Revitalização do Museu de Minerais, Rochas e Fósseis (MMRF) da UFMT e a sua importância no ensino das geociências

Abstract

The Museum of Minerals, Rocks and Fossils (MMRF) was a project designed by teachers Dr. Francisco Egídio. C. Pinho and Dr. Carlos José Fernandes and with financial support from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Mato Grosso (FAPEMAT) e Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), the project was completed with its inauguration in 2008, at the Federal University of Mato Grosso (UFMT), Cuiabá campus. Managed by the Faculty of Geosciences (FAGEO), the museum contributes to the dissemination of geoscientific knowledge both to the internal community made up of undergraduate students and members of UFMT and to the external community made up of residents of the state of Mato Grosso. Under the supervision of a museum coordinator, its opening to the public is carried out with the support of geology students who put into practice the knowledge learned in classes and in the field. With the closure of the zoo in 2019, which contributed to the dynamics of visitation, there was a decline in visitation to the MMRF, thus, measures were considered to supply and maintain the good number of visitors but, with the outbreak of COVID-19, for as a matter of public health, the university closed its doors, making it impossible for the MMRF to continue its activities. With the return of in-person classes in 2022, the academic community was undergoing an adaptation process and the museum officially resumed most of its activities in 2023. Thinking about offsetting the impacts caused by the closure of the zoo and the pandemic, revitalization measures began to be implemented. revive, with events held and reopening on Saturdays, in addition to the demand from institutions that sought to visit the museum. This present Course Completion Work (TCC), as an integrating part of measures for revitalization, is the result of many of the activities already carried out at the museum and aims to report all the activities carried out between the years 2018 to 2023, in addition to the activities in progress and new ones in action plans. In order to contribute to improvements to the museum, this work brings unprecedented data on the profile of visitors in various circumstances and their opinion and that of those who do not yet know it, through survey forms. However, in the face of all the adversities that the MMRF has faced, propagating and disseminating the teaching of Geosciences in a beneficial and didactic way is one of its missions, since it is of great importance for everyone to have knowledge of where “we are standing”, knowing the history and evolution of Planet Earth through Geology.