Science, Technology, and Society (STS)           1

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND required to augment their classroom readings with scholarly material that
they find through library and electronic research. In addition to regular

SOCIETY (STS) classroom discussions, students will also participate in team-based

learning activities and projects that require the students to interact with
their peers and to present their thoughts publicly.
STS 47: Wilderness, Technology, and Society
Bachelor of Arts: Humanities
3 Credits General Education: Humanities (GH)

Impact of developments in science, literature, and art on changing

attitudes toward nature; consequences for conservation, preservation, STS 100H: The Ascent of Humanity
environmental ethics.
3 Credits
Cross-listed with: SOC 47
A survey of some of the intellectual achievements that highlight
Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
humanity's attempts to understand nature and shape the environment.

STS 55: Space Science and Technology Bachelor of Arts: Humanities

General Education: Humanities (GH)
3 Credits Honors

The science and technology of space exploration and exploitation;

physical principles; research and development; history, space policy, and STS 101: Modern Science, Technology, and Human values
social implications.
3 Credits
Cross-listed with: AERSP 55
Relationships of science and technology to human aspirations, values,
Bachelor of Arts: Natural Sciences
and arts.
Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
General Education: Natural Sciences (GN) Bachelor of Arts: Humanities
General Education: Humanities (GH)
STS 100: Science, Technology, and Culture
STS 105: Food Facts and Fads
3 Credits
3 Credits
A survey of the development and culture of science, technology, and
medicine in world history. S T S 100 Science, Technology, and Culture (3) This course is an introduction to the central role of food and food
(GH)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. production in all areas of human life. The social and technological bases
"Science, Technology, and Culture" surveys the development of various food systems are examined from the hunter-gatherer to the
and culture of science, technology, and medicine in world history. This agrarian to the modern industrial system and its discontents. The course
course will introduce students to using the humanities, social sciences, also considers how different types of food (e.g., meat, milk, cereals,
and the arts to understand the development and uses of science, chocolate) are preserved and distributed, examining both the effects of
technology, and medicine in human history. The course focuses on broad the development of the science and technology on society and vice versa.
trends and changes over time in their social and cultural contexts. The The roles of various food components (e.g., proteins, carbohydrates, fats,
course is intended to address the needs of a wide range of students. For and vitamins) are examined both within the foods as determinants of
students majoring in the the arts, humanities and social sciences, the quality, and also in terms of human nutrition and health. Finally, various
course provides a deeper understanding of the relationship between lay/ other ways food may be considered appropriate or inappropriate will
popular and techno-scientific cultures. For the scientific and technically be studied including scientifically based reasons (e.g., safety, taste,
oriented student, the class exposes students to the study of technical adulteration) and non-scientifically based reasons (e.g., ethical, legal,
and scientific problems from a broader cultural and historical perspective. religious).
All students will develop a knowledge of the values that have motivated
and informed scientific, technological, and clinical ventures as well as an Cross-listed with: FDSC 105
appreciation of important cultural dimensions of techno-scientific work, Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
including the influence of religious concepts and practices, the impact General Education: Health and Wellness (GHW)
of race, class, and gender, the significance of language and symbols, GenEd Learning Objective: Crit and Analytical Think
and the role played by local and global traditions. The course also asks GenEd Learning Objective: Integrative Thinking
students to think critically about the role of science, technology, and
medicine in world history and the impact of that history on today’s
STS 122: History of Science I
world. Topics include: the role of scientific and technical expertise in
society; the social and economic conditions that have fostered and 3 Credits
impeded scientific development and technological innovation; the
social, aesthetic, and symbolic considerations that have shaped the A history of science and culture from Stonehenge to the scientific
way scientific ideas have been framed and used; and the impact of revolution. S T S (HIST) 122 History of Science I (3) (GH) (BA) This course
scientific notions and technological innovations on social life. Students meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements.The purpose of this
are required to read both primary and secondary texts. Students are also course is to explore the earliest developments in science, beginning
2        Science, Technology, and Society (STS)

