Science, Technology and

Its Significance to Society

Science, Technology and Society explores the powerful social, ethical, and political relation-
ships that drive research and innovation. The program delves into the challenges of living and
innovating in a world where emerging science and technologies are becoming increasingly
interconnected, pervasive, and powerful.
The program’s primary goal is to give students analytical skills that help connect science and
technology to broader social needs. STS pursues this goal through individual research projects,
collaborative problem solving activities, user-centered design projects, and service-learning.

STS welcomes students from all majors who are interested in understanding how we can
responsibly maximize the societal benefits of scientific inquiry and technological innovation.

Content Standard:
The learners demonstrate an understanding of the meaning of science, technology and its
significance.

Learning Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, students are expected to:
State the meaning of science and Technology.
Describe some notable development of science and technology and its significant to the society.
Describe some disadvantages of science and Technology.

Word Bank:
Science, Technology, Wheel, compass, printing press, combustion engine, telephone, Penicill
1. How Science and technology affects to our society?

2. What are the advantage and disadvantages of science and Technology?

3. Cite Some notable development of science and Technology and its significance to society
A. The Meaning of science and Technology
⇒ Science, Technology and Society (STS), also referred to as science and technology and the
study of how social, political, and cultural values affect scientific research and technological
innovation, and how these, in turn, affect society. STS scholars are interested in a variety of
problems including the relationships between scientific and technological innovations and
society, and the directions and risks science and technology. The field of STS is related to
history and philosophy of science although with a much broader emphasis on social aspects of
science and technology.

⇒ Science, Technology and Society refers to the interaction between science and technology and
social, cultural, political and economic contexts which shape and are shaped by them; specific
examples throughout human history of scientific and technological developments.

B. Meaning of Science
♦ Science is a systematized body of knowledge.

♦ Science is an organized and dynamic inquiry (following scientific method).

♦ Science is knowledge gained through observation and experimentation.

♦ Science leads to formation of concepts, methods, principles, theories, law and procedures
which seek to describe and explain nature and its phenomena.

C. Meaning of Technology
♦ Technology as material products; results of scientific inquiry; hardware
produced by a scientist. Technology is the application of knowledge in solving
scientific and practical problems that will help humans to survive and improve his
lives.

♦ Technology as human cultural activities or endeavors

♦ Technology as a social enterprise -- Technology is a complex system of

knowledge, skills, people, methods, tools, materials and resources applied and
allocated to the development, op- eration and production of a new or improved
product, process or services.
♦ Technology as modern technology based on the advances of science since the
end of WWII to the present.

D. Some of the notable human successes in the field of

science and technology
Humans are ingenious species. Humans (Homo sapiens) have dreamed up and created
some amazing and far-out things. From the moment someone bashed a rock on the ground to
make the first sharp-edged tool, to the debut of the wheel to the development of Mars rovers and
the internet, several key advancement stand outys as particularly revolutionary. Here are some of
most important invention of all times, along with the science behind the invention and how they
came about.

The Wheel - The concept of inventing the wheel came during 3500 BC. Humans were
severely limited in how much stuff they could transport over land, and how far. The idea came to
connect a non-moving platform to a rolling cylinder. People then invented the wheel and axle which
is the concept of making wheel. The holes at the center of the wheels and the ends of the fixed
axles had to be nearly perfectly round and smooth for wheels to work. Wheeled carts facilitated
agriculture and commerce by enabling transportation of goods to and from markets, as well as
easing the burden of people traveling great distances.
The compass - Before, mariners navigate with the star, but that method didn't work during the day or on
cloudy nights. The Chinese invented the first compass sometime between the 9th and 11th century; it was made of
lodestone, a naturally- magnetized iron ore, and the attractive properties of which they had been studying for centuries.
Soon after, the technology passed on to the Europeans and Arabs through nautical contact The compass enabled
mariners to navigate safely far from land, increasing sea trade and contributing to the Age of Discovery.

