Chapter 1

Historical Antecedents in Which Social Considerations Changed the Course of

Science and Technology

A. General Concepts

What is Science, Technology and Society?

 is an interdisciplinary course designed to examine the ways that science and

technology shape, and are shaped by, our society, politics, and culture.
 It explores the conditions under which production, distribution and utilization of
scientific knowledge and technological systems occur; and the effects of these
processes upon the entire society.

Science – is an evolving body of knowledge that is based on theoretical expositions and

experimental and empirical activities that generates universal truths.

Technology - on the other hand is the application of science and creation of systems,
processes and objects designed to help humans in their daily activities.

Society - is the sum total of our interactions as humans, including the interactions that
we engage in to understand the nature of things and to create things.

- It is also defined as a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a

large social group sharing the same geographical or social territory

Science, technology and society is important to the public because

 it helps address issues and problems that are of concern to the general
population.
 continue to be applied to solve problems that people experience in their day-to-
day aspects of living.
 The impact of technological breakthroughs on people, society and the
environment must be critically assessed to preserve its value.
The Interrelationship of science, technology and society

Problems in modern society involve not only technology but also

 human values
 social organization
 environmental concerns
 economic resources
 political decisions, and a myriad of other factors.

These things sits at the interface between the three fields and can also be
solved (if they can be solved at all) by the

 application of scientific knowledge,

 technical expertise,
 social understanding,
 humane compassion.

In the past, science is learned as an independent study from other fields. It focuses on
the scientific methods, natural processes and understanding nature.

The scientific data that have built up a considerable base of knowledge led to a
vast portfolio of useful technologies, especially in the 21st century, to solve many of
the problems now facing humankind (UNESCO, 1999).

To solve our contemporary problems, science needs to become

more multidisciplinary and its practitioners should continue to promote
cooperation and integration between the social and natural sciences.

A holistic approach also demands that science draw on the contributions of the
humanities (such as history and philosophy), local knowledge systems, aboriginal
wisdom, and the wide variety of cultural values.
The Role of Science and Technology

1. alter the way people live, connect, communicate and transact, with profound effects
on economic development;

2. key drivers to development, because technological and scientific revolutions underpin

economic advances, improvements in health systems, education and infrastructure;

3. The technological revolutions of the 21st century are emerging from entirely
new sectors, based on micro-processors, tele-communications, bio-technology
and nano-technology. Products are transforming business practices across
the economy, as well as the lives of all who have access to their effects. The
most remarkable breakthroughs will come from the interaction of insights
and applications arising when these technologies converge.

4. have the power to better the lives of poor people in developing countries 5.
differentiators between countries that are able to tackle poverty effectively by growing
and developing their economies, and those that are not.

5. engine of growth

6. interventions for cognitive enhancement, proton cancer therapy and

genetic engineering

C. Historical Development of Science and Technology in the Philippines

Pre-Spanish Era.

 about the Philippines during pre-colonial time but analysis from archeological
artifacts
 the first inhabitants in the archipelago who settled in Palawan and Batangas
around 40 000 years ago have made simple tools or weapons of stone which
eventually developed techniques for sawing, drilling and polishing hard
stones.
 Primary needs of survival by hunting wild animals and gathering fruits and
vegetables in the forest.
  They learned that by polishing hard stones, they can develop sharp objects that
are useful in their day to day activities.
 The ingenuity of the Ifugaos in building the Banaue Rice
 Terraces The smelting of metals exhibited the primitive Filipino’s knowledge on
the composition of alloy and the optimum temperature that will produce the metal
with acceptable tensile strength

Spanish Colonial Era.

 As claimed by Caoili (1983), the beginnings of modern science and technology

in the country can be traced back to the Spanish regime because they established
schools, hospitals and started scientific research that had important
consequences in the development of the country.
 These schools, which are mostly run by Spanish friars, formed the first Filipino
professionals.
 The 3 highest institution of learning during this time was the Royal and Pontifical
University of Santo Tomas.
 a few of persistent Filipino scientists succeeded by educating themselves abroad.
One notable example of course is our national hero, the great Dr. Jose P.
Rizal. Dr. Jose Rizal is the epitome of the Renaissance man in the Philippine
context. He is a scientist, a doctor, an engineer (he designed and built a water
system in Dapitan), a journalist, a novelist, an urban planner and a hero.
 And in 1887, the Laboratorio Municipal de Ciudad de Manila was created and
whose functions were to conduct biochemical analyses for public health and to
undertake specimen examinations for clinical and medico-legal cases.
 Its publication, probably the first scientific journal in the country was titled Cronica
de Ciencias Medicas de Filipinas showed the studies undertaken during that time.
American Period

 the Philippines saw a rapid growth during the American occupation and was made
possible by the government’s extensive public education system from
elementary to tertiary schools
 . The establishment of various public tertiary schools like the Philippine Normal
School and University of the Philippines provided the needs for
professionally trained Filipinos in building the government’s organization and
programs.
 The government supported basic and applied research in the medical, agricultural
and related sciences.
 The University of the Philippines Los Baños opened the College of Agriculture in
1909 while the University of the Philippines – Diliman opened the Colleges of Arts,
Engineering and Veterinary Medicine in 1910. The College of Medicine was
opened four years later.
 During this time, there were already quite a number of qualified Filipino
physicians who held teaching positions in the College of Medicine, whereas most
of the early instructors and professors in other colleges such as in the sciences
and engineering were Americans and foreigners
 The government provided more support for the development of science and
created the Bureau of Government Laboratories in and was later changed to
Bureau of Science.
 It was composed of a biological laboratory, chemical laboratory, serum laboratory
for the production of virus vaccine, serums and prophylactics, and a library.
 The Bureau of Science served as the primary training ground for Filipino scientists
and paved the way for pioneering scientific research, most especially on the study
of various tropical diseases that were prevalent during those times like leprosy,
tuberculosis, cholera, dengue fever, malaria and beri-beri. Another great
contribution of the Bureau of Science to the development of science and
technology in the country was the publication of the

Philippine Journal of Science.

  The Bureau of Science became the primary research center of the Philippines
until World War II. Lastly, on December 8, 1933, the National Research Council
of the Philippines was established.

Commonwealth Period

 acknowledge the importance and vital role of science and technology for the
economic development of the country by declaring that “The State shall promote
scientific research and invention…”
 The short-lived Commonwealth Government was succeeded by the Japanese
occupation when the Pacific war broke out in 1941.
 This is also true when World War II ended and left Manila, the country’s capital, in
ruins. The government had to rebuild again and normalize the operations in the
whole country.

Science and Technology since Independence

 In 1946 the Bureau of Science was replaced by the Institute of Science and
was placed under the Office of the President of the Philippines.
 However, the agency faced lack of financial support from the government and
experienced planning and coordination problems.
 In a report by the US Economic Survey to the Philippines in 1950, there is a lack
of basic information which were necessities to the country's industries, lack of
support of experimental work and minimal budget for scientific research and low
salaries of scientists employed by the government. In 1958, during the regime
of President Carlos P. Garcia, the Philippine Congress passed the Science
Act of 1958 which established the National Science Development Board
(NSDB).

