious by the audience and with low approaches in Brazilian classrooms. The analysis on the articles was qualitative, made through Textual Discourse Analysis. We consider 5 fundamental elements to understand how science is presented in this magazine. These elements are our main categories: (i) scientific knowledge, (ii) scientific work, (iii) the scientist, (iv) scientific development and (v) its influences. We found trustworthy presentations about science, but also fancy or even fictional conceptions. We discussed and concluded about the influences that these presentations may impact society and their audience.

Keywords

• cultura científica
• divulgação científica
• natureza da ciência