Devices for Teaching Nature. Technology and Modernity in Argentine Schools in the Late 19th Century

The teaching of natural sciences in Argentine schools towards the end of the 19th century implied the incorporation of a wide range of scientific materials. Many of them were acquired in specialized foreign companies that had expanded their offerings and their commercial horizons to different parts of the world in the face of growing demand. This, in turn, favored the consolidation of a cultural and consumer science market that was nourished by the large-scale production of teaching devices available thanks to the use and application of new materials, techniques and technological advances that allowed mass manufacturing and global distribution. Their study allows for examining different forms of connection between arts and science, technology and industry. Thus, through the analysis of the production, the materiality and the forms of visual presentation of scientific knowledge of certain technological devices such as wall plates, light projections and three-dimensional models, certain conditions of creation and circulation were identified. These reflected the acceptance and expansion of an industry on a global scale and in particular to the Argentine territory, which are closely related to the ideas of progress and modernity of that time.