The Philippine government focused on science and technology institutional capacity-

building which were undertaken by establishing infrastructure-support facilities such as
new research agencies and development trainings.

As summarized by Caoili, “There has been little innovation in the education and training
of scientists and engineers since independence in 1946. This is in part due to
the conservative nature of self-regulation by the professional associations. Because
of specialized training, vertical organizations by disciplines and lack of liaison
between professions, professional associations have been unable to perceive the
dynamic relationship between science, technology and society and the relevance of
their training to Philippine conditions.

Science and Technology in the 1960s to 1990s

 The government declared in Section 9(1) of the 1973 Philippine Constitution that
the “advancement of science and technology shall have priority in the
national development.”
 On April 6, 1968, Pres. Ferdinand Marcos proclaimed the 35-hectare land in
Bicutan, Taguig as the site of the Philippine Science Community.
 Then in 1969, the government provided funds to private universities to encourage
them to conduct research and create courses in science and technology.
 The government also conducted seminars for public and private high school and
college science teachers, training programs and scholarships for graduate and
undergraduate science scholars, and workshops on fisheries and oceanography.
 In the 1970s, focus on science and technology was given to applied research
and the main objective was to generate products and processes that were
supposed to have a greater beneficial impact to the society.
 Relative to this, several research institutes were established under the National
Science Development Board (NSDB) which includes the Philippine Coconut
Research Institute and Philippine Textile Research Institute. Moreover, the
Philippine Atomic Energy Commission, another agency under NSDB, explored the
uses of atomic energy for economic development.
 To prepare the pool of scientists who will work on Philippine Atomic Commission,
Pres. Marcos assisted 107institutions in undertaking nuclear energy work by
sending scientists abroad to study nuclear science and technology, and providing
basic training to 482 scientists, doctors, engineers and technicians.
  Then in 1972, by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 4, the National Grains Authority
was created and it was tasked to improve the rice and corn industry and thereby
help in the economic development of the country.
 This was followed by the creation of Philippine Council for Agricultural Research
to support the progressive development of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in
the country.
 The Marcos administration also established the Philippine Atmospheric
Geophysical and Astronomical Service Administration (PAGASA) under the
Department of National Defense to provide environmental protection and to utilize
scientific knowledge to ensure the safety of the people through Presidential
Decree No. 78, s. 1972.
 On the following year, the Philippine National Oil Company was created by
virtue of Presidential Decree No. 334, s. 1973, to promote industrial and
economic development through effective and efficient use of energy sources.
 To strengthen the scientific culture in the country, the National Academy of
Science and Technology was established under Presidential Decree No. 1003-A,
s. 1976.
 The National Academy of Science and Technology was composed of scientists
with “innovative achievement in the basic and applied sciences” who will serve as
the reservoir of scientific and technological expertise for the country.

In the 1980s, science and technology was still focused on applied research. In
1982, NSDB was further reorganized into a National Science and Technology Authority
(NSTA) composed of four research and development Councils; Philippine Council for
Agriculture and Resources Research and Development (PCARRD); Philippine Council
for Industry and Energy Research Development (PCIERD); Philippine Council for Health
Research and Development (PCHRD) and the National Research Council of the
Philippines (NRCP). NSTA has also eight research and development institutes and
support agencies under it. These are actually the former organic and attached agencies
of NSDB which have themselves been reorganized.
The expanding number of science agencies has given rise to a demand for high calibre
scientists and engineers to undertake research and staff universities and
colleges. Hence, measures have also been taken towards the improvement of the
country’s science and manpower. In March 1983, Executive Order No. 889 was issued
by the President which provided for the establishment of a national network of centers
of excellence in basic sciences. As a consequence, six new institutes were created:
The National Institutes of Physics, Geological Sciences, Natural Sciences
Research, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematical Sciences. Related to this efforts was
the establishment of a Scientific Career System in the Civil Service by Presidential
Decree No. 901 on 19 July 1983. This is designed to attract more qualified scientists to
work in government and encourage young people to pursue science degrees and
careers.

In 1986, under the Aquino administration, the National Science and Technology Authority
was replaced by the Department of Science and Technology, giving science and
technology a representation in the cabinet. Under the Medium Term
Philippine Development Plan for the years 1987-1992, science and technology's role in
economic recovery and sustained economic growth was highlighted

by virtue of Executive Order 128 signed on 30 January 1987,

the functions and responsibilities of DOST

(1) Pursue the declared state policy of supporting local scientific and technological effort;

(2) Develop local capability to achieve technological self-reliance;

(3) Encourage greater private sector participation in research and development.

moreover, funding for the science and technology sector was tripled from 464 million in
1986 to 1.7 billion in 1992.

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is the premiere science

and technology body in the country charged with the twin mandate of providing
central direction, leadership, and coordination of all scientific and technological activities,
and of formulating policies, programs and projects to support national development. The
grants for the research and development programs was included in the Omnibus
Investment Law.

President Fidel Ramos’s term,

 there was a significant increase in personnel specializing in the science and

technology field
 In 1998, there was an estimated 3,000 competent scientists and engineers in the
Philippines.
 the two newly built Philippine Science High Schools in Visayas and Mindanao
which promotes further development of young kids through advance
S&T curriculum.
 The government provided 3,500 scholarships for students who were taking up
professions related to S&T. Priority for S&T personnel increased when Magna
Carta for Science and Technology Personnel (Republic Act No. 8439) was
established.

, DOST established the “Science and Technology Agenda for National Development
(STAND)”, a program that was significant to the field of S&T.

The seven identified export products were computer software; fashion accessories;
gifts, toys, and houseware; marine products; metal fabrications; furniture; and dried fruits.
The domestic needs identified were food, housing, health, clothing, transportation,
communication, disaster mitigation, defense, environment, manpower development, and
energy. Three additional support industries were included in the list of priority sectors,
namely, packaging, chemicals, and metals because of their linkages with the above
sectors.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration,

  numerous laws and projects were implemented which concerns both the
environment and science to push technology as a tool to increase the country’s
economic level.
 help increase the productivity from Science, Technology and Innovations (STI)
and help benefit the poor people.
 the term “Filipinnovation” was the coined term used in helping the Philippines to
be an innovation hub in Asia.
 strengthening the schools and education system such as the Philippine Science
High School (PSHS), which focuses in science, technology and mathematics in
their curriculum.
 Recently, the Philippines ranked 73rd out of 128 economies in terms of Science
and Technology and Innovation (STI) index, citing the country’s strength in
research and commercialization of STI ideas (DOST, 2018).

