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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Language, Culture and Diversity
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1536271
This article is part of the Research Topic Adventure, Technology, and Climate Change: Leveraging pressing needs and opportunities for educational change View all articles
Climate Change Perceptions among Andean Schoolchildren in Chile
Provisionally accepted
Mai ling Rivera 1*
Wilson Cortés Gómez 1
Sonia Pino 2
Mónica Meza 3
Jaime Solis 4
Robert Justin Hougham 5
Cristian Merino 2- 1 University of Antofagasta, Antofagasta, Chile
- 2 Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Valparaiso, Chile
- 3 Escuela Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria, Caspana, Chile
- 4 Universidad de chile, Santiago, Chile
- 5 University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States
This study explores the social representations of climate change among schoolchildren in an Andean community in northern Chile, using an ethnographic approach. Through drawings and explanations, students expressed their perspectives, revealing actionable representations that highlight their agency within the natural environment. Contrary to traditional views in scientific education, the findings underscore the importance of integrating local Andean knowledge to address environmental risks. The study involved 11 schoolchildren, aged 7-14, from a highly vulnerable rural school in Caspana, where multi-grade education is common. Data were collected through creative activities, written explanations, and group interviews, then analyzed qualitatively using semantic triangulation. The results demonstrate that Andean children perceive themselves as mediators between urban and rural worlds, capable of balancing environmental and cultural challenges. This research emphasizes the need for scientific education to value local knowledge, fostering sustainability and preserving the cultural agency of individuals in vulnerable yet environmentally significant regions.
Keywords: Climate Change, perceptions, Andean, Schoolchildren, ethnography
Received: 29 Nov 2024; Accepted: 28 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Rivera, Cortés Gómez, Pino, Meza, Solis, Hougham and Merino. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Mai ling Rivera, University of Antofagasta, Antofagasta, 3580000, Chile
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