Module 1

Lesson 1 : THE NATURE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

Overview

How often do you use the television,

mobile phone, and even the shoes you wear?
How many times you ride a bus or a tricycle in a
day? How often do you take your medicine or
drink a soda? Do you know where those things
came from and started to be used by public?
Who patented these things around you which
makes your life convenient? There are many
questions that are in need of answers. There are
scientific advancements and technologies that
the society are using but knowing so little about
it. It may be a product of serendipity or scientific
inquisitiveness. Inventions don't generally
happen by accident or in a random order:
science and technology progress in a very logical
way, with each new discovery leading on from
the last.

Expectations

After the completion of the topic, the students must be able to:

1. Describe and explain the fundamental meaning of Science, Technology, and Society; and give sample
situations for each.
2. Give an overview of the dynamics between Science and Technology.
3. Sketch a simple paradigm on the interrelationship between Science and Technology.
4. Enumerate some observations in order for science to be pursued to contribute to national development.
5. Discuss why and how collaborative efforts of government and private sectors can help face challenges in
the Philippine science and technology scene.
6. Have a bird's eye view of historical and futuristic perspective of Science, Technology, and Society.

LESSON1. 1 UNDERSTANDING SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

ENGAGE

If I have seen further than

others, it is by standing on the
shoulders of giants.

--Sir Isaac Newton

 Based on your own understanding from the quote said by Sir Isaac Newton
above, take time to answer the following questions below.

1. What do you 2. What do you think 3. What do you think

think Newton Newton refers to as this quote tells you
has seen? “giants”? about Newton’s
character?
*Base on the quotation given, Isaac Newton has seen is referring to the discoveries he find out. In
addition, standing on the shoulders of giants means that everything he works on is not impossible
without the help of previous scientist. These were the individuals who significantly added to our
knowledge before him. Therefore I conclude that this quote tells me about Newton’s character is to
be thankful for those people who help us see, realize or understands things we don’t know.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: DEFINITIONS AND ASSUMPTIONS

Science and technology are dynamic processes engaged in by man to satisfy two basic needs -
the thirst for knowledge and the material requirements for human survival and prosperity. Science and
technology had been around even before the words biology, physics, chemistry, engineering, and
agriculture were coined.

Science is the description, understanding, and prediction of physical phenomena through the use
and generation of verifiable theories, laws, and principles. Research and development are usual activities
associated with science as a process. Research and development involve the acquisition of new
knowledge and the utilization of such knowledge to devise new or improved products and processes.

Science cannot make value judgments, but can provide information that will help people make a
value or moral judgment and can analyze biological, cultural, or social implications and can demonstrate
consequences.

Science studies the ways in which technical and social phenomena interact and influence each
other.

Science, according to McGinn (1991), has four meanings:

1. As a Knowledge: the organized, well-founded body of knowledge of natural phenomena

2. As a Field of Systematic Inquiry into Nature: the particular fie or domain or systematic inquiry in which
such knowledge is sought

3. As a Form of Human Cultural Activity: a distinct form of human activity in which scientists are engaged

4. As a Total Societal Enterprise: the summation of knowledge, people, skills, organization, facilities.
techniques, physical resources, methods and technology. which is devoted to the study and understanding
of the natural world.

Technology is the use of scientific knowledge and/or empirical knowhow for the production,
improvement, and distribution of goods and services, as well as the satisfaction of other material needs. On
the other hand, it is more related to economic activity.

The outputs of technological activity are necessarily composed of both "software" and "hardware".
Software refers to methods, techniques, organization, and management. Hardware pertains to tools,
equipment, machines, and materials (UNESCO, 1979; Posadas, 1985).

The core activity of technology is technological innovation that seeks to transform the prototype
inventions of Research and Development into a commercial product or process (Posadas. 1985). Another
important activity is the utilization of technology itself. The actual use of technology in the production
process points out the potentials as well as the problems associated with a particular technology.

Society is a group of persons joined together for a common purpose or by a common interest. They
come to learn and perform behavior expected of them.