Hopes in Philippine Science and Technology

 One of these is the micro-satellite. In April 2016, the country launched into
space its first micro-satellite called Diwata-1.
 It was designed, developed and assembled by Filipino researchers and engineers
under the guidance of Japanese experts.
 The Diwata (deity in English) satellite provides real-time, high-resolution and multi-
color infrared images for various applications, including meteorological imaging,
 crop and ocean productivity measurement and high-resolution imaging of natural
and man-made features.
 It enables a more precise estimate of the country’s agricultural
production, provides images of watersheds and floodplains for a better
understanding of water available for irrigation, power and domestic consumption.
The satellite also provides accurate information on any disturbance and
degradation of forest and upland areas.
 The country also has the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards
(NOAH), which uses the Lidar (light detection and ranging) technology.
 - initiated in June 2012 to help manage risks associated with natural hazards and
disasters , developed hydromet sensors and high-resolution geo-hazard maps,
which were generated by light detection and ranging technology for flood
modeling.
 Noah helps the government in providing timely warning with a lead time of at least
six hours in the wake of impending floods.
 The country is now training the Cambodians on this technology, as part of the
partnerships among ASEAN countries, just like in the case of Japan
which assisted the country’s scientists and engineers in building its first micro-
satellite.
 Intelligent Operation Center Platform. Established through a collaboration
between the local government of Davao City and IBM Philippines Inc., the center
resulted in the creation of a dashboard that allows authorized government
agencies, such as police, fire and anti-terrorism task force, to use
analytics software for monitoring events and operations in real time.

Current Initiatives in Science and Technology in the Country

Advanced Device and Materials Testing Laboratories.

- The center houses advanced equipment for failure analysis and materials
characterization to address advanced analytical needs for quality control, materials
identification and R&D.
- Closely related to this facility is the Electronics Products Development Center, used to
design, develop and test hardware and software for electronic products.

- There are also high-performance computing facilities that perform tests and
run computationally intensive applications for numerical weather prediction,
climate modeling, as well as analytics and data modeling and archiving.

Genome Center, a core facility that combines basic and applied research for the
development of health diagnostics, therapeutics, DNA forensics and preventive products,
and improved crop varieties.

D. Paradigm Shift

What is a paradigm?

 A scientific paradigm is a framework containing all the commonly accepted

views about a subject, conventions about what direction research should take and
how it should be performed.
 Philosopher Thomas Kuhn suggested that a paradigm includes “the practices
that define a scientific discipline at a certain point in time."
 Paradigms contain all the distinct, established patterns, theories, common
methods and standards that allow us to recognize an experimental result as
belonging to a field or not.
 The vocabulary and concepts in Newton’s three laws or the central dogma in
biology are examples of scientific “open resources" that scientists have
adopted and which now form part of the scientific paradigm.

A paradigm dictates:

 what is observed and measured the questions we ask about those observations
 how the questions are formulated
 how the results are interpreted
 how research is carried out
 what equipment is appropriate
Kuhn strongly suggested that research in a deeply entrenched paradigm invariably ends
up reinforcing that paradigm, since anything that contradicts it is ignored or else pressed
through the preset methods until it conforms to already established dogma.

What is a Paradigm Shift?

 "The successive transition from one paradigm to another via revolution is the
usual developmental pattern of mature science" - Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions.

During “normal science,”

 when the current paradigm is in place, these anomalies are discounted as

acceptable levels of error.
 However, during “revolutionary science” or a paradigm shift, these anomalies
become the center of attention as scientists attempt to construct a new world view
that incorporates and explains them.
 This period of intense focus on explaining anomalies and developing a new
paradigm is considered “revolutionary science,” and it is sparked by a
“crisis” where the old paradigm fails explain key anomalies or outliers.
 Once a new paradigm is developed, however, there is a return to “normal
science” under the new worldview.

An Example of a Paradigm Shift

  Physicists in the 19th century were convinced that the Newtonian paradigm that
had reigned for 200 years was the pinnacle of discovery and that scientific
progress was more or less a question of refinement.
 When Einstein published his theories on General Relativity,
 Newtonian Physics itself was relegated to being a special subclass of the greater
paradigm ushered in by General Relativity.
 Interestingly, Kuhn’s theory itself was something of a game changer at the
time, since scientists were not accustomed to thinking of what they were doing in
such metaphysical terms.
 Kuhn’s theories are today understood to be part of a greater paradigm shift in the
social sciences, and have also been modified since their original publication.
 Kuhn later conceded that the process of scientific advancement might be
more gradual.
 The concept of paradigm is closely related to the Platonic and Aristotelian
views of knowledge.
 Aristotle believed that knowledge could only be based upon what is
already known, the basis of the scientific method. Plato believed that knowledge
should be judged by what something could become, the end result, or final
purpose.
 Plato's philosophy is more like the intuitive leaps that cause scientific revolution;
Aristotle's the patient gathering of data.

Chapter 2

Intellectual Revolutions that Defined Society

What is an Intellectual Revolution?

 An intellectual revolution is a period where paradigm shifts occurred and

where scientific beliefs that have been widely embraced and accepted by the
people were challenged and opposed. H
  istorically, this intellectual revolution can be summed up as the “replacement of
Aristotelian ethics and Christian morality by a new type of decision making which
may be termed instrumental reasoning or cost-benefit analysis” (Wootton as cited
by McCarthy, 2019).

The Birth of Modern Science

 like so many other aspects of Western Civilization, was born with the ancient
Greeks.
 They were the first to explain the world in terms of natural laws rather than myths
about gods and heroes.
 The most influential figure in Western science until the 1600's, was
the philosopher, Aristotle, who created a body of scientific theory that towered like
a colossus over Western Civilization for some 2000 years.
 However, there were several factors that worked both to overthrow
Aristotle's theories and to preserve it. First of all, Aristotle's theories relied very
little on experiment, which left them vulnerable to anyone who chose to perform
such experiments. But attacking one part of Aristotle's system involved attacking
the whole thing, which made it a daunting task for even the greatest thinkers of
the day. Secondly, the Church had grafted Aristotle's theories onto its theology,
thus making any attack on Aristotle an attack on the tradition and the Church itself.
 Finally, there were the Renaissance scholars who were uncovering other
Greek authors who contradicted Aristotle.

Pattern of development

The first person who started this slow process of dismantling Aristotle's cosmology was
Copernicus. His findings would reinforce the process of finding new explanations, which
would lead to the work of Kepler and Galileo.

A. Copernican Revolution

 Nicolas Copernicus was a Polish scholar working at the University of Padua

in northern Italy.
 The problem he wrestled with was the paths of planetary orbits.
  Rather, they sometimes seem to move backwards in what are known as
retrogradations.
 In order to account for these irregularities, astronomers. Instead, they expanded
upon it, adding smaller circular orbits (epicycles) that spun off the main orbits.
 Each time a new irregularity was observed, a new epicycle was added. By the
1500's, the model of the universe had some 80 epicycles attached to ten
crystalline spheres (one for the moon, sun, each of the five known planets, the
totality of the stars, a sphere to move the other spheres, and heaven).
 The second century Greek astronomer, Ptolemy was the main authority who put
order to and passed this cumbersome system of epicycles to posterity.

