Science Education in a Museum: Enhancing Earth Sciences Literacy as a Way to Enhance Public Awareness of Geological Heritage

Abstract

Today, scientific literacy has become increasingly important as a hallmark of citizenship and as a way to facilitate many of life’s daily decisions. Scientific literacy can be achieved through learning, a complex lifelong process that occurs both in school and out-of-school settings. As most adults only engage in formal education about science during compulsory schooling, all the learning that people go through in out-of-school settings and beyond compulsory schooling becomes extremely important toward the scientific literacy of the individual. The learning process in out-of-school settings requires interest from each person and can be facilitated by various agents, for example, museums. This is particularly true for Earth sciences as Geology topics are rarely taught within the science curricula during school. The Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciência provides realistic experiences that engage different publics into science and thus enhances the public science literacy. It is expected that by enhancing people’s Earth sciences literacy, it will also enhance their awareness of geological heritage.