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Scientific Material Culture, Heritage and Communication

Code: 42281 ECTS Credits: 15
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
History of Science: Science, History and Society OT 0

Contact

Name:
Carlos Tabernero Holgado
Email:
carlos.tabernero@uab.cat

Teachers

Agusti Nieto Galan
Laura Valls Plana
José Pardo Tomás
Alfons Zarzoso Orellana
Jaume Valentines Álvarez
Oliver Hochadel
Jaume Sastre Juan
Miquel Carandell Baruzzi
Michele Catanzaro
Carlos Alberto Acosta Rizo

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

None.


Objectives and Contextualisation

The module poses a critical and rigorous vision of scientific communication and its history from the study of the spaces where this knowledge is produced, as well as to the materiality and to all the actors that take part in its production and circulation. The factories of scientific knowledge and of its communication become the objects of analysis. Spaces, media, objects and actors reveal the connections between science —understood how a dynamic process, of mutual interaction, and without a neat separation between experts and non-experts— and its publics. Upon this premise, the module takes, as a first explanatory reference, the local historical context of Barcelona or Catalonia, from where the possibility to build or explain a culturally complex history of the science is shown.

This module is compulsory for those students that want to do M4 or Pràcticum with a professional specialty. In this way, M3 is the base for the carrying out of professional training in companies and institutions that work with scientific heritage and communication. In any case, M3-M4 students also have the possibility to doa doctoral thesis (PhD).

General aims

− Develop, analyse, apply and understand the historical knowledge of science in those fields related to the communication and the material culture of science.

− Develop an original and interdisciplinary historical narrative that integrates humanistic and scientific cultures.

Competences

  • Apply historical knowledge of science to communication, material culture and science teaching.
  • Develop an original, interdisciplinary historical narrative that integrates humanistic and scientific culture.
  • Display a sound knowledge of history so as to pinpoint the great events of the past with accuracy: authors, theories, experiments, practices, etc., and their stages of stability and transformation.
  • Display rigorous, advanced knowledge of the evolution of science throughout history.
  • Gather and critically assess information for problem solving, in accordance with the discipline's own analysis methods and techniques.
  • Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.
  • Use information and communication technologies appropriately in research and in professional activity.
  • Work in interdisciplinary teams, showing leadership and initiative.
  • Work independently: solving problems, taking decisions and making innovative proposals.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Assess the scientific and medical heritage.
  2. Critically analyse the mechanisms of scientific communication in the mass media.
  3. Describe the function and meaning of the spaces where scientific and medical practice is conducted.
  4. Describe the historical factors determining technological processes in the configuration of scientific and industrial professionalisation spaces.
  5. Display a plural vision of the meaning of material culture and scientific and medical heritage.
  6. Display understanding of the value of material culture and scientific and medical heritage, and of the socio-cultural practices and transformations associated with their production and implementation.
  7. Gather and critically assess information for problem solving, in accordance with the discipline's own analysis methods and techniques.
  8. Identify and distinguish the elements of material culture in the history of science and medicine.
  9. Identify the changes and continuances of scientific and technical heritage in the process of identifying engineering as a scientific profession.
  10. Identify the mechanisms of visual representation in the material production of science and medicine.
  11. Identify the role of scientific and technological heritage, the media, and educational institutions in the creation and transmission of scientific knowledge.
  12. Identify the transformations of the museology of science, medicine and technology, their forms of representation and their communication strategies over time.
  13. Recognise the cultural material of science and medicine as essential ingredients in the processes of socio-cultural construction.
  14. Recognise the different communication channels of science and medicine across history, their special characteristics and their links.
  15. Recognise the essential communication channels and strategies of science, medicine and technology and their relationships with their audiences.
  16. Recognise the essential elements of the history of technology with regard to the role of scientific and industrial heritage.
  17. Understand the historical principles underpinning the processes of scientific, technological and medical professionalisation.
  18. Understand the mass media (press, radio, cinema, television, internet) as spaces of learning, reflection and socio-cultural construction in relation to science, medicine and technology.
  19. Understand the processes of generation, circulation and management of scientific, medical and technological knowledge in relation to complex, multi-dimensional sets of communicative practices.
  20. Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.
  21. Use information and communication technologies appropriately in research and in professional activity.
  22. Work in interdisciplinary teams, showing leadership and initiative.
  23. Work independently: solving problems, taking decisions and making innovative proposals.

Content

The student will obtain a wide-ranging, detailed and updated knowledge of the modern and contemporary history of science, technology and medicine, fundamentally in the contexts of Catalonia, Spain
and Europe, from the point of view of material culture, heritage and communication.

This strategy will allow the student to know the meaning of the material culture of science and medicine -practices, processes, structures, meanings and knowledges associated to instruments,
technologies and the spaces of science and medicine-, and their relation with organisational changes, the creation of new connected spaces, and the production of professional identities.

Besides, the student will know the diverse forms of communication tied to these processes and, specially, the relationship between mass media and the processes of generation, circulation and
management of scientific, medical and technological knowledge, and its role in socio-cultural transformations in history.



Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Theory and practice 75 3 2, 17, 18, 19, 6, 5, 4, 3, 11, 9, 10, 8, 12, 15, 14, 16, 13, 20, 1
Type: Supervised      
Monitoring and tutoring of content worked by students 56.25 2.25 2, 17, 18, 19, 6, 5, 4, 3, 11, 9, 10, 8, 12, 7, 15, 14, 16, 13, 20, 23, 22, 21, 1
Type: Autonomous      
Individual study, problem solving and task completion 225 9 2, 17, 18, 19, 6, 5, 4, 3, 11, 9, 10, 8, 12, 7, 15, 14, 16, 13, 20, 23, 22, 21, 1 

Classes have a unique geographical, chronological and thematic character, so that it is the whole that gives consistency and unity. From the diversity of sessions and professors, the module considers as a common denominator the balanced conjunction
between two teaching typologies: the oral explanation, and the contact with the sources, objects and spaces. That is why classes are itinerant, where very different spaces of science are visited, and practical, with a workshop methodological component,
in which students will have contact with several primary sources and objects of study.

Spaces where module sessions are taught:

- UAB/Facultat de Medicina

- Carrers i diversos espais a la ciutat de Barcelona

- Gabinet Salvador/IBB

- Teatre RAM

- MCNB/Parc de la Ciutadella

- CosmoCaixa

- RACAB

- ETSEIB

- Observatori Fabra

- Fundació Concòrdia Farmacèutica

- Hospital de S. Pau

- IMF-CSIC

- Institut Catalá de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont

English could be used in some of the sessions, as it is a teaching language of the Master.

 

Note: 15 minutes of a class will be reserved, within the timetable established by the centre/title, for the complementation by the students of the assessment surveys of the teaching staff's performance and the assessment of the subject.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Essays on thematic blocks 30% 6 0.24 2, 17, 18, 19, 6, 5, 4, 3, 11, 9, 10, 8, 12, 7, 15, 14, 16, 13, 20, 23, 22, 21, 1
Oral presentations 20% 3 0.12 2, 17, 18, 19, 6, 5, 4, 3, 11, 9, 10, 8, 12, 7, 15, 14, 16, 13, 20, 23, 22, 21, 1
Synthesis essay 50% 9.75 0.39 2, 17, 18, 19, 6, 5, 4, 3, 11, 9, 10, 8, 12, 7, 15, 14, 16, 13, 20, 23, 22, 21, 1 

The assessment contemplates several aspects, among which attendance and active participation are essential. In addition, compulsory reading of three books (see bibliography) is required: these are easy to read, and serve as an instrument for channeling more specialized readings thus facilitating the comprehension of major issues. From these obligatory readings, this module contemplates the
execution of several written essays and an oral presentation, as follows:

- Preparation of three brief essays, one for each thematic block: spaces, heritage and communication. The student will have to analyze questions raised and explored in the sessions. These essays will have a maximum length of 800 words and will carry a weight of 30% on the final grade.
- Oral presentation of the heritage essay in a specific workshop on management of scientific heritage. This presentation will have a weight of 20% on the final grade.
- Preparation of the synthesis essay, based on the general theoretical framework and focusing on cases treated or related to one of the thematic blocks. This essay will have a maximum extension of 3,000 words and will be articulated upon guiding questions that will be provided during the course. This essay will have a weight of 50% on the final grade.

On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.

Students will obtain a “Not assessed/Not submitted” course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation inthe grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

This subject allows the use of AI technologies as an integral part of the submitted work, provided that the final result reflects a significant contribution from the student in terms of analysis and personal reflection. The student must clearly (i) identify which parts have been generated using AI technology; (ii) specify the tools used; and (iii) include a critical reflection on how these have influenced the process and final outcome of the activity. Lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in the assessed activity will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding grade may be lowered, or the work may even be awarded a zero. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.

Single evaluation:

If necessary, a single assessment test will be carried out for those students who, for justified reasons, cannot take the continuous assessment tests of the subject (essays and participation in class debates). This test will consist of the preparation, in person, at a date, time and classroom tobe determined, of a brief final written essay (in this case 100% of the mark) in relation to a specific topic integrated into the contents and competences of the subject, and in which the student must demonstrate his/her ability to historically situate and critically analyze any problem related to scientific material culture, heritage and communication. The teaching staff will assist students who require a single assessment with a specific tutorial related to each of the main blocks.

The students who take advantage of the single evaluation and who do not take the indicated test will be considered as "Not evaluated", exhausting the rights to enroll in the subject.


Bibliography

Compulsory reading:

Burke, Peter. Historia social del conocimiento, Paidos, 2002 (orig.2000)

Nieto-Galan, Agustí. Los públicos de la ciencia. Expertos y profanos a través de la historia. Marcial Pons. Madrid 2011.

Thompson, John B. Los media y la modernidad: una teoría de los medios de comunicación, Barcelona, Paidós, 1998, 2003, 2007 (orig. 1995).

In addition to these references, students have complementary readings, not mandatory, which may be commented specifically in the sessions.


Software

In addition to web and Office tools, such as the campus online, email, Google docs, word, powerpoint and excel, tools such as wetransfer, dropbox or the VLC audiovisual file reader will be used.

Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(TEm) Theory (master) 1 Catalan/Spanish first semester afternoon