Copernicus' solution was basically geometric. By placing the sun at the center of the
universe and having the earth orbit it, he reduced the unwieldy number of epicycles from
80 to 34. His book, Concerning the Revolutions of the Celestial Worlds, published in
1543, laid the foundations for a revolution

Plato and Pythagoras who believed in a heliocentric (sun centered) universe.

Once again, ancient authorities were set against one another, leaving it for others
to develop their own theories.

It took some 150 years after Copernicus' death in 1543 to achieve a new model of the
universe that worked. The first step was compiling more data that tarnished the perfection
of the Ptolemaic universe and forced men to re-evaluate their beliefs.

Johannes Kepler

 Tycho Brahe, using only the naked eye, tracked the entire orbits of various stars
and planets.
 Brahe kept extensive records of his observations, but did not really know what to
do with them. That task was left to his successor, Johannes Kepler.
 Kepler was a brilliant mathematician who had a mystical vision of
the mathematical perfection of the universe that owed a great deal to the ancient
Greek mathematician Pythagoras.
 Galileo

 He was the first to successfully use math to define the workings of the cosmos.
Although such a conclusion as elliptical orbits inevitably met with fierce opposition,
 it was the work of an Italian astronomer, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642), armed with
a new invention, the telescope, which would further shatter the old theory and lead
the way to a new one.
 Galileo saw the sun's perfection marred by sunspots and the moon's
perfection marred by craters. He also saw four moons orbiting Jupiter. In his
book, The Starry Messenger (1611), he reported these disturbing findings
and spread the news across Europe
 Galileo got his point across by having the advocate of the Church and Aristotelian
view named Simplicius (Simpleton). He was quickly faced with the Inquisition and
the threat of torture. Being an old man of 70, he recanted his views

Isaac Newton

 The story of Newton being hit on the head by an apple may very well be
true. However, the significance of this popular tale is usually lost.
 Newton had to invent a whole new branch of math, calculus, for figuring out rates
of motion and change.
 The genius of Newton in physics, as well as William Harvey in medicine and
Mendeleev in chemistry, was not so much in his new discoveries, as in his ability
to take the isolated bits and pieces of the puzzle collected by his predecessors
and fit them together
 The implications of Newton's theory of gravity can easily escape us, since we now
take it for granted that physical laws apply the same throughout the universe.
 Thanks to Newton, it was within our grasp to understand, predict, and increasingly
manipulate the laws of the universe in ways no one had been able to do before.
 The printing of Newton's book, Principia Mathematica, in 1687 is often seen as the
start of the Enlightenment (1687-1789). It was a significant turning point in
history, for, armed with the tools of Newton's laws and calculus, scientists had an
B. The Darwinian Revolution

 The publication in 1859 of The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin ushered in a

new era in the intellectual history of humanity.
 Darwin is deservedly given credit for the theory of biological evolution: he
accumulated evidence demonstrating that organisms evolve and discovered the
process, natural selection, by which they evolve.
 Darwin completed the Copernican revolution by drawing out for biology the notion
of nature as a lawful system of matter in motion.
 The origin of organisms and their marvelous adaptations were, however, either left
unexplained or attributed to the design of an omniscient Creator. God had
created the birds and bees, the fish and corals, the trees in the forest, and best of
all, man.
 The English theologian William Paley in his Natural Theology
(1802) elaborated the argument-from-design as forceful demonstration of the
existence of the Creator. The functional design of the human eye, argued Paley,
provided conclusive evidence of an all-wise Creator.
 The Bridgewater Treatises, published between 1833 and 1840, were written by
eminent scientists and philosophers to set forth "the Power, Wisdom, and
Goodness of God as manifested in the Creation."

C. Freudian Revolution

 Freud saw the entirety of the first World War–a war that destroyed the empire
whose capital city was his home for more than seventy years–and the beginning
of the next.
 Freud's most obvious impact was to change the way society thought about and
dealt with mental illness.
 Before psychoanalysis, which Freud invented, mental illness was almost
universally considered 'organic'; that is, it was thought to come from some kind of
deterioration or disease of the brain. Research on treating mental illness was
primarily concerned–at least theoretically–with discovering exactly which kinds of
 changes in the brain led to insanity. Many diseases did not manifest obvious signs
of physical difference between healthy and diseased
 The conviction that physical diseases of the brain caused mental illness meant
that psychological causes–the kinds that Freud would insist on studying– were
ignored. It also meant that people drew a sharp dividing line between the "insane"
and the "sane." Insane people were those with physical diseases of the brain.
Sane people were those without diseased brains.
 Freud changed all of this. Despite his background in physicalism (learned during
his stay in Ernst Brücke's laboratory), his theories explicitly rejected the purely
organic explanations of his predecessors.
 Psychoanalysis has had an enormous impact on the practice of
psychiatry, particularly within the United States, but today it is regarded by most
sources– medical, academic, governmental, and others–as almost entirely
incorrect in its conception of the mind
 There are at least two reasons. The first is purely practical: psychoanalysis has
enormous historical significance. Mental illness affects an large proportion of the
population, either directly or indirectly, so any curative scheme as widely accepted
as was Freud's is important to our history in general.
 The second, more important, reason is that Freud gave people a new way of
thinking about why they acted the way they did. He created a whole new way of
interpreting behaviors: one could now claim that a person had motives, desires,
and beliefs–all buried in the unconscious–which they knew nothing about but
which nonetheless directly controlled and motivated their conscious thought and
behavior.

D. Scientific Revolution in Mesoamerica

 There were no major ancient civilization that developed in North America. The
Mesoamerican civilization were isolated from the accumulated scientific
knowledge of Africa, Asia and Europe
 The most advanced Mesoamerican civilization was the Maya civilization that was
well on its way to develop true science. They knew how to make paper and had
 pictorial script called Maya hieroglyphs that allowed them to record all knowledge
on long strips of paper folded harmonica-style into books.
 One of the three books recovered called The Dresden Codex contains predictions
of solar eclipses for centuries and a table of predicted positions of Venus.
 The Aztec followed the same road. They kept their own script and languages but
assimilated all they could learn from Maya society. Their manuscripts
describe how the Maya performed their astronomical observations.
 public latrines were found along all highways, and to prevent pollution of Lake
Texcoco canoes transported the sewage from Tenochtitlán to the mainland every
morning. (von Hagen, 1957)
 Maize is the only cultivated plant that was developed so early in human history
that its wild ancestor is no longer known
 Finally, several sculptures found at Meso-American sites in 1975, 1979 and 1983
and dating back to 2000 - 1500 BC have clear magnetic properties

E. Asian Scientific Revolution

 Currently, Japan is probably the most notable country in Asia in terms of scientific
and technological achievement, particularly in terms of its electronics and
automobile products.
 For instance, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and China together produce
a staggering 90% of the world’s digital gadgets.
 Taiwan is following a similar path to Japan meanwhile, moving away
from hardware production, instead turning to software and content development.
F. Scientific Revolution in Middle East

