Extension: the mean of communication between the university and the community

Abstract

The present study analyses the contribution of the academic sector to community through a case study taking the ‘Centro de Divulgação Científica e Cultural’ (Cultural and Scientific Diffusion Centre) as subject. This centre was set up in 1980, and since then, under the supervision of the University of São Paulo in São Carlos city, runs educational projects aimed at fostering school children interest for sciences. Differently from like initiatives, this centre endeavours to eschew patronising stances in favour of supportive actions. One of its project is the ‘Experimentoteca’, a collection of laboratory experiments which, upon request, are taken to schools for classroom demonstrations. Besides analysis of collated documents and facts within the country’s educational scenario, this case is studied under the theoretical and methodological framework of the so called New History, which avails means to combine broad relations to singular descriptions.