Social inclusion through access to heritage culture and education in an informal environment

This article describes the planning, performance and assessment of guided visits at the National Museum for pupils in state schools in Rio de Janeiro. The theoretical basis was the personal, physical and socio-cultural approaches for facilitating learning in museums contained in the John Falk model. The main objective was to create access to heritage, culture and education in an informal environment for a section of the population that lives in marginal areas without cultural amenities. The aim was also to establish the National Museum as an informal space for teaching chemistry. Questionnaires completed before, during and after visits provided data that was used to assess the procedure and to identify differences between visiting pupils, based on their level of education. The results lead us to conclude that the procedure and dynamic applied in this program generated affective and cognitive benefits for the visitors, and that the physical environment of the National Museum is suitable for informal chemistry teaching, particularly for secondary school pupils.