A model of an ancient Chinese compass from the Han Dynasty; it is south-Indicating ladle, or
sinan, made of polished lodestones

Printing press - It was Johannes

Gutenberg, a German who invented the press around 1440.
Though others before him--including inventors in China and
a-have developed the movable type made from metal,
Gutenberg was have created a mechanized process that
transferred the ink (which he made from linseed oil and soot)
from the movable type to paper. Printing presses
exponentially increased the speed with which book copies
could be made, and thus led to the rapid and widespread
dissemination of knowledge for the first time in history.

The Internal combustion

engine - In these engines, the combustion
of fuel releases high temperature gas, which, as it
expands, applies, force to a piston, thus,
combustion engines con- vert chemical energy
into mechanical work. Dec- ades of engineering by
many scientists went into designing the internal
combustion engine, which took its (essentially)
modern form in the latter half of the 19th century.
The engine steered in the In- dustrial Age which
enabled the invention of a huge variety of
machines, including modern cars and
 The Telephone- Alexander Graham Bell was the first to be awarded a patent for
the electric telephone in 1876. Though several inventors did pioneering work on electronic
voice transmission, the invention quickly took off, and revolutionized global business and
communi- cation.

Penicillin - In 1928, the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming noticed a bacteria field Petri Dish
in his laboratory, the sample had become contaminated with a mold, and everywhere the mold was,
the bacteria was dead. That antibiotic mold turned out to fungus Penicillium, and over the next two
dec- ades, chemist’s purified it and developed the drug Penicillin, which fights a huge number of
bacterial infections in humans without harming the humans themselves. Penicillin was being mass
and adver- tised by 1944.

The Internet is the global system of

interconnected computer net- works used by billions of
people worldwide. It is impossible to credit the invention of
the Internet to a single person, as countless people helped
develop it. In the 1960s, a team of computer scientists
working for the
U.S. Defense Department's ARPA (Advanced Research
Projects Agen- cy) built a communications network to
connect the computers in the agency, called ARPANET. It
used a method of data transmission called "packet
switching". ARPANET was the predecessor of the Internet
that eventually emerged to become the "information
superhighway.
Eco-Friendly Technologies/Advantages: These are sustainable
technologies. This technol- ogy utilizes resources from the environment without causing negative effects
to it. Some of these are:

⇒ Solar Energy - use of solar panels to provide electricity

⇒ Geothermal energy

⇒ Wind power - wind mills as source of energy

Disadvantages and Ethical dilemmas of Science and Technology

1. Threats to human survival - the invention of nuclear weapons in 1945, like the nuclear bombing of
Nagasaki and Hiroshima that caused deaths of many people. This was a product of chemical and bio-
logical warfare (bio-warfare); toxic wastes produced by manufacturing companies that threaten human
survival and stability of the environment.
2. Ethical dilemmas - exploitation of advanced scientific knowledge and technology devices and sys-
tems gave rise to situations in which advances seem to have turned against their beneficiaries, creat-
ing ethical dilemmas. The negative effects of technology are numerous. In our march to progress we
have degraded the natural world. Forest are chopped down, topsoil is washed away, rivers are pollut-
ed and our waste is dumped in the oceans.
3. Disparities in Human well being - there are advanced countries enjoying Science and technology
based successes and hold high esteem in contemporary society (Economic strength), versus millions
of people in less developed countries who have not partaken in these benefits.
4. Social and Cultural conflicts - Military power is vital for national security of many governments; Su-
perior and highly technical weapons dictated the outcomes of some recent wars.
5. Innovating technologies can have negative consequences for certain sectors or constituencies: I
⇒ include pollution associated with production processes,

⇒ increased unemployment from labor-saving new technologies

⇒ conversion of agricultural land into urban areas

⇒ effect on humans psychologically and emotionally -the usage and addiction of new gadgets effect of
overused technologies in medical industry that can cause fatal births and diseases.
⇒ global warming
 EXERCISE NO.
1
NAME:
STRAND/SECTION: DATE: SCORE

Direction: Explain the advantages and disadvantages of the following situation.

