Climate change and its semantic horizon by university students

• Autor: Cantú-Martínez, Pedro César
• Formato: artículo
• Fecha de Publicación: 2023
• Institución: Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Repositorio: Revistas - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú
• Lenguaje: español
• OAI Identifier: oai:revistaspuc:article/26861
• Enlace del recurso: http://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/educacion/article/view/26861
• Nivel de acceso: acceso abierto
• Materia: Climate change; Human activities effects; Environmental awareness; University students; Cambio climático; Efectos de las actividades humanas; Sensibilización ambiental; Estudiante universitario; Mudanças climáticas; Efeitos das atividades humanas; Conscientização ambiental; Estudante universitário

This research presents findings based on a study conducted among 84 university students in the field of life sciences. The study employed the methodology of natural semantic networks to explore the social construction of climate change. The results identified 70 words that are iconic representations of climate change. These words were ranked based on the frequency of their use by the university students, with the top five being alteration of rainfall, changes in flora and fauna, water scarcity, climatic variability, and the hole in the ozone layer. Together, these words accounted for 34.6% of the opinions obtained. The analysis also revealed that there was only a 6.25% difference in the semantic construct developed by men and women. Overall, the study highlights the potential of semantic networks as a tool for understanding how scientific and social representations of climate change are intertwined.