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Oct 12, 2026 es Essay

La relación entre educación, enseñanza, divulgación y comunicación de la ciencia: una mirada desde México

A partir de la revisión de la extensa literatura sobre el tema de la comunicación de la ciencia en México y en otros países, y de la experiencia profesional de los autores a partir de los años ochenta del siglo pasado, se hace un recuento de la historia de la profesión y de la influencia que en esta han tenido los desarrollos teóricos y prácticos de la actividad en el resto del mundo.

Volume 9Issue 22026

Sep 30, 2026 pt Article

Public Universities from the Perspective of Residents of São Carlos (SP): A Brazilian Study

by Dr Daniel Matheus Silva , Dr Franciani Cássia Sentanin , Dr Kenia N. Parra , Ana Cláudia Kasseboehmer

This study analyzed the perceptions of residents of São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil, regarding the city’s public universities. A total of 454 participants took part in the study, including local community residents and students from public and private high schools. The quantitative investigation was based on a previous qualitative study and addressed five dimensions: comparison between public and private higher education institutions, learning environment, benefits to the city, the university as a social right, and idealized views of the university. The results indicated predominantly positive perceptions of public universities, but also revealed differences among the groups investigated and gaps in their understanding of the universities’ teaching, research, and extension functions. The findings highlight the need to strengthen communication and engagement between universities and society in order to foster a more comprehensive understanding of the social role of public higher education institutions.

Volume 9Issue 22026

Sep 21, 2026 pt Article

How can digital media be studied in times of information deluge? The TUCANO methodological protocol applied to documentary research on online news

by Victor Felipe Mendanha de Lima , Frederico Marianetti Soriani

This article presents TUCANO (an acronym derived from the Portuguese for: Unified Techniques for the Categorization and Analysis of Online News), a hybrid methodological protocol for the analysis of online news corpora in Portuguese. Developed to address a challenge posed by non-probability sampling in Social Sciences, TUCANO seeks to delimit, organize, and explore sets of news articles without losing the interpretive depth of qualitative analysis. The protocol combines Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques, such as tokenization, vectorization, and co-occurrence analysis, with a theoretical rationale oriented toward corpus construction and thematic subsampling. Its workflow is organized into six stages, ranging from the formulation of the guiding question to the definition of well-grounded subsets for qualitative analysis. Its applicability is demonstrated through a study on media coverage of the use of plastic straws and their impacts on marine life. With a lightweight, transparent, and accessible computational infrastructure, TUCANO enhances qualitative analysis and expands the critical use of computational tools in the Applied Social Sciences.

Volume 9Issue 22026

Sep 09, 2026 es Practice Insight

Recess: Science Workshops. A Science Communication Experience with Populations in Vulnerable Situations at a Public University

by Dr María del Socorro Aguilar Cucurachi , Prof. Roxana Zermeño Rivas , Prof. Katya Zamora Cuevas

Recess: Science Workshops is a science communication program at a public university in Mexico that has organized, since 2023, in-person interdisciplinary workshops for girls, boys, and adolescents in situations of social vulnerability, residing in or attending group homes and special care centers in the metropolitan area of Xalapa, particularly in Banderilla, Coatepec, and Xalapa. Over four cycles (2023–2026), more than thirty university departments, science communication collectives, and external institutions collaborated to offer educational experiences in the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the arts, adapted to diverse populations, including people with multiple disabilities. This article describes the program's design, implementation, and lessons learned from a reflective-practice perspective, identifying methodological, logistical, and institutional challenges, as well as lessons that may guide similar initiatives. It argues that science communication grounded in a human rights approach requires flexible methodologies, solid institutional alliances, sustained accompaniment, and a culture of critical evaluation.

Volume 9Issue 22026

Aug 17, 2026 pt Article

Identity as Capital: Who Speaks About Science on Brazilian YouTube?

by Daniel de Abreu Damasceno Junior , Amanda Medeiros , Luisa Massarani

In the context of the widespread reach of platforms such as YouTube, we study how identity-related issues shape the relationship between content creators and audiences, contributing to either the expansion or limitation of engagement with science-related videos published on Brazilian YouTube. To this end, we examine the argument that gender, race, and age are key factors structuring the dynamics of visibility, recognition, power, and the circulation of meaning. Our corpus consisted of 134 videos published on Brazilian YouTube. The findings show that identity functions as a mechanism of inclusion and exclusion in occupying positions of influence on platforms such as YouTube.

