Scientific didactic materials and the history of the Natural Science teaching in São Paulo (1880-1901)

Abstract

This article aims at discussing, through a historical perspective, the Natural Science teaching in São Paulo, between 1880 and 1901. The study is developed through the analysis of that period of time cataloguing of the scientific objects and didactic materials of the Escola Normal de São Paulo. So, the processes of international circulation of the school materials designated to the Natural Science teaching, such as the pedagogical possibilities and the indications of appropriation of the objects of that graduation teachers’ institution, are shown. There were investigated, as sources, the trades and the solicitations’ correspondences of buying of those school objects, the budgets, the receipts, the school inventory of goods and the teaching manuals. The methodological procedure consists on confronting the different kinds of sources, highlighting which objects were acquired, the trade and administrative processes which led them to school. It is also interesting to see the indications of usage of these materials (especially of those designated to the Chemistry teaching), considering the discussions about the teaching methodologies and the teaching manuals’ proposals. As a result, the work propitiates a better understanding of the circulation of objects to the Natural Science teaching processes and of the possibilities of their usage, associated to the speeches and pedagogical practices spread at that period of time.

School material culture; Science teaching; Scientific objects