The society makes use of science to come up with better technology in order for its people to live in
accordance with their necessities. The human successes and failures revolve around military, economic,
and medical significance. Science and technology can either yield a positive or a negative result to human
survival. Ethical dilemmas and social conflict will build up in light of abounding beliefs and culture that are
slowly disintegrating or vice versa, vis-à vis the changes made by science and technology in our society.

LESSON 1.2 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: A CONTINUING PROCESS

Tablet Computer
INTERRELATIONSHIP AND DYNAMICS BETWEEN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

EXPLORE

Laptop

Mobile
Phone Television

*Technology is one of the essential parts of our life, which makes this world easier to live
on. With the use technology, I can communicate with my friends and family wherever they
are. It helps me keep in touch with people who are away from me. Moreover, technologies
are useful tools for me in terms of education as we use them in online learning. It also
provides me easy access information, and makes everything in my life easier. Overall, as we
live in technological world, we need technology in every single matter of our life.
Using knowledge through science to attain specific objectives for any unit of society is technology
(Baguinon, 1986).

Science and technology are not independent variables; they interact and interpenetrate either
social variables. One cannot be self-reliant and independent in one sphere and not be in another
(Quesada, 1986).

1. Science cannot develop without the required technology infrastructure needed for research and
development. Materials, equipment, information, organization, management, and financial resources are
necessary for the conduct of productive research and development.

2. Technology cannot advance without continuing inputs from Science (Research and Development).
Knowing that heat technology was used for cooking and lighting even by primitive people, the technological
leap was achieved only after explanation by the science of thermodynamics based on physics and
chemistry.
3. The interrelationship between science and technology, viewed as a dynamic, continuing process, may be
illustrated as follows:

Research and Development

Technological Innovation Technological Innovation

Technological Utilization

Information and Materials

(Software and Hardware)

4. Science is not the only source of technology. Empirical knowhow, experience, and practice are also
valuable sources of technology. There are other determinants of technology aside from science.

LESSON 1. 3 PHILIPPINE SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY: CHALLENGES AND INITIATIVES

CAN PHILIPPINE SCIENCE EVOLVE AND PROGRESS?

"The Filipino has his own unique technological potential that, when given support and the right
environment with the corresponding atmosphere of freedom, he or she can produce inventive ideas,
products, and processes in an exceptional manner on a par with international standards. Think of the
fluorescent lamp, videophone, the moon buggy. pontoon bridge, floating power tiller, mighty mite (highway
jeep roller), the sing along system, and a super lubricant used by American motorists and aircraft makers.
These are just a sampling of the many creations attributed to Filipino ingenuity" (Niere, 2000).

With faith in the Filipino and what he/she can do, and grounded on the knowledge that science a
product of society, Philippine science must be shaped according to the needs of our own society.

Republic Act No. 7459, the Inventors and Inventions Incentive Act of the Philippines, "declares as a
national policy the giving of priority to scientific inventions and its utilization on the country's productive
system and national life" (DOST Publication, 1998).

Many Filipinos were trained to practice science in a foreign setting. Being captive to the practice of
foreign science, many returning Ph.D. holders become alienated and they find it hard to reintegrate
themselves into the local mainstream. Instead of adapting to the local conditions, they tend to look for the
setting where they earned their degrees.

For the country to achieve prosperity and progress, a self-determined program of science and
technology generation, production, and marketing to enable is vital.

Dayrit (1986) gave some observations in order for science to be pursued critically to contribute to
national development:

1. The Philippine society must be awakened to the value and role of science in order to establish a
scientific environment and tradition. The social and cultural conditions of the Philippines must nurture
science.
2. As observed by others, our science remains disengaged from industry. It does.not contribute to industry,
and neither does industry contribute to it. There must be an economic impetus to science.

3. In general, support by the government is sporadic and inadequate. There is little continuity and follow
through.

4. And "inevident also are our fellow citizens who patronize our intellectual products and brainware"
(Vasquez, 2000).

Relevance is not enough. Science must emerge from the historical, cultural, social, and economic
conditions of the Philippines. All areas must be seriously assessed, implemented and evaluated because
we are not dealing with science alone, but with society as well.

