Pre-test

Instructions: On the space provided, write TRUE if the statement is correct or FALSE if it is not.

1. Science and Technology are not crucial factors in nation building

- False

2. Science required invention to devise techniques, abstractions, apparatuses, and organizations

to describe these natural regularities and their law-like descriptions
- True

3. Science and Technology can be dangerous

- True

4. STS is an interdisciplinary field of academic teaching and research having as its primary focus
the explication and analysis of science and technology as complex social constructs
- True

5. STS deal with the historical development of science and technology but does not cover their
philosophical underpinnings
- False

Guide Questions
1. How does science operate and set limitations?
Science comes from the Latin word ‘scientia’ that means ‘knowledge’, in which it is the body of
knowledge that belongs to humanity as whole. Its definition can be further defined as the
“knowledge attained through practice or study” or the “knowledge covering general truths of the
operation of general laws, esp. as acquired and tested through scientific method [and] concerned
with the physical world”. This therefore means that science refers to a system of acquiring
knowledge, in which this said system utilized observation and experimentation to describe and
explain natural phenomena. This term also refers to the sort-out body of knowledge humans gained
using that system, and less formally it often describes any systematic field of study or the
knowledge gained from it. Science aims at, and consequently achieves, objective and universal
knowledge and it is thereby limited to those questions that can give universal answers.
Science operates in a way that allows humans to create or develop new advancements, take care
of pragmatic issues, and settle on educated choices both separately and collectively. It also operates
through the use of both systematic and logical approaches to uncover things on how they really
work— this is also the body of knowledge that’s accumulated through the discoveries about all
things in the universe. However, science sets definite limitations:
o Science doesn’t make judgments in which it helps us how the world is, but it cannot make
judgments about whether a certain state of affairs is right or wrong,
o Science doesn’t tell you how to use scientific knowledge. Scientists often care deeply about
how their discoveries are used, but science itself does not indicate what should be done with
scientist knowledge
o Science does not make aesthetic judgements
o Science doesn’t draw conclusions about supernatural explanations because questions that often
deals with supernatural explanations are beyond the realm of nature and what can be studied
in science
o Science is limited to the natural world and natural explanations
o Science is limited to study on what is observable, and natural processes in which the variables
can be controlled
o In science observation may faulty
o A man's belief affects his judgement
o In science, observations and experimental result must be repeatable
These limitations are important and must be understood in order to put research findings in context,
assess the validity of scientific work, and ascribing a level of credibility to the conclusion of
published research. This includes more than listing the magnitude and direction of random and
systematic errors, as well as validity issues. Acknowledgement of limitations necessitates an
interpretation of the meaning and influence of mistakes or errors and validity problems on the
published finding.

2. What are Science, Technology and Society, and why should people want to study and learn it?
Science, Technology, and Society (STS) is a broad and a relatively new academic field, and like
most interdisciplinary programs it emerged from the confluence of a number of disciplinary
subfields and disciplines, all of which had acquired an interest— typically during the 1960s or
1970s in viewing science and technology as socially embedded enterprise.
Science, Technology, and Society (STS) is defined as an interdisciplinary area that studies and
investigates the conditions under which the production, distribution and utilization of scientific
knowledge and technical systems occur; the outcomes of these activities upon various groups of
individuals. This field builds on the history and philosophy of science and technology, sociology
and anthropology, policy studies, and cultural and scholarly studies; all of which shapes the
methods of investigation conveyed in the field. This field also focuses on the ways which scientific,
technological, and social factors interact to shape modern life— in which together it unites
humanists, social scientists, engineers, and natural scientists all committed to transcending the
boundaries of their disciplines in a joint search for new knowledge and insights. In addition,
according to Simondo’s review “Science, Technology, and Society was a project of understanding
social issues linked to developments in science and technology, and how those developments could
be harnessed to democratic and egalitarian ideals”. Individuals need to contemplate and learn this
field in order to know and understand how social, cultural, and material elements influence the
production of new practices. It gives individuals insights into how various processes of knowledge
are initiated, progressed, and how innovative technological processes are developed, employed, as
well as increasing importance. The need to deeply learn in this field also helps individuals to
comprehend information, create rehearses inside the discipline of science, and experience practices
directly through lab sciences and mathematics and/or engineering. Likewise, to explore and
analyze science and innovation as recorded practise and as social establishments, having the option
to clarify the various applications applied in such assessment (e.g. ideas, studies, theories, and
techniques), and to clarify inside and out the manner in which the social and social states of science
and technology connect with science and innovation in a specific field. To conclude, STS is a
growing field that contains and draws a full range of disciplines in both humanities and social
sciences to scrutinize the way that science and technology shape, and are shaped by, our society,
culture, as well as politics.