with the prehistoric roots of technology and theories of human origins, Students' grades will be formed from a combination of a midterm and
followed by an engagement with the achievements of the Mayans, a final. Students are also required to do a paper for the class, the topic
Aztecs, and native North Americans. We then turn to science and being subject to the approval of the instructor.
technology in the ancient Greek and Egyptian worlds, followed by an
analysis of early Chinese and East Indian science, medieval science in Bachelor of Arts: Humanities
Europe, selected African sciences, and the rise of modern science in General Education: Humanities (GH)
Scientific Revolution and beyond. The point of the course is to show that
science is a world tradition with an ancient history, and that many social, STS 124: History of Western Medicine
political, cultural, and economic forces can push or pull this peculiar form
of knowing in one direction rather than another. There are other history 3 Credits
of science courses offered at Penn State, but none treats the history of
science in general in relation to its social context and influences. Other This course explores the history of health, illness, and medicine in
western society. HIST (S T S) 124 History of Western Medicine (3)
history of science courses are more thematic than survey courses. HIST/
(GH;US;IL)Relying on both primary and secondary sources, the course
S T S 123, "History of Science II," treats science from the
examines developments in medical thinking and practice, the changing
scientific revolution to the present. Students may take either course alone
status of medical practitioners, and the experience of patients in order
or out of sequence; the first will not be a prerequisite for the second. The
to understand the links between medicine and its social, cultural,
expectation is that students will combine knowledge acquired in this
intellectual, and political contexts. This course will also augment
course with knowledge from their required general education courses
offerings in bioethics and medical humanities by providing the historical
in science to develop a broader understanding of history and science.
context of ethical issues and social policies concerning medicine. It
HIST/S T S 122 may be used to fulfill a requirement for the History major
will be attractive to students pursuing a health professional career and
and the History minor and it is an essential part of the recently proposed
will provide a historical context to the issues raised in courses such as
science and technology history theme within the Science Technology
HD FS 301 "Values and Ethics in Health and Human Development
& Society minor. Nonmajors may use it to fulfill a general education
Professions, " BIOL 461 "Contemporary Issues in Science
humanities requirement.
and Medicine," PHIL/S T S 432 "Medical and Health Care
Bachelor of Arts: Humanities Ethics," and ANTH 470H "Our Place in Nature." The
General Education: Humanities (GH) course will be one of the Humanities Electives for the Bioethics/Medical
Humanities Minor as well as the proposed Disability Studies minor.
Within the Department of History, the course is part of the undergraduate
STS 123: History of Science II
offerings in the history of science and , thus, is directly linked to HIST/S
3 Credits T S 122, HIST/S T S 123, and HIST 103. The course would also support
the Science, Technology, and Society Program's undergraduate minor,
A history of science and culture from the scientific revolution to the augmenting courses in science and health and medicine, such as S T S
present. S T S (HIST) 123 History of Science II (3) (GH) (BA) This course 101, S T S 105, S T S 200, and S T S 432.
meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements.The purpose of this
course is to explore the earliest developments in science, beginning Cross-listed with: HIST 124
with the prehistoric roots of technology and theories of human origins, International Cultures (IL)
followed by an engagement with the achievements of the Mayans, United States Cultures (US)
Aztecs, and native North Americans. We then turn to science and General Education: Humanities (GH)
technology in the ancient Greek Egyptian worlds, followed by an analysis
of early Chinese and East Indian science, medieval science in Europe, STS 135: The Politics of the Ecological Crisis
selected African sciences, and the rise of modern science in the Scientific
Revolution and beyond. The point of the course is to show that science 3 Credits
is a world tradition with an ancient history, and that many social, political,
The political implications of the increasing scarcity of many of the world's
cultural, and economic forces can push or pull this peculiar form of
resources. PL SC (S T S) 135 The Politics of the Ecological Crisis (3)
knowing in one direction rather than another. There are other history
(GS)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements.
of science courses offered at Penn State, but none treats the history
"The Politics of Scarcity" examines some "big"
of science in general in relation to its social context and influences.
questions about the prospects for humans in general and democracy in
Other history of science courses are more thematic than survey courses
the United States in particular. Much of the reading assumes that our
(e.g., "History of Mathematics" and "History of Gender
civilization faces the twin problems of increasingly serious shortages
in Science and Archaeostronomy"). HIST 122, "History
of resources and a growing ecological crisis that threatens the basis of
of Science I," treats science from Stonehenge to the scientific
life. Further, it argues that these "twin crises" feed upon each
revolution. Students may take either course alone or out of sequence;
other, and that together they pose serious short and long run challenges
the first will not be a prerequisite for the second. The expectation is
to survival. Some readings attribute these problems to the dominant
that students will combine knowledge acquired in this course with
values that characterize modern Western society. The course does
knowledge from their required general education courses in science to
consider some dissents from this perspective, arguments that things
develop a broader understanding of history and science. HIST/S T S
will be just fine. However, it concentrates on problems and predictions
123 may be used to fulfill a requirement for the History major and the
of trouble. Thus, the class does not claim to present an evenly balanced
History minor and it is an essential part of the recently proposed science
assessment. Rather, it recognizes that most of what we learn, read, and
and technology history theme within the Science, Technology and
see supports the status quo and assumes our civilization and energy-
Society minor. Students will learn historical techniques for the objective
dependent way of life will continue. Consequently it makes sense to
evaluation of readings and the formulation of clear and valid responses.
 Science, Technology, and Society (STS)           3