Let’s Exercise!

Answer the following questions base from your own understanding. Please provide at least 100 words per
questions.

1. What is the most impactful effect of Science and Technology to human life?
Science and technology have a great impact on human life. Due to the continuous
advancement of science and technology, people's lives are made easier. For instance the
use of technologies such computers and gadgets can provide people with all the
information they want. Therefore, these innovations can help them learn and adapt to new
things. In addition, through the help of scientific discovery and technological innovations,
COVID 19 and other life-threatening diseases will be able to cure and can saves life of
people. Generally, in my perception, the most impactful effect of science and technology is
it improves the lives of people.

7. Should scientist be allowed to do anything that they can?

In my own understanding scientists are responsible for conducting scientific work,
added to the new knowledge in our society. However, they should not be allowed to do
anything that they can, because everything has the limitations. They should still be given a
policy to avoid harm and ensure the safety of everyone while conducting research,
experimentations and etc. We all know the rule of a scientist is not easy, if we don’t put
limitations on them there are cases that it will lead to negative effects.

 Based on what you have learned about this chapter, describe each term and complete the diagram
below and label each bubble by indicating the relationship among science, technology, and society.
 Science is knowledge,
understanding, and the
study of the world around
us.
The main connection between
science and technology is that Science influences
technology is the application of society through its
science. knowledge and world view.

Science has paved the way

for all different advances in our society
and technology has been the application of
scientific progress that weas mankind have
made. Science is the mother of technology
and both of them are the reasons for the
creation and development of the societies.

Society is a group of
Technology is the use of people living together
knowledge to invent new in a particular area
devices or tools that may who shared the same
be used to solve real- rules, values and
world problems. Technologies are invented by culture.
humans to improve the life of
society.

LESSON 1. 4 SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY

Modern technologies are rarely the product of a single inventor's efforts. The technology of the
cellular phone, for example, cannot be claimed by one inventor alone. Thousands of people have played
key roles in its development and manufacture, and many thousands more have improved its design.

Many technologies have taken centuries to develop into their modern forms, thus, it is imprecise to
give a date for their invention.

"And it is most particularly our concept of 'realism' that has become a problem. We have to be very
precise about this. It has become clear to us that reality is something very relative, something that depends
on the capacity of our perception, on the degree of power, sharpness, and rarity of perception. It has
become clear to us that the 'reality of the sixteenth, eighteenth, and twentieth centuries is by no means the
same reality" (Kahler, 2003).

"The acceleration of technological progress has been the central feature of this century. I argue
that we are on the edge of change comparable to the rise of human life on earth" (Vinge, 2003).

With the subversion of space as a birthright, the Internet indeed appears to challenge the place.
bound centrality that has distinguished cities throughout history. Cities evolved as the vortices of human
culture, a complex mechanism designed to facilitate the exchange of goods and information. For a long
time, this required physical proximity, and the tightly packed traditional city was a response to such needs.
But the history of technology is largely the saga of overcoming obstacles of time and space....

The locomotive, the automobile, telegraph, and telephone each enabled urban functions to occur at
ever increasing distances from downtown. Digital technology now permits once exclusively urban functions
to break free entirely of the city's gravitational pull.... (Campanella, 2003)

Surrounded by such fantastic technological advances, the 3. immense opportunities and equally
colossal risks, is then no limit to the scope and possibilities - both negative and positive - to science,
technology, and society ? Consider this

Excerpts from Arthur Clarke's The Songs of Distan Earth (1986), a science fiction novel:
 Through the ship's telescopes, he had watched the death of the solar system... but these were
empty meaningless spectacles compared with the tragedy of the earth.

In the last century, the earth was haunted with ghosts - not of the dead but of those who now could
never be born.

And then, by the dawn of the final century, by one of history's greatest ironies, mankind was given
the keys to the universe - and barely a century in which to use them.