Answer must be back up with theories and concept of science and Technology. Give possible sugges-
tions on how to deal or treat the given situation;
1. Use of Social Media

2. Conversion of agricultural land to Industrial areas

3. Emergence of genetically modified organisms

4. Use of robots/machines in industrial facilities

5. Emergence of the different brands and models of cars

 COLEGIO DE SAN GABRIEL ARCHANGEL

1. Direction: Create a mind map about science technology and society using these follow-
ing learning objectives ;
A. State the meaning of science and Technology
B. .Describe some notable development of science and technology and its significant to the socie-
ty.
C. Describe some disadvantages of science and Technology

Write your answers in the space provided

LETS TREASURE IT!

 Science, Technology and Society (STS), also referred to as science and technology and the
study of how social, political, and cultural values affect scientific research and technological inno-
vation, and how these, in turn, affect society. STS scholars are interested in a variety of problems
including the relationships between scientific and technological innovations and society, and the
directions and risks science and technology. The field of STS is related to history and philosophy of
science although with a much broader emphasis on social aspects of science and technology.

 Science, Technology and Society refers to the interaction between science and technology and
social cultural, political and economic contexts which shape and are shaped by them; specific ex-
amples throughout human history of scientific and technological developments.

 Technology as a social enterprise -- Technology is a complex system of knowledge, skills, peo-

ple, methods, tools, materials and resources applied and allocated to the development, operation and
production of a new or improved product, process or services.
 DO YOU KNOW? In the Philippines, people turn to science and technology for warning advice and as-
sistance during calamities and disaster: We have some government agencies responsible for giving us
advice and information. These are the Philippine Institute of Volcanalogy and Seismology (PHIVOLCS),
Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and Philippines Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical
Services Administration (PAGASA). We have built windmills and transit trains that provide us means of
source of Energy and transport.

Are Science and Technology

applications and discoveries help us?
Direction: Write the correct letter of your answer on the space provided before the number
1. Which of the following is not biotechnology?
A. Genetically modified organisms B. Cellphone
C. Cloning D. Dolly the sheep
2. Which of the following is not sustainable technology?
A. Solar Energy B. Geothermal energy
C. Wind power C. Biowarfare
__________3.Which is not true about science?
A. allows quick solution to a problem
B. systematized body of knowledge
C.an organized and dynamic inquiry
D. social enterprise
4.Which of the following is technology?
A. Laptop B. Cell
C. Microorganisms D. Digestions
5. Which sentence is not true?
A. Science and technology is vital for national security of many governments
B. Science and technology help in the Improvement of product is.
C. Science and technology could lead to under industrialization
D. Science and technology advances medical diagnosis
6. Which is the limitation of science?
A. Discovery B. Inventions
C. Theories D. Moral Judgment
7.He is known as the inventor of telephone; Alexander
Graham Bell B. Lawrence Roberts
C. Alexander Fleming D. Thomas Edison
8. I It is the drug known to be an antibiotic that kills some bacteria that has discovered by Al
exander Fleming,
Penicillin B. Streptomycin
C. Amoxicillin D Augmentin
9.Which of the following is not sustainable technology?
A. Solar Energy B. Geothermal energy
C. Wind power C. Biowarfare
10. Which of the following is not considered as penaties of science and technology?
A.Threats to human survival
BAdvanced countries enjoying STS
C Ethical dilemmas
D. Advancement of countries
 Essay
Direction: answer the following question briefly.
1. Are 1.Science and technology part of your everyday living? Cite 5 example and Explain

2. What are some of the notable human failures in the field of science and technology?.

3. if given the chance what technology would you like to invent and why?

4. What is the current situation of the Philippines with regards to science and Technology?
\

Direction: Throughout the week, you will be asked to write weekly reflectionsyour modular
activities. The format of these reflections will be consistent throughout the week/Module 1;
you will be asked to write a three paragraph reflection with each paragraph answering one
of the following questions:

What? (What you know?)

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So what? ( What did you learn from this activity? Why is it important? Why does it
matter? )
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So that? . (What did you learn from this module that might be useful for your daily lives?
How might you use the ideas or techniques discussed for your own concern? )
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