 During the 3,000 years of urbanized life in Mesopotamia and Egypt

tremendous strides were made in various branches of science and technology.
 very possibly because of its constant shift of population and openness to foreign
influence, in contrast to the relative isolation of Egypt and the consequent stability
of its population.
 The Egyptians excelled in such applied sciences as medicine, engineering, and
surveying; in Mesopotamia greater progress was made in astronomy and
mathematics.
 The development of astronomy seems to have been greatly accelerated by that
of astrology, which took the lead among the quasi-sciences involved in divination.
The Egyptians remained far behind the Babylonians in developing astronomy,
while Babylonian medicine, because of its chiefly magical character, was less
advanced than that of Egypt. In engineering and architecture Egyptians took an
early lead, owing largely to the stress they laid on the construction of such
elaborate monuments as vast pyramids and temples of granite and sandstone.
On the other hand, the Babylonians led in the development of such practical arts
as irrigation (Albright, 2014).
 While pre-alphabetic systems of writing in the Old World became steadily more
phonetic, they were still exceedingly cumbersome, and the syllabic systems that
gradually replaced them remained complex and difficult.
 In the early Hyksos period (17th century BC) the Northwestern Semites living in
Egypt adapted hieroglyphic characters—in at least two slightly differing forms of
letters—to their own purposes.
 This alphabet spread rapidly and was in quite common use among
the Northwestern Semites (Canaanites, Hebrews, Aramaeans, and especially
the Phoenicians) soon after its invention.
G. Scientific Revolution in Africa

 The applied sciences of agronomy, metallurgy, engineering and textile production,

as well as medicine, dominated the field of activity across Africa.
 So advanced was the culture of farming within West Africa, that ‘New World‘
agricultural growth was spawned by the use of captives from these African
societies that had already made enormous strides in the field of agronomy. In her
work Black Rice, Judith Carnoy demonstrates the legacy of enslaved Africans to
the Americas in the sphere of rice cultivation. We know also that a variety of
African plants were adopted in Asia, including coffee, the oil palm, fonio or acha
(digitaria exilis), African rice (oryza glabberima), and sorghum (sorghum bicolor).
 Plants, whether in terms of legumes, grain, vegetables, tubers, or, wild
or cultivated fruits, also had medicinal implications for Africans and were used
as anesthetics or pain killers, analgesics for the control of fever, antidotes to
counter poisons, and anthelmints aimed at deworming.
 They were used also in cardiovascular, gastro-intestinal, and dermatological
contexts. Some of these such as hoodia gordonii and combrettum caffrum are
being integrated within contemporary pharmaceutical systems (Emeagwali, n.d.).
 Laird Scranton, making use of the extensive collections of Marcel Griaule, has
deepened our understanding of Malian cosmological myths and their perceptions
of the structure of matter and the physical world
 In the field of Mathematics, Nubian builders calculated the volumes of
masonry and building materials, as well as the slopes of pyramids, for construction
purposes. Bianchi points to a Nubian engraving at Meroe, in ancient Sudan, dated
to the first century B.C.E., which reflects “a sophisticated understanding of
mathematics.” Included in the engraving were several lines, inclined at a 72-
degree angle, running diagonally from the base of a pyramid.
 In various parts of ancient, medieval, and contemporary Africa,
building constructions of various dimensions, shapes, and types emerged,
reflecting various concepts, techniques, raw material preferences, and decorative
 principles. Builders integrated the concepts of the arch, the dome, and columns
and aisles in their constructions.
 Derelict ruins from walled cities—such as Kano, Zazzau, and other city-states
of Hausaland in the central Sudanic region of West Africa—complement
structures such as the rock-hewn and moulded churches of Lalibela in Ethiopia or
the Zimbabwe enclosures. The structures of ancient Nubia, as well as those of
Egypt, are parallel structures in the northeast.

H. Information Revolution

 The information revolution was fueled by advances in semiconductor

technology, particularly the metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor
(MOSFET) and the integrated circuit (IC) chip, leading to the Information Age in
the early 21st century (Lukasiak, 2010; Orton, 2009).
 Computer technology is at the root of this change, and continuing
advancements in that technology seem to ensure that this revolution would touch
the lives of people.
 New ideas keep coming from the information transport community. Since the first
edition of Undersea Fiber Communication Systems in 2002, the optical fiber
communication industry moved into the “coherent” era.

Impact of Information Revolution

 But it is not "information" that fuels this impact. It is not "artificial intelligence." It is
not the effect of computers and data processing on decision making, policymaking,
or strategy.
 It is something that practically no one foresaw or, indeed, even talked about ten
or fifteen years ago: e-commerce—that is, the explosive emergence of the Internet
as a major, perhaps eventually the major, worldwide distribution channel for
goods, for services, and, surprisingly, for managerial and professional jobs.
 One is already here: biotechnology. And another: fish farming. Within the next fifty
years fish farming may change us from hunters and gatherers on the seas
into "marine pastoralists"—just as a similar innovation some 10,000 years ago
 changed our ancestors from hunters and gatherers on the land into agriculturists
and pastoralists.

1862

Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois plotted the atomic weights of elements on

paper tape and wound them, spiral like, around a cylinder. He called his model the
telluric helix or screw.1864 English chemist John Newlands proposed his Law of octaves
based on the periodic similarity every seventh element.

1868

Lothar Meyer compiled a periodic table based on regular repeating pattern of physical
property such as molar volume. Once again the elements were arranged in order of
increasing atomic weights.

1869

Dmitri Mendeleev produced a periodic table based on atomic weights but arranged

“periodically”. Elements with similar properties appeared under each other. Gaps were
left for yet to be discovered elements.

1894

William Ramsay discovered the noble gases and realized that they represented a new
group in the periodic table. The noble gases added further proof to the accuracy of
Mendeleev’s table.

