DESARROLLO DE LA ICTIOLOGIA: EXTENSION HACIA LA ENSE？ANZA BáSICA y MEDIA EN CHILE

a proposal is made to develop basic and specialized topics in ichthyology for a distance learning program for elementary and high school students in chile. the extension of ichthyological knowledge towards high school education will help to increase the development possibilities of this discipline in chile. hopefully this program may be able to stimulate the ministry of education to promote interest towards chilean marine and freshwater ichthyofauna in such students. the diagnosis about the knowledge that the common citizen has of this type of fauna is quite insufficient. although chile is a country with great hydrological resources, an extensive coast, more than 1000 described marine fish species, many hydrological watersheds, and, unfortunately, an impoverished freshwater fish fauna, the population, as a whole, and even professionals, are unaware of this issue, which impinges on high level decisions. this is a formation that should start from elementary education. an attempt to promote proposals involving the ichthyological topics is necessary. the topic "？know continental freshwater fishes of chile?", developed for 7th and 8th grade students, is presented as an extension activity towards extracurricular education or workshops in sciences. i propose that the chilean ichthyological association should lead a national program of ichthyology teaching for improving this education topic in the country