La Ciencia Recreativa and the popularisation of science in Mexico in the 19th century

In the last decades of the 19th century education played a major role in Mexican society, when efforts were being made to restructure it based on the objective teaching of sciences, which was regarded as the driving force behind the change needed in various sectors such as industry and public health...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of science communication Vol. 16; no. 3; p. A07
Main Author da Fonseca, Maria Rachel Fróes
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Trieste Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati 01.01.2017
Subjects
19th century
Classes
Geography
Journalism
Meteorology
Physics
Public health
Science
Teaching
Working class
Zoology
Mexico
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Summary:In the last decades of the 19th century education played a major role in Mexican society, when efforts were being made to restructure it based on the objective teaching of sciences, which was regarded as the driving force behind the change needed in various sectors such as industry and public health. In this context, the so-called science disseminators aimed to communicate their knowledge to the general public, mainly to the working classes and the children. Journalism grew and reached a wide range of themes and audiences. They believed in the idea of a science for all and that sciences were an instrument to know the new nations and educate the population. It is worth mentioning La ciencia recreativa, a publication dedicated to children and working classes. Between 1871 and 1879 it was edited by the topographical engineer and surveyor José Joaquín Arriaga (1831–1896), who aimed to generalise the scientific knowledge of cosmography, mineralogy, meteorology, physics, botany, zoology, descriptive geography and industrial agriculture.
ISSN:1824-2049
1824-2049
DOI:10.22323/2.16030207