emphasize the less frequently argued position that we may be headed for enable the instructor to assess students' acquisition of knowledge
disaster.The class aspires to appeal to students regardless of major or relevant to the general objectives of General Education.
college -- to scientists, engineers, students of the humanities, and even
economists and political scientists. It fulfills the University-wide general Cross-listed with: WMNST 157
education requirement in Social Science. Although it discusses the role Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
of politics in general and the role of the American political system in United States Cultures (US)
particular in discussing the "twin crises," it mostly grapples
STS 197: Special Topics
with fundamental questions of value that underlie and guide the play of
power in our political system and with how the massive changes now 1-9 Credits/Maximum of 9
taking place globally both affect and are affected by politics.
Formal courses given infrequently to explore, in-depth, a comparatively
Cross-listed with: PLSC 135 narrow subject which may be topical or of special interest.
Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
General Education: Social and Behavioral Scien (GS) Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences

STS 150: Out of the Fiery Furnace STS 197F: Special Topics - InterDomain

3 Credits 3 Credits

A history of materials, energy and man, with emphasis on their Formal course given on a topical or special interest subject offered
interrelationships. For nontechnical students. infrequently; several different topics may be taught in one year or
semester. This Special Topics is an Inter-Domain GN/GS GenEd course.
Cross-listed with: EMSC 150
Bachelor of Arts: Humanities General Education: Natural Sciences (GN)
Bachelor of Arts: Natural Sciences General Education: Social and Behavioral Scien (GS)
International Cultures (IL) General Education - Integrative: Interdomain
General Education: Natural Sciences (GN)
STS 200: Critical Issues in Science, Technology, and Society
STS 151: Technology and Society in American History
3 Credits
3 Credits
An overview of interactions between science, technology, and society
Development of technology in America from colonial times; its reception from social sciences and humanities perspectives.
and its influence on social, economic, and political life.
Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Cross-listed with: HIST 151 General Education: Social and Behavioral Scien (GS)
Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
United States Cultures (US) STS 200S: Critical Issues in Science, Technology, and Society
General Education: Social and Behavioral Scien (GS)
3 Credits
STS 157: Science, Technology, and Gender
An overview of interactions between science, technology, and society
3 Credits from social sciences and humanities perspectives.
The role of women and gender in science, technology, and engineering. S Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
T S (WMNST) 157 Science, Technology, and Gender (3) (GS;US)(BA) This First-Year Seminar
course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. S T S/WMST 157 General Education: Social and Behavioral Scien (GS)
examines the role of gender in science, engineering, and technology. The
course offers a broad interdisciplinary overview of scholarly research and
theory pertaining to women and issues of gender in science, engineering, STS 201: Climate Change, Energy, and Biodiversity
and technology. The course is interdisciplinary (drawing materials from
3 Credits
the natural and social sciences) and cross-cultural (taking a comparative
approach to western and non-western sciences and technologies), Studies of global warming, energy options, and biodiversity; their
and it examines the ways that different beliefs and practices related to interrelations as sciences and as societal issues.
gender have shaped the practice of science in different times and places.
Students study great women scientists and also barriers institutional and Bachelor of Arts: Natural Sciences
ideological - that women have had to overcome in order to participate in Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
science, asking how the presence and absence of women have affected General Education: Natural Sciences (GN)
those studies. Students will be graded by several quizzes and two short
exams during the semester. To evaluate progress in developing critical
thinking skills, the students will be required to write a response journal
and/or response papers to major topic areas during the semester. Also,
one individual or group presentation will be required. These instruments
4        Science, Technology, and Society (STS)

