I- Introduction

This module will serve as your guide and provide help by giving information/
knowledge towards Science, Culture, and Society. It introduces you to different eras
where Science and Technology serve its purpose in building civilizations and or
societies. Moreover, this module will help you explore and rediscover intellectuals
who had contributed to the advancement of Science and Technology. Likewise, the
module discusses the roles of Science and Technology to our society and vice-versa.

Module learning outcomes:

In this module, you are expected to:

1. explain how Science and Technology affected the society and environment
and vice-versa;
2. identify inventions and discoveries that changed the world over the course of
history; and
3. discuss the scientific and technological developments in the Philippines.
 Lesson 1
Introduction to Science, Technology and Society

II- Learning Outcomes

In this lesson, you should be able to:

1. define Science and Technology;

2. analyze and identify the benefits of having Science and Technology to
society;
3. discuss the reciprocal determinism of science, technology, and society;
4. create a synthesis paper on articles/journals of science, technology, and
society.

III- Module Map

.
Science, Technology

Nature
and Society

Scope

Limitations

This module map shows the important topics of this lesson

EXPLORE: Beginning of Everything

Science comes from the Latin word scientia, meaning ‘knowledge’. It refers to a
systematic and methodical activity of building and organizing knowledge about how the universe
behaves through observation, experimentation of both. According to the famous American
science historian, John Heilbron (2003, p. vii), “Modern science is a discovery as well as an
invention.” Heilbron considered science as a discovery of regularity in nature, enough for natural
phenomena to be described by principles and laws.
Figure 1. Miracles of Modern Science: Fall Tour Poster, 2013 Hamline

Science as Knowledge

“With his germ theory of disease, Pasteur made a seminal contribution to modern medical
science”, Here science refers to the organized, well-founded body of knowledge of natural
phenomena contributions to which have been made by thousands of men and women.

Science as a Field of Systematic Inquiry Into Nature

In “Physics is the most basic science”, science refers to a particular field of systematic
inquiry in which such knowledge is sought.

Science as a Form of Human Cultural Activity

Science refers to a distinctive form or kind of human activity referred to as scientists,

natural philosophers and savants.

Science as a Total Societal Enterprise

Science at this situation is the variety of knowledge, people, skills, organizations,

facilities, technics, physical resources, methods, and technologies that taken together and relation
with one another are devoted to the study and understanding of the natural world.
 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, mean ‘art, skill, or cunning of hand’. Science may drive
technological development by generating demand for new instruments to address a scientific
questions or issues, or by illustrating technical possibilities previously unconsidered.

Technology as Technics

Technology will sometimes be used to mean and refer to material products of human
making or fabrication. These items are called as Technics (McGinn R.E. 1991). Technics then
are the “material artifacts”, in anthropological term or “hardware” in engineering term,
produced by a person or group of persons. The subcategories of technics include tool, devices,
machines, implements and utensils (McGinn R.E. 1991).

Technology as a Technology

Consider this use of technology: “Great progresses have been made in bicycle technology
since World War II” Here, unlike in the previous sense, technology do not mean or refer directly
or primarily to a particular (namely the bicycle). Rather, a technology refers to the complex of
knowledge, methods, materials and if applicable constituent part (themselves technics) used in
making a certain kind of technic (at a certain point in time).

Technology as a Form of Human Activity

In this part, technology will often use to refer to a distinctive form or kind of human
cultural activity, just as the term art, law, medicine, sport and religion are often used to refer to
distinctive forms of human practice. Engineering is one branch of technology viewed as a kind of
human activity. In particular, engineering is the professionalized field of technological activity
devoted in organizing the design, production and operation of technics and technical systems to
meet practical human needs.
Technology as a Total Enterprise
The 2011 landing of Curiosity Rover in Mars and the 2019 China’s Chang’e Mission that
landed at the far side of the moon were great tributes to American superiority and a great leap for
Chinese technology. With these achievements, technology does not refer only to the specific
technics and related technologies involved, or to one of the activity forms through which they
were developed. Rather, it refers to the societal enterprise of technology that is complex of
knowledge, people skills, organizations, facilities, technics, physical resources, methods and
technologies that are taken together and in relationship to one another are devoted to the
research, development, production and operation of technics.
In turn, technology may drive
scientific investigation, by creating
demand for technological
improvements that can only be
produced through scientific
research and investigation, and by
raising questions about the
underlying principles that a new
technology relies on. In other
words, technology is a child
(product) or science; and science is
the parent (cause) of technology.
Technology uses scientific
principles and scientific findings in
achieving technological
advancement in improvement. Without science, technological improvement is left to chance.

Science and technology affect society in general. These are follows:

▪ Improved S&T result to industrialization and thus converting a simple society to a

complex one;
▪ People’s life and lifestyle change as a result of improved S&T;
▪ Urbanization results when S&T improve because people usually migrate to a place where
their basic needs are met;
▪ People have stronger desire for material goods when S&T improve in the place; and
More discoveries and inventions that benefit the people due to improved S&T.
According to popular American scientist, Carl Sagan, quoted in Tom Head’s (2006) book:

“WE LIVE IN A SOCIETY ABSOLUTELY DEPENDENT ON SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY AND YET HAVE CLEVERLY ARRANGED THINGS SO THAT ALMOST
NO ONE UNDERSTANDS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY. THAT’S A CLEAR
PRESCRIPTION FOR DISASTER.”

Tom Head, 2006

As problems in science and technology continue to rise and become more observable, the
need to pay attention to their interactions with various aspects of human life, e.g., social,
political, and economic, becomes ever more necessary. How the different aspects of society
shape and influence the progression and further development of science and technology in the
area of concern of a relatively new academic discipline called Science, Technology and Society.
 In general, STS applies methods drawn from history, philosophy, and sociology to study
the nature of science and technology and ultimately judge their value and place in society. As an
interdisciplinary field, the emergence of STS was a result of questions about society and
technology’s dynamic interaction with various aspects of society and was viewed as a socially
embedded enterprise. This, as the Kennedy School affectively encapsulates, STS seeks to bridge
the gap between two traditionally exclusive cultures – humanities (interpretative) and natural
sciences (rational) – so that humans will be able to better confront the moral, ethical, and
existential dilemmas brought by the continued developments in science and technology.

VII- TOPIC SUMMARY

In this lesson, you have learned that:

✔Science is a systematic and organized body of knowledge that explains or predicts nature
and the universe.
✔Technology is a collection of methods, techniques, and processes used in the production of
goods and services, or the accomplishment of objectives, such as scientific investigation,
or any other consumer demands.
✔Nowadays, advancements in science and technology have become pervasive. They are
manifested in the activities that human pursue and the tools they use every day.
✔The dynamism and immensity of scientific and technological process also pose
challenges and drawbacks to the way human live. Introduction of machines tremendously
cut the need for human workforce and gave rise to questions about whether machines will
eventually replace humans
✔Indeed, science and technology have served a predominantly double-edged function.

IX– Reference

Book Reference

Ariola, M. (2018). Science, Technology, and Society. Unlimited Books Library Services
and Publishing Incorporated

McNamara, D., et.al. (2018). Science, Technology, and Society. C & E Publishing
Incorporated

Quinto, E. J., et.al. (2019). Science, Technology, and Society. C & E Publishing
Incorporated

Wolpert, L. (2005). The Medawar Lecture 1998? Is Science Dangerous? Retrieved on July
7, 2020 at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1569503/