3. On the box provided draw your understanding how science and technology related to each
other that give impact to the society
Extra Questions
1. Then why do most people still hold the naive view?

Individuals still hold naive views because of “norms and conformities''. When we talk about
‘norms’ these are what we called implicit and specific rules or expectations that are socially
enforced, while on the other ‘conformity’ is the process where individuals change their beliefs,
actions, attitudes, and perceptions to match those held by groups which they currently belong or
wished to belong or by groups whose approval they desire. These norms and conformity that
decides ethical beliefs have been concocted such a long time ago; far enough to do most people
mature thinking in the adjusting promulgations of those conservatives considering their own
perception on virtues. With the vast majority of people who believe and accept the idea or possibly
that our senses allow us to perceive objects directly and without any intervening processes– and
some people still actually believe and have confidence in realism.

2. And so what do you think is the clear boundary between the social and political aspects?

One thing that makes something social is when society is the result of people, and institutions,
interacting with one another— and in turn society shapes the people and institutions that form it.
One the other hand, something becomes political when there’s control and utilization of power in
our societies. In my own perspective, I believe that the boundary between social and political
perspective is the convictions of the individuals where the political angle can’t govern or direct
what individuals may accept. It’s likewise called moral subjectivism which holds that morality is
decided by the individual, therefore it is expressed that we can’t change or appoint the individual
convictions. In any case, I found out that there is obviously no clear boundary between social and
political at that point when I accumulated more data.
 Exercise 1. Reflection Task 1 (Individual Task)
Instructions: Answer the following questions comprehensively.

1. Trevor Pinch has said that STS shows that “politics, culture, economics, and society can be
found in the hardest of artifacts” (Science and Technology Studies: The Next Twenty” panel
session, Harvard University, April 7-9, 2011). Use the writings of two different STS authors
to support and/or refute this claim.

Science, Technology, and Society or mainly STS is a program devoted to understanding the
natures, consequences, prigging, and shaping of technological and scientific activities in modern
and contemporary activities. This field aims to give positive insights to those individuals who
studied and learned more about the field. According to Daryl E. Chubin and David D. Kumar ”We
live in an information age”. It’s an age or period in human history characterized by the shift from
industrial production to one based on information and computerization where instant access of
knowledge is possible. The world seems to be a smaller, less remote place. We humans reside in
it, but we are not necessarily closely tied to it because we somehow lack satisfactory understanding
of it so we are therefore left with a paradox. Information age where information solely will neither
inform nor improve us citizens nor our democracy, society, or institutions— no development and
improvement will take some effort. It’s a heavy burden to be reflective, indeed analytical, and
disciplined but only constructively constrained by different perspectives. The science based
technology that makes for the complexity, controversy, and uncertainty of life is the one that sows
the seeds of understanding in Science, Technology, and Society (STS), as it is known,
encompasses a hybrid area of scholarship now nearly three decades old. A former geologist D.R.
Sarewitz put it after all that the important and often controversial policy dilemmas posed by issues
(e.g. nuclear energy, global and climate change, toxic waste disposal, etc.) cannot be easily
resolved solely by the authoritative scientific knowledge, instead, it must most involves a
balancing of technical considerations with other criteria that are explicitly no scientific (e.g. ethics,
equity, ideology, etc.). Trade-offs must be made in light of inevitable uncertainties.