and religion from scientists such as Newton and Darwin as well as

STS 233: Ethics and the Design of Technology from world Scriptures and contemporary positions of various influential
scientists and religious scholars concerning views of the material world
3 Credits
as it relates to the spiritual world. There will be no attempt to encourage
Ethics and individual and group decision-making in the design students to accept a particular religious or secular viewpoint. Rather, the
of technology including design projects and specific attention course will be successful if at its conclusion the student can articulate a
to institutional ethics. PHIL (S T S) 233 Ethics and The Design of personal viewpoint while appreciating the reasons others might have for
Technology (3) (GH)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree holding alternative opinions. Students will develop an understanding of
requirements. Technology has been around nearly as long as humans the arguments and the historical context in which they originated which
have been around. Humans have always created artifacts and artificial lead to differing positions. Thus, individual students will be expected to
environments to aid us in our survival and to help fulfill our needs and demonstrate this understanding in a series of examinations scheduled
desires. Moreover, today technology is all pervasive, transforming and throughout the semester, and in a final examination if required by the
conditioning our social and political relations, our cultural understanding instructor. Discussion and debate are useful devices in the search for
of ourselves, and our relationship with other animals and the natural understanding. In order to facilitate such discussion, students will be
environment. Yet not much thought has been expended upon the required to make one presentation to the class on an assigned topic.
meaning of technology, particularly in its moral dimensions. This course This presentation will serve as the starting point for class exploration
takes several steps to correct this deficiency. Because technologies can of the topic. To encourage active and collaborative learning, the student
have far reaching effects well beyond the domain of their immediate presentations may be group efforts, however, no group will consist of
application, the role of designers is crucial in deciding whether we take an more than three students.
intelligent or unintelligent approach to technology. All technologies exist
Prerequisite: completion of a basic composition course or the equivalent,
to serve one human need or another. Designers make important choices
S T S100 or S T S101 , or completion of 30 credits of coursework
concerning the creation, development, and deployment of many if not
General Education: Humanities (GH)
most technological innovations. Consequently, the task of the designer
is an ethical one. Our goal is twofold: First, we will try to broaden our
moral imaginations by taking into account the wider ranging effects that STS 245: Globalization, Technology, and Ethics
technologies have in order to reveal the moral significance of design
choices. Second, we will examine the process of design itself, particularly 3 Credits
in the way that the design process is similar to ethical reasoning in
An investigation of technology and ethics in the globalized world
general. It is hoped that by accomplishing these two tasks, we will be
from contemporary, socio-cultural, and historical perspectives. S T S
empowered as designers, customers, citizens, and future employers to
245 Globalization, Technology, and Ethics (3) (GS;IL)The objective of
make choices that better fulfill the moral task of technological innovation.
Globalization, Technology, and Ethics is to prepare students (especially
Two means will be used to achieve our course goals. Much of the time
but not limited to engineering and business students) who are headed
will be spent thinking about and discussing the various impacts that
into the corporate or government world for the challenges and realities
particular technologies have upon the social, cultural, and political
of working in a rapidly globalizing world. This course will encourage
lives of human beings and upon the natural environment. To facilitate
students to become leaders in a mobile and diverse transnational
thoughtful discussion, we will read a number of authors, writing short
workplace and help them to become critical citizens of that world.
papers in preparation for critical discussion in class. In this way we will
Through team-centered projects and readings from the social sciences
be better prepared to discuss and think about the issues at hand by
and humanities, students will broaden their understanding of engineering,
having had the chance to organize our thoughts in advance. The second
technology, and culture and then be given an introduction to how one
means is aimed at putting our ideas into practice by working in teams on
makes ethical decisions about that world. The course is designed
several design projects. These design projects will require the integration
to provide skills, theories and experiences that will help them to be
of readings, discussion, and research and their synthesis to solve a
respectful, diplomatic and professional while being able to successfully
design problem. Student teams will work cooperatively on these projects
work with technology in multiple cultures and contexts. Globalization,
and make oral progress reports as well as final written and oral reports.
Technology, and Ethics will also address topics of critical international
Cross-listed with: PHIL 233 and economic importance by including discussion of the World
Bachelor of Arts: Humanities Trade Organization, World Bank, and International Monetary Fund.
General Education: Humanities (GH) Students will understand their relationship to global manufacturing and
technology use, off-shoring, outsourcing, international debt financing,
and restructuring of world economies based upon different models of
STS 235: Science and Religion globalism. In addition, the class will address issues of 'glocalization'
and student's and citizens' role in the globalized world and the multiple
3 Credits
interactions that shape our technological world today.
This course investigates the relationship between science and religion
International Cultures (IL)
in multiple cultures. S T S 235 Science and Religion (3) (GH)The purpose
General Education: Social and Behavioral Scien (GS)
of this course, designed to fulfill general education requirements
in the humanities (GH), is to encourage students to investigate the
relationships between the disciplines of science and religion. While
most of the emphasis of the course will be on the historical interaction
between science and Western religion, we will also investigate science
("natural philosophy") in the Islamic, Hindu, and Eastern
religious traditions. Students will read classic texts that discuss science
 Science, Technology, and Society (STS)           5