1913

Henry Moseley determined the atomic number of each of the known elements. He
realized that arranging the elements in order of increasing atomic number rather than
atomicweightgave
1944

Glenn Seaborg proposed an ‘actinide hypothesis’ and published his version of the table
in 1945. The lanthanide and actinide series form the two rows under the periodic table
of elements.a better fit within the “periodic table”.
Chapter 3

Science, Technology and Nation Building

A. The Philippine Government Science and Technology Agenda

 In the Philippines, the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) is tasked to

oversee and manage national technology development and acquisition,
undertake technological and scientific research and promote public
consciousness of science and technology.
 DOST is responsible for formulating and adopting a comprehensive National
Science and Technology plan for the Philippines and subsequently, to monitor and
coordinate its funding and implementation.
 It undertakes policy research, technology assessment, feasibility and technical
studies, and maintains a national information system and databank on science
and technology.
 In 2017, DOST launched the Science for the People thru Administrative Order No.
003 s. 2017.
 This is in response to the government’s call to address inequity in developments
within and among countries and is aligned with the national goals and plans.
 It aims to make science and technology more relevant to the conditions,
needs and opportunities for contributing to regional development while keeping
abreast with the trends and development in the country and in the world.
Stipulated in the strategic plan are the seven outcomes that the agency strives to
achieve. These are as follows:

1. Innovation and stimulus

2. Technology and adoption promoted and accelerated

3. Critical mass of globally competitive STI human resources developed

4. Productivity and efficiency of communities and the production sector,

particularly MSMEs improved

5. Resiliency to disaster risks and climate change ensured

6. Inequality in STI capacities and opportunities reduced

7. Effective STI governance achieved

The strategies to attain these outcomes are embodied in the DOST Eleven Point Agenda
as follows:

1. Pursue R&D to address pressing national problems.

2. Conduct R&D to enhance productivity and improve management of resources.

3. Engage in R&D to generate and apply new knowledge and technologies across
sectors.

4. Strengthen and utilize regional R&D capabilities.

5. Maximize utilization of R&D results through technology transfer

and commercialization.

6. Develop STI human resources and build a strong STI culture.

7. Upgrade STI facilities and capacities to advance R&D activities and expand S&T
services.

8. Expand STI assistance to communities and the production sector, particularly

MSMEs.
9. Provide STI-based solutions for disaster risks and climate change adaptation and
mitigation.

10. Strengthen industry-academe-government and international STI collaboration.

11. Enhance effectiveness of STI governance.

Agenda 1 highlights the latest advancements in research and development geared

towards the shared goal of improved nutrition and health for all. Focused on health
technology development, drug discovery and development remains to be the high-impact
and big ticket program supported by the Department in the area of health. Central to this
R&D program is the study of endemic resources, partnered with documentation of
traditional knowledge and practices in health, that could eventually lead to decreased
cost of medicines and health interventions for diseases that affect the quality of lives of
many Filipinos.

Agenda 2 presents how R&D can be utilized to make key traditional industries steadfast
and competitive through technological innovations that can address gaps in productivity
and increase production yield. Enhancing the capacity of marginalized sub-sectors and
people groups to use better and new technologies can expand their access to participate
in economic activities and progress. The primary industries that will benefit from the
featured major R&D programs include the agriculture, specifically coconut and rice
production, non-wood forest products, i.e., bamboo processing and utilization, and
natural textile among others.

Agenda 3 engages R&D in emerging scientific and technological platforms which lay the
inroads to the development of new products, services, and industries. Promising new
technologies may potentially disrupt and change the way things are done. Recognizing
this, the Department anticipates impact of new technologies in existing industries in the
country by supporting local capability programs in the areas of artificial intelligence for
new industry development and supporting research in nanotechnology for new materials
development.

Agenda 4 focuses in strengthening institutional capacity to undertake research and

development and contribute to regional development. Utilizing local researchers equalize
opportunities in generating new knowledge and technologies suited for the specific need
of the region. The Department partners with Higher Education Institutions in the regions
in establishing niche R&D centers which may also serve as hubs for developing R&D
capability of adjacent localities.

Agenda 5 includes mechanisms to encourage technology transfer and avenues where

R&D results are promoted in the bid to maximize its utilization. The Department provided
support in bringing R&D results to its final stage of development up to commercialization.

Agenda 6 aims to build a critical mass of competitive researchers, scientists, and

engineers (RSEs) and promoting a culture of STI. Towards this goal, the Department
continues to provide scholarship programs to scale up the number of RSEs.

Agenda 7 features various S&T facilities that offer technical services for carrying out
research and development, as well as addressing the needs of the industry in terms of
quality assurance, adherence to standards, product development, and innovation. The
electronics, semi-conductor, automotive parts, gear assembly manufacturing, agriculture
produce, and food manufacturing industries can benefit from the various S&T facilities
and technical services.

Agenda 8 focuses on S&T assistance provided to upgrade the technological capabilities

and improve the productivity and efficiency of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSMEs). The Department has continued to provide technological interventions such as
process and system improvement, technical consultancy, packaging and labelling,
training, testing and calibration, and product development to empower MSMEs to
innovate, move up the technology scale and become more competitive.

Agenda 9 highlights the role of the Department in building a disaster-resilient community

through the provision of accurate and timely information. Specifically, progress was made
by establishing and upgrading observation and monitoring systems, efforts in hazard and
risk assessment, and researches for disaster risk management, as well as climate
change adaptation and mitigation.
Agenda 10 focuses on the linkages and networks being pursued by the Department in
terms of S&T collaboration. In 2017, the Department took part in 24 bilateral
engagements and participated in a number of activities which involved 14 international
organizations.

Agenda 11 (Enhance effectiveness of STI governance) provides the policy framework

that governs the implementation of the programs, projects and activities of the
Department in contribution to national development and progress. Taking off from the
National 0+10 Socioeconomic Agenda and Philippine Development Plan,
the Department crafted the Science for the People 11-point Agenda, Harmonized
R&D Agenda, and Regional Offices Strategy Map.

In Focus: Batangas State University KIST Park

Batangas State University made history as it officially launched the country’s

first Knowledge, Innovation and Science Technology (KIST) Park on July 20, 2020.
This milestone placed Batangas State University at the forefront of national development.
BatStateU KIST Park was designated as a Special Economic Zone under
Presidential Proclamation No. 947, s. 2020. The theme of the launching event was
“Towards a New Frontier of Knowledge-building and Innovation in Science and
Technology.”

BatStateU headed by Dr. Tirso A. Ronquillo became a key partner of the government in
fostering industry-academe linkages, knowledge and technology transfer, and promoting
the commercialization of innovations. The KIST Park will serve as a catalyst for industrial
productivity and increased economic growth in CaLaBaRZon. This manifestation of the
strong collaboration between government, industry and academe is central to inclusive
innovation strategy.

BatStateU KIST Park is now open and spearheads a long-term vision for
“state universities and colleges in the country to expand their programs for
industry, academe, market synergy, technopreneurship, [innovation-based] business
incubation and acceleration, and knowledge co-creation in science and technology.”
(http://batstateukistpark.com.ph/#/main/home)
Question: Which of the 11-point Agenda relates to the launching and operation
of BatStateU KIST Park? Expound your answer.

B. Major Development Programs and Personalities in Science and Technology in

the Philippines

Major Development Programs in Science and Technology

 S4CP focuses on Accelerated R&D Program for Capacity Building of

R&D Institutions and Industrial Competitiveness which is composed of four (4)
programs namely: (1) Niche Centers in the Regions for R&D (NICER) Program,
(2) R&D Leadership (RDLead) Program, (3) Collaborative R&D to Leverage PH
Economy (CRADLE) for RDIs and Industry Program, (4) Business Innovation
through S&T (BIST) for Industry Program.

