Topic 1

Introduction to
Science, Technology, and
Society
Prepared by:
Tomas Jr A. Diquito, MAST
Course Facilitator
Grading System
Description % Example Equivalent %
(15 based

1st Exam 10% 38/50 79.6% 7.96%

2nd Exam 10% 45/50 91.5% 9.15%

3rd Exam 10% 43/50 88.1% 8.81%

4th Exam 40% 44/50 89.8% 35.92%

Quizzes/Participation/Assignments 10% 476/500 95.92% 9.95%

Research/Project 20% 95/100 95.75% 19.15%

Total (30%) 90.94%

Course Description
The course deals with interactions between science and technology and
social, cultural, political, and economic contexts that shape and are
shaped by them (CMO No. 20, series of 2013). 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 are able to live the good life and display
ethical decision making in the face of scientific and technological
advancement. This course includes topics on climate change and
environmental awareness.
Course Outcome
CO 1. Link the past and present contributions of science and
technological innovations towards the future improvement of
Society, specifically in the Philippine context.

CO 2: Uncover the relationship between man and scientific/

technological innovations in relation to the declaration of human
rights and environmental principles.

CO 3. Examine the present scientific and technological

innovations in relation to the principle of sustainable
development.
 Science Technology Society
knowledge or a the practical application of an enduring and
system of knowledge knowledge especially in a cooperating social
covering general particular area. group whose members
truths or the operation have developed
of general laws organized patterns of
a capability given by the
especially as obtained relationships through
practical application of
and tested through interaction with one
knowledge
scientific method. another.
Source: Source: Source:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionar https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictio https://www.merriam-webster.com/dicti
y/science nary/technology onary/society
 What is Science, Technology and Society?

Science and Technology Studies (STS) is a relatively new academic field.

Its roots lie in the interwar period and continue into the start of the Cold
War, when historians and sociologists of science, and scientists
themselves, became interested in the relationship between scientific
knowledge, technological systems, and society.

The best known product of this interest was Thomas Kuhn’s classic 1962
study, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. This influential work helped
crystallize a new approach to historical and social studies of science, in
which scientific facts were seen as products of scientists’ socially
conditioned investigations rather than as objective representations of
nature.
 1. Prescience is the pre-step to the main Kuhn Cycle.
In Prescience there is not yet a model of understanding
(the field's paradigm) mature enough to solve the field's
main problems.

2. Normal science is the day-to-day research that

scientists conduct in order to fill in the gaps in scientific
knowledge that are found within the dominant
paradigm. Kuhn argued that paradigms always have
intractable problems that result in research anomalies.

3. Model drift is caused by what Thomas Kuhn called

anomalies. An anomaly is an unexpected discovery
one's paradigm cannot explain, which includes
discovery of problems the paradigm cannot solve.

4. Model Crisis. If enough unsolved anomalies appear and the model cannot be patched up to explain them, the
Model Crisis step is reached. Here the model is obviously no longer capable of solving the field's current problems of
interest. It's a crisis because decisions can no longer be made rationally.
5. Paradigm Change. Once a single new paradigm is settled on by a few influential supporters, the Paradigm
Change step begins. Here the field transitions from the old to the new paradigm while improving the new
paradigm to maturity. Eventually the old paradigm is sufficiently replaced and becomes the field's new Normal
Science.
 What is Science, Technology and Society?

The rise of STS as a teaching field reflects a dawning recognition that

specialization in today’s research universities does not fully prepare
future citizens to respond knowledgeably and reflectively to the most
important challenges of the contemporary world. Increasingly, the
dilemmas that confront people, whether in government, industry, politics
or daily life, cut across the conventional lines of academic training and
thought. STS seeks to overcome the divisions, particularly between the
two cultures of humanities (interpretive inquiry) and natural sciences
(rational analysis).
Interconnections of Science and Technology
Interconnections of Science and Technology
 Assignment 1

1. In ONE WORD. Describe how relevant is Science, Technology, and

Society course in our current time? Why this word?

2. Create a Venn diagram showing the relationship of Science,

Technology, and Society.