STS 407: Technology and Human Values Prerequisite: 3 credits in Sociology

Cross-listed with: EMSC 420, SOC 420
3 Credits Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Interrelationships of twentieth-century technological change and human STS 428: The Darwinian Revolution
values. Emphasis on the social and ethical aspects of technological
progress. 3 Credits

Prerequisite: 9 credits of philosophy, including PHIL 107 or 6 credits of The origins and implications of evolutionary theory.
philosophy at the 200 level
Cross-listed with: PHIL 407 Prerequisite: an introductory science course and a history course
Bachelor of Arts: Humanities Cross-listed with: HIST 428
Bachelor of Arts: Humanities
STS 408: Cultural Foundations of Communications International Cultures (IL)

3 Credits STS 430: Global Food Strategies: Problems and Prospects for Reducing
World Hunger
Examination of oral, scribal, print, industrial, and electronic cultures;
analysis of impact of technology on communications and social 3 Credits
structure. COMM (S T S) 408 Cultural Foundations of Communications (3)
(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. COMM Technological, social, and political solutions to providing basic food
(S T S) 408 traces the development of communications technologies and needs; food resources, population, and the environment; current
their impact on culture over the last 500 years. Students will examine issues. NUTR (S T S) 430 Global Food Strategies: Problems and
how different tools for communicating changed the way people organized Prospects for Reducing World Hunger (3) (IL)(BA) This course meets
and made sense of their worlds. The course begins by looking at oral the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. Global Food Strategies
cultures and moves on to the scribal, print, industrial, electronic and post- examines opportunities for the world's poor to improve their health,
industrial or postmodern cultures, studying the media developments nutrition, and physical environment by focusing on their own cultural
that marked each of these eras. With each period and its corresponding strengths and organization, reassessing the opportunities within their
technology students will examine how and why the new media altered environment, evaluating the appropriateness of new and old technologies,
not only the form of communication (the type of speech, form of writing and gaining a renewed respect for their own abilities. Measures of
and/or speed of information transfer), but also how such changes appropriateness used throughout the course are ecological sustainability
altered the content of knowledge (how people made sense of their lives and cultural sensitivity. Approximately one third of the course focuses on
and communities). Readings are drawn from a range of disciplinary the historical basis of underdevelopment up to and including the post-
perspectives on the issues, from history, sociology and anthropology, to modern era. Topics include economic colonization, the industrialization
philosophy, communication studies and cultural theory. The historical of agriculture, the impacts of globalization, trade priorities and debt
and theoretical knowledge provided by the course will give students a loads on the poor, population and ecological issues; and a critique of
solid foundation for coming to terms with media trends in present-day the economics of scarcity. The second two thirds focuses on micro-
society and for thinking through their possible epistemological, political strategies for poverty alleviation. Topics include culturally-appropriate
and cultural impacts.The course is a communications elective for the people centered development women's empowerment needs including