Seedships of ever increasing speed and sophistication had been sent to more than fifty targets -
The very last to be launched could cruise at a twentieth of the speed of light and would make planets fall in
nine hundred and fifty years - if all went well.

ACTIVITY 1

Read the following news items.

News 1:

A tentative $350 million settlement of tens of billions of dollars of damage claims filed against the
Union Carbide Corporation. The suits were brought by lawyers of thousands of victims of the largest known
industrial disaster in history. The December 1984 toxic gas leak at the company's pesticide plant in Bhopal,
India. This took over 2,000 lives and inflicted about 200,000 casualties.

News 2:

The detonation the previous day, deep beneath the Nevada desert and in the face of domestic and
international protest, of a nuclear bomb roughly ten times as powerful as the weapon that destroyed
Hiroshima in August 1945.

News 3:

The case of California man who, since suffering traumatic head injuries in an automobile accident
in February 1983, had been in a comatose state in a convalescent home. In the wake of the American
Medical Association's then recently. adopted policy declaring it ethically appropriate for physicians to
withhold or withdraw feeding tubes from hopelessly co matose patients, the article related the efforts of the
man's brothers to obtain a court order authorizing the removal of his feeding and hydration tubes so that he
could "die".

Write your observations on the above news items:

1. What characteristics do these news items have in common?

*The characteristics that the news items have in common are the destruction
brought by science and technology innovations to the lives of people.

2. Write down some disadvantages of science and technology that were presented in the news.
* A powerful weapon such as nuclear bomb caused destructions
* Thousands of victims because of industrial disaster
 * Withdrawing feeding tubes from hopelessly co matose patients can easily ends the
life of a person.
3. Would you allow Euthanasia or mercy killing of a dying loved one?
* Yes, I will allow Euthanasia. Imagine one of your loved ones is in a
comatose situation, and he is only fighting with the help of tubes that connects to
the machine. I can't dare to look at him in that condition because I know even
though his eyes are closed; he is struggling, fighting for his life. Therefore to end
the pain he is suffering, I would choose Euthanasia so that he will no longer injure
the hurt and easily rest well in heaven.

4. Are science and technology really important and indispensable factors in our everyday life?
* Science and technology are important parts of our day to day life. Cell
phones, alarm clocks, rice cookers, motorcycles, and many more are a resultant
of science and technology. Without it, our modern way of life is difficult to imagine.
Indeed our existence itself depends on it now. Thus, every day new technologies
are coming up which are making human life easier and more comfortable.

LESSON 1.5 HISTORY OF SCIENCE

HISTORY OF SCIENCE

How did early men invent and fashion their tools?

How did they domesticate animals and learn the tricks of husbandry?

How did they obtain the rudiments of arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy.

How did they find the best foods for health and the best drugs for sickness

These and many similar questions on early inventions - be they tools, learning concepts or medical
and technology breakthrough-when answered, form part of a narration of how Science developed.

It was during the 15th century, with the accelerated pace of developments, that many inventions
evolved. Such period radically changed the so-called conventional way of life of the western world.

SURVEY OF SCIENTIFIC DEVELOPMENT

A. Greek and Roman Times

1. Ancient Greek- the first culture to undertake true scientific inquiry.

After the evident upheavals caused by discovery and use iron weapons, Greeks to explain
a deeper way.

The earliest Greeks were settled along western coast of Asia Minor, in Sicily South Italy,
where the following have been fully developed:

a. basic elements of mathematics

b. astronomy
c. mechanics
d. physics
e. geography
f. medicine

THE FIRST FIVE CENTURIES, B.C.

The political ruin Hellenic caused such deep changes all around scholars agreed using
new to designate the culture, from the third century.
 During this time, center was no longer Athens but Alexandria and other Greek established
outside of Europe.

 The golden of Greeks Science coincided with their golden age Literature and Arts which took place
primarily in Athens the fourth fifth centuries, B.C. That golden century was brought to close

 The fourth century was even richer in scientific achievement and was dominated by two greatest
personalities in history.

