Public science and educational paths towards sustainability in museums and libraries in Lisbon and São Paulo

The field of socio-educational action for sustainability, in affirmation and growth over the last few decades, has been the scene of interventions that came from civil society and environmental movements, generating institutional affirmation and political intervention, as well as educational proposals in schools and contexts of non-formal education, including in collective and public facilities for cultural purposes, such as libraries and museums. One of the driving factors behind education for sustainability is related to public science, the dissemination and popularization of science, directing communication to non-academic audiences. Among the priority audiences of public science for sustainability we can identify teachers, a professional class that needs to update their knowledge for an informed educational intervention that promotes the Sustainable Development Goals. It is noteworthy that international recommendations and national policies for museums and libraries have followed the reflexivity specific to each field, framing the action of these facilities with different principles, including sustainability. In this context, the project 'Public science and educational pathways for sustainability in museums and libraries in Lisbon and São Paulo' (MUBIESUS) is proposed, supported by multi-situated participatory research, comprising education for sustainability at the intersection of critical pedagogy (Darder et al., 2018) with critical environmental justice (Pellow, 2018). The aim is to investigate public science practices and recommendations for sustainability in museums and libraries in the cities of Lisbon and São Paulo, particularly in dialogue with in-service teachers, seeking to understand their expectations of training for sustainability and its potential offer in this type of public equipment.

This project is associated with the ReLeCo Socio-Artistic Studies for Decoloniality and Sustainability and with the Public Science Forum.