Course 3

Description
This interdisciplinary course engages students to confront the realities brought about by
science and technology in society. Such realities pervade the personal, the public, and the
global aspects of our living and are integral to human development. Scientific knowledge
and technological development happen in the context of society with all its socio-political,
cultural, economic, and philosophical underpinnings at play. This course seeks to instill
reflective knowledge in the students that they can live the good life and display ethical
decision making in the face of scientific and technological advancement.

This course includes mandatory topics on climate change and environmental awareness.

Course Outline General Concepts and STS Historical Development

A. Historical antecedents in which social considerations changed the course of
science and technology
B. Intellectual revolutions that defined society
C. Science and technology and nation-building

STS and the Human Condition

D. The Human Person flourishing in terms of science and technology
E. The Good Life
F. When technology and humanity cross
G. Why the future does not need us

Specific Issues in STS

H. The Information Age
I. Biodiversity and the healthy society
J. The nano world
K. Gene therapy
L. Climate Change
M. Energy Crisis
N. Environmental Awareness
Brief Explanation of the Course
The course deals with interactions between science and technology and social, cultural, political,
and economic contexts that shape and are shaped by them, specific examples throughout human
history of scientific and technological developments.

The course is designed to enable students to appreciate, in broad terms, the societal impact of
developments in science and technology at the global and national level. This includes a review
of the history of science and technology globally – from the prehistoric era all the way to
today’s advances in sciences and technology – and similarly in the Philippines, including
science policy. The historical survey, which is grounded on an understanding of basic science
concepts, will examine how these developments have affected the course of human society:
politically, economically, and socially (including culturally).

The second part of the course focuses on current issues arising from the application of science
and technology, how such applications relate to ethical and political decisions in both the public
and private sector, and their effects (positive and negative) on society and life in general.
Examples of issues that can be taken up are:

 Climate Change
 Food Security
 The environment and natural resource management
 Biotechnology including genetic engineering
 Medical ethics (human experimentation)
 Health policy
 Neurobiology
 The revolution in ICT
 Intellectual property rights over patents and discoveries from
bioprospecting
 Weapons of mass destruction
 Impact assessment of technology

The course entails a variety of readings, group discussions, and research, culminating in a
presentation of findings regarding a particular issue.
 Historical Antecedents in the Course of Science and Technology
What will you learn from this module?

Have you ever wondered about the petty things from the past civilization? like how they build a
solid and stable infrastructure, how they come up with some of the most ground-breaking
inventions like clock, battery, system of writing, even the cosmetics? If yes, this module is for
you.

In this module, you will learn the about the ancient history and the early civilization.

You will study the different technological advancements during the ancient times, which include
some of the achievements of the early civilizations such as Sumerians, Babylonians, and
Egyptians.

This module is composed of four lessons.

Lesson 1: Ancient Times

Lesson 2: Medieval/Middle Ages

Lesson 3: Modern Times

Lesson 4: Philippine Inventions

After studying this module, you should be able to;

Explain how science and technology affected the society and environment and vice versa;

Identify inventions and discoveries that changed the world over the course of history and;

Discuss the scientific and technological developments in the Philippines.

INTRODUCTION

Science comes from the Latin word scienctia, meaning ‘knowledge.’ It refers to a systematic and
methodical activity of building and organizing knowledge about how the universe behaves
through observation, experimentation or both.

Technology, for its part, is the application of scientific knowledge, laws, and principles to
produce services, materials, tools, and machines aimed at solving real-world problems. It comes
from the Greek root word techne, meaning ‘art, skill, or cunning of hand.’
According to Albert Einstein, “it is not knowledge if you only derived it from books but if you
can derive it on numbers, it is considered knowledge.” Because numbers are the application of
knowledge and technology is the application of numbers and science.

LESSON 1

Let’s Read