 The first half of the century was dominated by Plato and the second half by Aristotle,

Plato is the founder of the Academy of Athena while Aristotle is the founder of the Lyceum of
Athens.

15TH CENTURY

 Major developments happened in the 15th century. Some notable changes which radically
changed the course of the Western World are as follows:

a) Invention of typography - about the middle of the 15th century.

b) Geographic discoveries - initiated by Henry the Navigator which reached its climax at the end of the
century with the voyage of Columbus and others.

c) Printing - opened the production of standard texts and a little later, standard illustrations.

 For the first time, the progress of knowledge could be registered as soon as it was standardized
and transmitted to every corner of the civilized world. Until this period, East and West had worked
together, but now the Muslim East, increasingly inhibited by religious obscurism, rejected printing
and ceased to cooperate with the western world.

 The discovery of printing was so important that it is well to consider it the beginning of the new
period, the so-called Renaissance, which was almost exclusively Western as far as Science in
concerned.

RENAISSANCE

The recovery of the texts of the Greek classics, most of which had been known only through Latin
translation of Arabic writings, was well-known during the Renaissance period.

This period is considered as the continuation of the Middle Age.

Growth of Academics

During the Renaissance, printing shops became numerous and the number of printed books
increased immeasurably thereafter.

Improved Communication of Scientific Knowledge

Another factor in the scientific revolution was the rise of learned societies and academics in various
countries. The earliest of these were in Italy and Germany which were short lived. More influential were the
Royal Society in England (1660) and the Academy of Sciences in France (1666). The former was a private
institution in London and included such scientists as Robert Hooke, John Wallis, William Brouncker,
Thomas Sydenham, John Mayow, and Christopher Wren (who contributed not only to architecture but also
to astronomy and anatomy); the latter was a government institution and was included as a foreign member
of the Dutchman Huygens. In the 18th century, important royal academics were established in Berlin (1700)
and at St. Petersburg (1724). The societies and academics provided the principal opportunities for the
publication and discussion of scientific results during and after the scientific revolution (Compton
Encyclopedia Interactive, 1996).

First Academics of Science date from the 16th Century

1. Academia del Lincel in Rome (1603-1630)

2. Academia del Cimento in Florence (1657-1667)
3. Royal Society in Florence (1662)
4. Academie des Sciences in Paris (1666)
The rebirth and development of science began with the publication of books that are now considered as the
main monuments of modern science, to wit:

1. On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres by Nicolaus Copernicus (1500)

2. On the Fabric of the Human Body by Andreas Vesalius(1543)
3. Principia Mathematica of Sir Isaac Newton (1687)
4. Traite de la Lumiere of Christian Huygens (1690)

THE REJECTION OF TRADITIONAL PARADIGMS

Copernicus broke with the traditional belief, supported by both scientists and theologians that the
earth was at the center of the universe. His work, finally. published in the year of his death (1543),
proposed that the earth and other planets move in circular orbits around the sun. Paracelsus rejected the
older alchemical and medical theories and founded introchemistry, the forerunner of modern medical
chemistry, Andreas Vesalius, like Parecelsus, turned away from the medical teachings of Galen and other
early authorities and through his anatomical studies helped found modern medicine and biology. The
philosophical basis for the scientific revolution was expressed in the writings of Francis Bacon who urged
that the experimental method plays the key role in the development of scientific theories, and of Rene
Déscartes, who held that the universe is a mechanical system that can be described in mathematical terms.
The science of mechanics was established by Galileo Galilei, Simon Stevin, and others. The astronomical
system of Copernicus gained support from the accurate observations of Tycho Brahe; so was the
modification of Johannes Kepler, who used Tycho's work to show that the planetary orbits are elliptical
rather than circular and the writings of Galileo, who based his arguments on his own medical theories and
observations with the newly invented telescope. Other instruments were also of major importance in the
discoveries of the scientific revolution. The microscopeextended human knowledge of living things just as
the telescope had extended human knowledge of the heavens. The mechanical clock was perfected in the
late 16th century by Christian Huygens who also made improvements in the telescope.

