Abstract

SANTOS, Maira Elisabete dos; NASCIMENTO-SCHULZE, Clélia Maria  and  WACHELKE, João Fernando Rech. The travelling exhibition as a promoter of scientific diffusion: attitudes, interaction patterns and visitors’ perceptions. Psicol. teor. prat. [online]. 2005, vol.7, n.2, pp. 49-86. ISSN 1516-3687.

The present study, centered on the phenomena of social interactions and attitudes, has investigated the contribution of a scientific exhibition about environmental paradigms for the diffusion of science in two aspects: how is the relationship between visitors’ attitudes toward its contents and the interaction patterns that they exhibit? How is the perception of contents and structural aspects of the exhibition established? One hundred and fifty-one secondary students from two schools took part of the study. During the visit to the exhibition, subjects observed photographs, banners and movies, and answered to a scale of attitudes towards the new environmental paradigm, as well as to open questions about the exhibition. For data analysis, interactions were observed, attitudes were measured and a content analysis was conducted on the open answers. A coherence between subjects’ attitudes and the types of interaction exhibited was observed. The open answers indicated that subjects approved the exhibition and perceived messages that were compatible with the ones intended by the organizers.

Keywords : Social interaction; Science diffusion; Environment; Social representations; Attitudes.

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