An historical-epistemological discussion of science communication in museums

The aim of this paper is to analyze and discuss the goals and the philosophical assumptions behind informal and formal communication within science museums. The main thesis is that if the aim of science communication should be to improve the public understanding of science, or even the public commitment with science, it may be requested that the in the representation of scientific and technological contents the historical and epistemological of scientific knowledge, scientific discovery and technological invention be put at stake. Several studies show that historical contextualization allow learners and visitors to appreciate bow the scientific methods works, as well as to understand that scientific investigations produce an actual and operating increasing of human knowledge about natural phenomena. A new museological approach that exploits the epistemological peculiarities of scientific practices, even representing their very origins within the adaptive Dominion dynamics of evolutionary processes is the idea of "total museum" advanced by Wagensberg.