Another remarkable scientist of the 1600s was Sir Isaac Newton of England. Newton used the
findings of others to develop a unified view of the forces of the universe. In his book Principia (1687), he
formulated a law of universal gravitation and showed that both objects on the earth and the heavenly
bodies obey this law Newton's studies of lenses and prisms laid the foundation for the modern study of
optics. Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, a German philosopher, independently developed a new
system of mathematics. calculus.

The scientific revolution also extended to many other areas of science. Modern physiology began
in the early 1600s with the work of William Harvey, an English physician. Harvey performed careful
experiments and used simple mathematics to show how blood circulates through the human body. In the
mid-1600s, an English scientist named Robert Hooke pioneered in the use of the microscope to study the
fine structures of plants and animals and uncovered a new world of cells. Also in the mid-1600s, Robert
Boyle, an Irish scientist, helped establish the experimental method in chemistry. Boyle introduced many
new ways of identifying the chemical composition of substances (Encyclopedia Brittanica Interactive, 2000).

The 17th century also saw the discovery of the circulation of the blood by William Harvey and the
founding of modern chemistry by Robert Boyle (Compton Encyclopedia Interactive, 1996).

The history of science as observed in many countries. is very incomplete because some of the
essential works, however great, were done in other countries.

DISCOVERIES

1. Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen- discovered x-ray in 1895

2. Antoine Henry Becquerel-radioactivity in 1896
3. Pierre and Marie Curie-radium in 1898
4. Sigmund Froud-paychoanalysis in 1900
5. Max Planck-discovered the theory of quanta in 1901
6. Hugo de Vries- theory of mutations in 1901-1903
7. Albert Einstein - special and general theories of relativity in 1905-1916 8. Baron Rutherford-the
disintegration of atom in 1919
 THE STUDY OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

Men of science and technology want to know the latest result of scientific studies. They may
consider previous results as obsolete and disregard them. The historian of science, however, is interested
not only in the newest result but also in the whole evolution of thought and discovery that led to them and
made them possible.

The historian of science appreciates the fruits of present knowledge, but he wants to know the tree
of knowledge with all its roots and branches.

Development of the History of Science

At first, historians were concerned mainly with political and military history, but gradually they
learned to attach more attention to arts and letters, religion and economics. Thus, the old political history
was transformed into something much broader that might be called the history of culture.

Auguste Comte - the first man to introduce history of science in a broader context and to increase its
circulation in his Course of Positive Philosophy.

Paul Tannery- the real inheritor of Comte's thought and the first great teacher the history of science.
During his time, the history of science became full-pledged discipline.

Every scientist is influenced by the religious and philosophical conceptions of his time, whether he
is aware of these not.

Methods of Science Historian

Almost all historians use similar method. As science historians must apply scientific facts and
theories, they must have scientific and historical preparations. It impossible to understands and appreciate
scientific documents without adequate scientific knowledge and proper educational expertise. Much bad
work had been done by historians who did not know science and also by men of science who had no idea
historical methods and did not even realize that such methods existed.

The main point that knowledge of any kind worthless unless it is accurate as conditions permit.

REFLECT
 Is there a particular extent in your life experiences that has been affected by
some scientific and technological innovations in the past years?

Back when I was still in high school, I could live without a cell phone. But due to the pandemic
brought by COVID-19, online or modular learning has been implemented temporarily exchanged to
face to face learning. Because of this, students like me are forced to use cell phones and laptops
for our studies. It is true that it is a great help for us to learn, makes our work easy, and gathers
information in just one click. However, despite the positive effects of technology given to us, it has
become the reason why my eyes are getting blurry. There are instances, straight 6 hours or more
than that. I focused only on using my gadgets and doing my activities online. Also, it is the cause
why I am dependent on social media and tend to miss and enjoy my youthful life. Generally,
scientific and technological innovations are already part of my life that impacts me positively and
negatively.