The mobile museum "El Camino de la Ciencia" (The Way of Science) as a developer of outreach science and social appropriation of scientific knowledge

Abstract

The mobile museum El Camino de la Ciencia (The Way of Science) is an outreach science space to approximate the population of the state of Veracruz, Mexico, to scientific and technological knowledge, and thus awaken interest in science in children and young people, as scientific research and technological development are the main driver for economic and social development of a nation. This work was carried out in the period from November 2009 to March 2010 in six different locations in the state of Veracruz, in order to determine the contribution to the process of appropriation of science and technology generated in the population through application of two surveys, one prior (inquest a) to the museum, to diagnose the knowledge already present in the audience and another after to assess the knowledge acquired at the Museum (inquest B), then comparing the results obtained in order to verify the impact generated. The average grades of inquests A and B were 6,29 and 6,80, respectively, showing significant differences between the results (p = 0,010), which suggests the assimilation of information provided from the visit to the mobile museum El Camino de la Ciencia (The Way of Science).