Historical Scientific Astronomical Instruments: Building bridges between history, heritage, astronomy learning and society

Building bridges between the public and Historical Scientific Instruments (HSI) is a challenging task, due to the diverse historical, cultural, and social aspects of Brazilian society. Enabling the learning of astronomy through artifacts normally considered “old and unusable”, giving them a new meaning that transcends the exhibition, integrally, requires some good practices. In this work, we aim to share some of the educational practices developed and applied with the historic scientific astronomical instruments from the collection of the Museum of Astronomy and Related Sciences (MAST) , exploring not only the History of Science or pedagogical dimensions but also its role in the process of construction of society, since historical information plays a fundamental role in the teaching-learning process, promoting critical reflections on scientific culture. Creating educational activities at MAST, such as mediated guided visits, the project follows four main references: (1) models and modeling, (2) three-way interactivity (hands-on, minds-on, hearts-on), (3) museum education, (4) horizontal teaching, and learning. These are aspects that allow the building of a dialogue between society, its perceptions of cultural and scientific heritage, history, and Astronomy, by using the Historical Scientific Astronomical Instruments as a powerful tool. Through it, it’s possible to learn more about our Universe, our role in it, and ourselves.