The NICER Program capacitates Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)

 in the regions to make significant improvement in regional research by integrating

its development needs with the existing R&D capabilities and resources.
 The NICER Program was established in consultation with the academe and
industry; and endorsed by the Regional Development Council (RDC).
 Hence, a NICER is a unique center for collaborative R&D to address specific S&T
needs of local communities and industries, thereby accelerating regional
development. Currently, there are 18 existing NICERs across 14 regions for a total
funding of P641M.
 The R&D Leadership Program complements the establishment of R&D
Centers thru the NICER Program. RDLead provides the mechanism to bring in
experts and highly skilled professionals with strong leadership, management and
innovative policy-making proficiencies to be in charge of strengthening the
research capabilities of the HEIs, National Government Agencies (NGAs) and
Research Development Institutions (RDIs) in the regions.
 Together, the RDLead and NICER Programs will capacitate HEIs to help improve
and hasten the use of research results that will contribute to the socio-
 economic development of the country and help address pressing challenges. The
NRCP is the implementing agency for this program.
 The Collaborative Research and Development to Leverage Philippine
Economy (CRADLE) Program is specifically designed to foster collaboration
between academe and local companies to improve competitiveness and catalyze
innovation. It aims to improve the country’s innovation ecosystem by facilitating
the smooth transition of new technologies from universities and research and
development institutes (RDI) to industries - from lab to market. The framework of
CRADLE is a trihelix partnership between the government, the industry and the
academe wherein the government finances the collaboration of the private
company and the partner university or RDI. The Program aims to address a
problem of a Filipino company using R&D to develop innovative solutions. To date,
the DOST has already provided almost Php 125 M of funding to 29 academe-
industry collaborations all over the country.

The Business Innovation through S&T (BIST) for Industry Program aims to level up the
innovation capacity of the Philippine Industrial Sector through R&D by helping private
companies and industries acquire novel and strategic technologies, such as state of-the-
art equipment and machinery, technology licenses and patent rights among others. The
program will cover up to 70% of the total eligible cost of the needed technology at zero
percent interest. To date, the BIST Program has approved one project from an
herbal company, Herbanext Laboratories Inc., providing a total financial assistance
of Php11.7M.

A Steering committee for CRADLE and BIST Programs was created through the DOST
Special Order No. 0276 which was approved on 02 April 2018. The Steering Committee
is headed by Dr. Rowena Cristina L. Guevara, Undersecretary for R&D, and the
members include the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Federation of Philippine
Industries (FPI), Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), Philippine
Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development
(PCAARRD), Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) and
Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and
Development (PCIEERD)

The committee performs the following functions: (1) Review/formulate policies relating to
the implementation of CRADLE and BIST Program; (2) Provide advice and guidance in
the management and administration of the projects; and (3) Other functions necessary
for the successful implementation of CRADLE and BIST Programs. Since
the implementation of the S4CP in 2017, the DOST has spent a total of Php
407,585,946.60 to the four programs.

Personalities in Science and Technology in the Philippines

Aisa Mijeno

To light up the rest of the Philippines sustainably was the vision of

Filipina scientist Aisa Mijeno when she made the Sustainable Alternative Lighting

(SALt) lamp. The product concept was formed after living with the Butbut tribe for

weeks relying only on kerosene lamps and moonlight to do evening chores. Her

mission and advocacy is to address the light inequality gap and end the use of
combustion based light sources (kerosene lamps and candles) for the 16 Million Filipinos
and 1.4 Billion people across the world.

The SALt Lamp is an environment-friendly and sustainable alternative light source that
runs on saltwater, making it suitable to those who live in coastal areas. It can also function
well in remote barrios. With just two table spoons of salt and one glass of tap water, this
ecologically designed lamp can run for eight hours.

The idea behind the SALt lamp is the chemical conversion of energy. It utilizes
the scientific process behind the Galvanic cell, but instead of electrolytes, the SALt lamp
uses saline solution, making it harmless and non-toxic. Compared with kerosene lamp,
the SALt lamp is also a lot safer since it does not have components and compounds that
may spark fire. Moreover, it does not emit toxic gases and leaves minimal carbon
footprint.

Because of its inspiring vision and ground-breaking innovation, the SALt lamp
has received various awards and recognition from organizations in the Philippines,
Singapore, Japan, and South Korea. SALt have won several awards including KOTRA
Top 5 Best Global Startup at Startup Nations Summit 2014, People's Choice at Startup
Nations Summit 2014 and recognized by the ASEAN Corporate Sustainability Summit
and Awards 2015 giving them the SME Sustainability Commitment Category.

One of Mijano’s career highlights was when she was invited as an APEC CEO Summit
panel member together with ex-President Barack Obama and Alibaba CEO Jack Ma.
Looking forward, she wishes to distribute more lanterns to communities across
the Philippines and possibly throughout South East Asia.

Ramon C. Barba

He is a Filipino scientist, inventor and horticulturist who is known for his

successful experiment on the inducement of flowering of mango trees by spraying them
with ethrel and potassium nitrate. He developed a process that caused the flowering and
fruiting of mango trees three times a year, instead on once a year, so dramatically
improving yields. Since his discovery, the mango industry in the Philippines expanded.
Apart from the mango producers themselves, other business sectors such as the
producers of the pest control chemicals, harvesters, sellers, and all the other smaller
groups of workers related to mango industry have benefitted from his invention. This
technology has also been successfully applied on other fruit trees including cashew.

Barba also developed a tissue culture procedure for the banana plant and sugar cane
which enabled production of large quantities of planting materials that were robust and
disease-free. With his research team, Barba devised micro propagation protocols
for more than 40 important species of fruit crops, ornamental plants, plantation
crops, aquarium plants, and forest trees. In 2013, Ramon C. Barba was conferred the
rank and title of National Scientist in the Philippines for his distinguished achievements
in the field of plant physiology.
Fe V. del Mundo

She is known as the Mother of Philippine Pediatrics, a very great scientist and a symbol
of female empowerment in medicine, both in the Philippines and abroad. The first Asian
woman admitted into Harvard, she pursued graduate degrees in America after receiving
her medical degree from the University of the Philippines. Del Mundo pioneered
numerous inventions throughout her more than 70-year medical career.
She revolutionized Philippine medicine, making major breakthroughs in immunization
and in the treatment of jaundice, and providing healthcare to
thousands of poor families. She is credited with studies that led to the invention of the
incubator and a jaundice relieving device. Her methods, like the BRAT diet for curing
diarrhea, have spread throughout the world and saved millions. Del Mundo’s field of
natural science and the field of public health was something she was actively involved
in. When she was not busy treating and taking care of children, she did some pioneering
work on infectious diseases in Philippine communities and authored the Textbook of
Pediatrics, as well as hundreds of articles and medical reports on diseases such as
dengue, polio and measles.

