AN APPROXIMATION TO THE STUDIES OF SOCIAL PERCEPTION OF SCIENCE OUTLINING A RESEARCH ON THE BOGOTA-COLOMBIA SITUATION RESUMEN Este trabajo pretende ser una acotada sintesis del estado de situacion de las investigaciones que vienen realizando sobre percepcion de la ciencia, particularmente en paises de Latinoamerica. Es parte de una propuesta de investigacion sobre percepcion publica de la ciencia que esta llevando a cabo en Bogota-Colombia y que toma como referente un trabajo realizado en Cordoba-Argentina. Se ha realizado a traves de una recopilacion bibliografica y sera parte del marco teorico de dicho estudio. Teniendo en cuenta lo anterior, la pertinencia de la presente investigacion radica en que el interes por conocer la percepcion social que una sociedad tiene de las ciencias y las tecnologias se ha posicionado en un lugar significativo en los trabajos e investigaciones internacionales que se vienen desarrollando, ya que estudiar las representaciones sociales ayuda a conocer las creencias, los valores y las actitudes que los sujetos tienen sobre -en este caso particular- las ciencias y las tecnologias. De alli la importancia de reconocer que la percepcion social sobre las ciencias y las tecnologias de los ciudadanos incide en sus relaciones sociales, en la toma de decisiones, en sus acciones y actitudes de la vida cotidiana. PALABRAS CLAVE: ciencia; tecnologia; percepcion; representaciones; ciudadania. ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to give a delimited summary of the state of research that has been carried out about perception of science, particularly in Latin American countries. This was suggested as part of a research on public perception of science that is being carried out in Bogota, Colombia and which takes a research done in Cordoba, Argentina as a reference. It has been conducted through a bibliographic compilation and will be part of the theoretical framework of said research. Bearing in mind what has been above stated, the pertinence of the present research resides in the fact that the interest to know the social perception that a determined society has about science and technology has become of paramount importance to the international research that has been carried out, since studying social representations helps to find out about the beliefs, values and attitudes that people have about science and technology in this particular case. Thus, it is very important to realize that the social perception that the citizens have about science and technology has an impact on their social relationships, on their decision making, on their actions and on the attitudes of their daily life. KEYWORDS: science; technology; perception; representations; citizenship.