Volume 9Issue 22026

Aug 05, 2026 es Practice Insight

Recycling detectives: an intergenerational play experience at Universum, the Science Museum

by Ingrid Guadalupe Hernández-Gómez , Ms Cristina Hernández-Martínez , Dr Norma Angélica Corado-Nava , Ms María Emilia Beyer-Ruíz

Recycling detectives is an intergenerational educational activity offered by the children’s area at Universum, the Science Museum of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), designed to teach children and their families about the recycling process for Tetra Pak® containers. This text describes the pedagogical criteria that guided its design and presents the results of a formative evaluation based on direct observation to analyze interactions, emotions, and knowledge gained during the experience. The findings show that play, as a legitimate form of learning, facilitates intergenerational cooperation, stimulates emotions, and promotes environmental thinking from an early age.

Volume 9Issue 22026

May 29, 2026 pt Essay

Museums in tension: between colonial heritage and a biocultural reinvention from the communities.

by Martha Marandino , Prof. William Barbosa , Dr Sinaida Maria Vasconcelos

In this essay, we draw on literature and research findings on museum education, bioculturality, and decoloniality, conducting a critical analysis of the marks of colonization on the trajectory of museums. We also discuss the challenges and possibilities of addressing the tensions between colonial heritage and a biocultural reinvention from within the communities present in this trajectory. We analyze the case of the Ecomuseum of the Amazon/PA/BR, a museum and educational space that values local knowledge and practices as a possibility to offer indications, however limited, of building other worlds in the face of globalized capitalism.

Volume 9Issue 12026

May 20, 2026 pt Article

Mathematics on stage: encoding and decoding humor in the play "The Big Problem of the Infinite Band"

by Ana Clara Dupret , Dr Carla Almeida

Faced with contemporary challenges, science communication has adopted dialogical and affective strategies to bring science and society closer together. In this scenario, theater stands out as an ally, expanding communication beyond the transmission of content. This research investigates the insertion and reception of humor in the play "The Big Problem of the Infinite Band," from the Museu da Vida Fiocruz, which seeks to promote a positive experience with mathematics. Based on Bergson and Fo's concepts of humor and Hall's Encoding/Decoding model, the analysis highlights the use of comic mechanisms capable of entertaining and fostering identification and belonging to the mathematical universe.

Volume 9Issue 12026

May 11, 2026 pt Article

Public communication of science and university extension (public engagement): researchers' perspectives from a qualitative study

by Matheus Barros , Silvia Martins dos Santos

Public Communication of Science (CPC) can be understood as a strategic dimension of university life. This study investigates how researchers from the Institute of Physics at the Federal University of Uberlândia, in Minas Gerais (Brazil), perceive and practice CPC, highlighting institutional tensions, institutional initiatives, and the role of university mechanisms. Based on interviews with nine professors and seven postgraduate students, results indicate a clear recognition of CPC’s social relevance. However, participation remains irregular and reactive, alongside a lack of awareness regarding existing institutional initiatives. We advocate for an institutional ecosystem that strengthens engagement and the social role of the university.

Volume 9Issue 12026

May 06, 2026 es Practice Insight

Beliefs and Learning about Seismographs and Animals: A Recreational Activity in Mexico

by Caridad Cárdenas-Monroy

Addressing misconceptions about earthquakes is one of the main challenges in the public communication of seismology. The belief that animals can predict when an earthquake will occur is one of the most deeply rooted myths in society, not only in Mexico but worldwide. To address this issue, a workshop was conducted that included a playful demonstration of a seismograph and a hands-on recreational activity providing information about earthquakes and animals, as part of a science fair organized by the National School of Earth Sciences at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Based on this experience, participants’ prior beliefs and the learning achieved through the workshop were analyzed.

Volume 9Issue 12026

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