During her lifetime, del Mundo won numerous awards and recognition for her outstanding
work. Among these was the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Public Service, which she
received in 1977. She became the Philippines’ first female National Scientist in 1980, in
recognition of her work in Pediatrics. The rank of National Scientist is awarded to science
practitioners with “distinguished individual or collaborative achievement in science and
technology.” In 2010, del Mundo was awarded the Order of Lakandula, rank of Bayani,
as a Filipina who lived a life “worthy of emulation.” Posthumously, she was conferred the
Grand Collar of the Order of the Golden Heart Award in 2011, by President Benigno
Aquino III.
Maria Y. Orosa

Advances in modern Filipino food technology owe a great deal to the

creative researches and salutary inventiveness of a woman chemist and pharmacist
from Batangas – Maria Y. Orosa. The now commercially available thirst quencher,
the calamansi juice, is just one of the popular native food products in whose preparation
and preservation she had a hand. She produced the “calamansi nip,” the desiccated
and powdered form of the fruit which could be made into juice. The most notable of her
food inventions, is “Soyalac,” a powdered preparation of soya-beans, which helped
save the lives of thousands of Filipinos, Americans, and other nationals who ever held
prisoners in different Japanese concentration camps during World War II. It became
known to them as the “magic food.” She is also credited with the making of the banana
ketchup; wines from native fruits, like casuy and guava; vinegar from pineapples; banana
starch; soyamilk; banana flour; cassava flour; jelly from guava, santol, mango, and other
fruits, as well as the invention of rice cookies, known as ricebran or darak, which is
effective in the treatment of patients with beri-beri. Aside from making food preparations,
Miss Orosa taught Filipinos how to preserve such native delicacies as the adobo,
dinuguan, kilawen and escabeche. Together with her associates in the Bureau of Plant
Industry, she invented “Oroval” and “Clarosa.”

In 1923, she helped organize the food preservation division under the Bureau of Science.
On June 3, 1927, she became the acting division head. Orosa also tried her hand in
improving household wares. She invented the “Orosa Palayok Oven” for cooking various
dishes. In 1928, the government, recognizing her dynamism and strong leadership, sent
her to various countries as a state scholar to specialize in food processing and canning.
To perpetuate her memory, the government has named after her a street stretching from
T.M. Kalaw to Padre Faura in Ermita, Manila, as well as a building in the Bureau of Plants
and Industry. She was one of the 19 scientists who were conferred awards on the
occasion of the 65th anniversary of the Institute of Science and Technology. On
November 29, 1983, the National Historical Institute installed a marker in her honor at
the Bureau of Plant Industry in San Andres, Manila.
Angel Alcala

He is a Filipino scientist whose biological contributions to the environment and

ecosystems have made him a hero for natural sciences. During his 30 years of
experience as a biologist, Alcala made major contributions to marine biology research
efforts in the Philippines and authored over 160 scientific papers as well as books.
Alcala was the first Filipino scientist to engage in comprehensive studies
concerning Philippine reptiles and amphibians and
minor studies on mammals and birds. From the 400 already known species of reptiles
and amphibians, 50 more species were identified due to his efforts. Because of his work,
conservation programs in the Philippines are now well established.

Alcala also made a highly valuable and groundbreaking contribution to

marine ecosystems when he established the first artificial reef around the coastline of
the Philippines, greatly boosting the ecosystem's health and viability.

. In 1994, he was given the Field Museum Founders’ Council Award of Merit
for contributions to environmental biology. He is a recipient of the Magsaysay Award
for Public Service. In September 2011 he received the Gregorio Y. Zara Award for
Basic Science from the Philippine Association for the Advancement of Science Inc. In
2014, he was proclaimed National Scientist by President Benigno S. Aquino III through
Presidential Decree 782 on June 6, 2014.

C. Science Education in the Philippines

The role and goal of science in education should always be the same. Since science is
considered both knowledge and method, operating independent of time and place, the
benefits of science anywhere can only be the same. The value of science lies not only in
the knowledge that it imparts and bequeaths to the learner but also in its methods and
techniques that inculcate in the learner’s scientific habits, skills, and attitudes. Science,
even as it is considered a body of knowledge, it is also taken as methodology. It has
given a tangible method and system to what would otherwise be by chance and accident.
From the utilization of scientific methods and techniques, one is able to very possibly
explain the past and predict what the future holds.
The general benefits of science have greatly challenged education of the Philippines.
While the country might have been a beneficiary of the methods of science even before
the program of formal education, it was during the American period that brought about a
most significant and essential change in the nature of education. There has been a
corresponding increase in knowledge and understanding of natural and
social phenomena covered by all the disciplines of science available now. It is this
education that has been largely credited for the development of science in the
Philippines.

Early Efforts to Improve Science Education

As early as the decade of the 1950s, scientists were concerned with the state of science
education in the schools. Leading scientists made Philippine authorities aware that the
teaching of science from grade school level to college levels in both public and private
schools was very inadequate. The inadequacies and weaknesses of science teaching
were recognized as those relating to undertrained teachers, the inadequate science
curriculum in schools and colleges, the minimum allotted to science, the lack of books,
equipment and teaching aids. In 1957, the Philippine government made the teaching of
science compulsory in all elementary and secondary schools. A National Committee for
Science Education was set up in 1958 to formulate objectives for the teaching of science
education at all levels and to recommend steps that would upgrade the teaching of
science. The committee identified the areas to which improvement efforts were needed
such as integration of science with classroom instruction, acquisition of more science
equipment and tools, coordination of efforts with other agencies, negotiations for a
science institute for teachers, national science talent search and fellowships, higher
salaries of science and mathematics teachers and promotion of science teachers
competence.
The BSCS Adaptation Project

In1959, biological sciences curriculum study (BSCS) project was launched by American
Institute of Biological Science, university of Colorado in order to improve
biology education in secondary schools. A steering committee of biological scientists,
teachers and educators was constituted. The project was financed by National
Science Foundation, USA.

The BSCS project was started to design high school biology course with the objectives
to: provide recent and latest knowledge in biological sciences; develop understanding of
the conceptual structure of biological sciences; develop skills and processes of biology
among the students; create an opportunity to use inquiry approach in teaching and
learning of biology; prepare rich supplementary or support materials to enrich learning
experiences in biological sciences and present current status of biological sciences

The organization of the BSCS project necessitated because of the inadequacies and
defects felt in the ongoing or conventional biological sciences teaching. Defects
were observed in conventional biological science teaching such as inclusion of dead or
useless contents in syllabus, little practical work, no correlation of biological sciences and
physical science, lack of integrated approach and no proper consideration of
psychological aspects of teaching learning.

The Science Education Project

These were the total efforts of SEP TO improve science education in the Philippines.
First, the dissemination of improved curricula, teaching techniques and approaches in
science and mathematics on basic levels of education through the introduction of new
curriculum and the application of new teaching techniques and approaches by the
returned Master of Arts in Teaching trainees and the teachers that they teach. On the
other hand, these institutions disseminated many of the curriculum materials by the UP
Science Education Center. Second, quality science and math education programs in the
recipient-sponsor institutions through new and/or improved course offerings and a
generally improved teacher education program.