Journalism and Telecommunications majors and the Media Studies microlending (small loans), the prospects and rationales for biological
minor. agriculture vs. industrialized agriculture, successful models of health and
population control, the impact of American consumerism, and ecological
Prerequisite: select 3 credits from COMM 100 , COMM 110 , COMM 118 , footprint analysis. The goals of the course are to 1) awaken the student's
COMM 150 , COMM 180 , COMM 251 , COMM 260W , COMM 320 , interest in hunger and poverty issues and the cultural dimensions of
COMM 370 ; or 3 credits of S T S poverty, 2) acquaint the student with viable and sustainable strategies
Cross-listed with: COMM 408 for hunger and poverty alleviation for the very poor, and 3) enable the
Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences student to understand enough about globalism that he/she can critically
analyze and evaluate international affairs articles in national newspapers.
STS 416: Race, Gender and Science The classes integrate lecture information with films that help with the
visualization of poverty problems and prospects, readings, current events,
3 Credits
and small group discussion around issues and case studies. Readings
The class will focus on race and gender as products of science, and how are drawn from development classics and from a wide range of recent
societal values shape scientific activity. literature on poverty and change. Evaluation includes student responses
to three essay tests posed by the instructor over the semester, and
Cross-listed with: AFAM 416 journal keeping. The class project is designed to promote citizenship/
International Cultures (IL) leadership skills. Students will make a contract to perform a particular
United States Cultures (US) citizen action relating to hunger and poverty alleviation, which they will
describe in an oral report and written format. Participation is evaluated.
STS 420: Energy and Modern Society The class is offered fall semester only. Enrollment is limited to 60
students.
3 Credits
Cross-listed with: NUTR 430
Technology and economics of energy resources, production, and
Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences
consumption; environmental factors, exhaustion, new technology.
6        Science, Technology, and Society (STS)

International Cultures (IL)

STS 432: Medical and Health Care Ethics

3 Credits

Examines ethical, political, and social issues in the research,

implementation, and practice of medicine, medical technologies, and
healthcare.

Prerequisite: fifth-semester standing

Cross-listed with: PHIL 432
Bachelor of Arts: Humanities

STS 433: Ethics in Science and Engineering

3 Credits

Ethical issues arising in the practice of science and engineering and their
philosophical analysis.

Cross-listed with: PHIL 433

Bachelor of Arts: Humanities
Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences

STS 435: The Interrelation of Science, Philosophy, and Religion

3 Credits

The historical and transformative interactions between science and

Western philosophical and religious views of nature, humanity, and God.

Cross-listed with: PHIL 435

Bachelor of Arts: Humanities

STS 460: Science, Technology, and Public Policy

3 Credits

The all-pervasive importance of science and technology policy in modern

societies and mechanisms and processes by which it is made.

Prerequisite: 3 credits in natural sciences or engineering, 3 credits in

social and behavioral sciences
Cross-listed with: PLSC 460
Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences

STS 470: Technology Assessment and Transfer

3 Credits

Nature of technology assessment and technology transfer in product

design and development process from federal and university labs, and
internationally.

Bachelor of Arts: Social and Behavioral Sciences