智利的独特之处在于其多样化的极端环境,从北部的干旱气候到巴塔哥尼亚的极地气候。生活在这些环境中的微生物被称为极端微生物,由于气候变暖,这些栖息地经历了强烈的生态系统变化。大多数极端微生物的研究都集中在它们的生物技术潜力上;然而,没有研究研究学生如何描述极端微生物。因此,我们有兴趣回答以下问题:生活在极端环境中的学童如何描述他们的环境和极端微生物?我们进行了人种学研究,并分析了来自智利圣佩德罗·德·阿塔卡马极端环境中三所学校的12-16岁参与者的347张代表性图纸的结果(超干旱,2,400米),Lonquimay(森林,925米),和蓬塔阿雷纳斯(南极,34m)。社会代表性方法被用来收集数据,和系统网络被用来组织和系统化图纸。研究发现,尽管极端环境之间存在差异,某些自然元素,比如树和太阳,始终由学童代表。分析显示,城市和农村类别是确定的两个主要类别。主要的系统网络是高干旱地区的农村阳光(21,1%),森林面积的城市树木(14.1%),以及南极以南地区的城市家具(23,4%)。当按性别分析结果时,我们发现7年级农村类别的差异有统计学意义,女孩提到比男孩更农村。生活在极度干旱地区的学生代表了更高的极端微生物图,有57种极端微生物,而居住在南极和森林地区的学生则有20种和39种,分别。细菌是代表更多的极端微生物。结果提供的证据表明,当儿童专注于他们生活的环境并受到其启发时,自然变量和语义特征无法将环境归类为极端环境。这表明学校识字过程会影响他们的环境,因为他们复制学校教科书,而不一定是他们的环境。
Chile is unique because of its diverse extreme environment, ranging from arid climates in the north to polar climates in Patagonia. Microorganisms that live in these environments are called extremophiles, and these habitats experience intense ecosystem changes owing to climate warming. Most studies of
extremophiles have focused on their biotechnological potential; however, no
study has examined how students describe
extremophiles. Therefore, we were interested in answering the following question: How do schoolchildren living in extreme environments describe their environments and extremophiles? We performed an ethnographic
study and analyzed the results of 347 representative drawings of participants aged 12-16 years from three schools located in the extreme environments of Chile San Pedro de Atacama (hyper-arid, 2,400 m), Lonquimay (forest, 925 m), and Punta Arenas (sub-Antarctic, 34 m). The social representation approach was used to collect data, and systemic networks were used to organize and systematize the drawings. The
study found that, despite differences between extreme environments, certain natural elements, such as trees and the sun, are consistently represented by schoolchildren. The analysis revealed that the urban and rural categories were the two main categories identified. The main systemic networks were rural-sun (21,1%) for hyper-arid areas, urban-tree (14,1%) for forest areas, and urban-furniture (23,4%) for sub-Antarctic areas. When the results were analyzed by sex, we found a statistically significant difference for the rural category in the 7th grade, where girls mentioned being more rural than boys. Students living in hyper-arid areas represented higher extremophile drawings, with 57 extremophiles versus 20 and 39 for students living in sub-Antarctic and forest areas, respectively. Bacteria were
extremophiles that were more represented. The results provide evidence that natural variables and semantic features that allow an environment to be categorized as extreme are not represented by children when they are focused on and inspired by the environment in which they live, suggesting that school literacy processes impact representations of their environment because they replicate school textbooks and not necessarily their environment.