2. Using the concepts from Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, discuss the progression
of STS theories.
Thomas Samuel Kuhn is an American philosopher of science 1962 book entitled “The Structure
of Scientific Revolution “ that became influential in both academic and popular circles in which
he introduced the term “Paradigm Shift” to describe the conceptual matrix. The term paradigm in
his own formulation is a constellation of facts, methods, theories, and assumptions about reality
that allows researchers to isolate data, elaborate theories, and solve various problems. The chief
characteristics of the paradigm as what Kuhn argued is that it has its own sets of rules and
illuminates its own facts because it’s self-validating and it tends to be resistant to change. As long
as the paradigm is successful at explaining the observed phenomena as well as solving problems,
it remains dominant— but when a new phenomenon begins to contradict it, the paradigm will
succumb to increasing doubt and when anomalies multiply, it is thrown into crises. This is how
paradigm shifts, so when individuals engage in questioning what individuals generally believe to
be the fundamental truth end up finding discrepancies in these facts. In normal science the theories
are not questioned, however, in revolutionary science they are. Also, in normal science change is
gradual, but in revolutionary science changes in a fast phase. Kuhn mentions the perspectives
scientists have on the world, saying that those who work in different paradigms live in different
psychological worlds due to their differences in beliefs. Based on Kuhn’s structure of scientific
revolution, STS developed by logics, concept, techniques, and framework of understanding
methods, data that uncovers phenomena or test explanation. As years go by, humans become more
curious about things and therefore, the interest or curiosity of humans is what leads to the
development of Science, Technology, and Society or STS.

3. Discuss the role of quantification in science and technology from your own perspective.
Quantification is the act of which it gives a numerical value to a measurement of something, that
is, to count the quanta of whatever one is measuring. In a short term it refers to the measurement
or evaluation of a given magnitude in real and reliable terms. This brings out a standardized form
of measurement that permits statistical procedures and mathematical calculations. The role of
quantification in science and technology is that this method attempts to collect and analyze
numerical data’s on social phenomena, and seeks to understand the links between relatively small
numbers of attributes across a wide variety of cases. In today’s world, with the growing
apparatuses and with the fast advancing information revolution; quantification becomes a
necessary tool in which it serves for organizing and discarding information, making the flux of
data more manageable, helps in making sense and analysing massive datasets, facilitate large-scale
research and such (e.g. planning, managing, and decision making).
Exercise 2. Reflection Task 2 (Individual Task)
Instructions: On the space below you create a slogan that reflects your view of science and
technology. It should be specifically state whether you view science and technology as good or
bad, both, or neutral. You can use different art materials to make it visually appealing and
impactful.

\
Exercise 3. Reflection Task 2 (Individual Task)
Instructions: On the space below, paste a magazine or newspaper cut out of any photograph that
depicts an issue or problem in science and technology. Then, answer the questions that follow.
1. What is the issue or problem depicted in the photograph?
Looking deeply in the pictures one can clearly see that there are various titles that can be seen, and
these are: air pollution, marine pollution, water pollution, and soil pollution. All of the
aforementioned titles of every magazine therefore tackles all about ‘pollution’ or to be clear “man-
made pollution” itself that’s usually one of the main problems in our world today. The term
‘pollution’ refers to any process of substance released into any environmental medium which is
capable of causing harm to man or any other living organisms that lives within the affected
environment. Therefore, pollution occurs when there’s the potential for harm— harm of man is in
a way that’s not confined to physical injury but encompasses offence caused to any of his senses
or harm to his property.

2. How does this particular issue or problem impact the well-being of humans today?
Pollution as defined by The Royal Commission on Environment Pollution in U.K. it’s “The
introduction by man into the environment of substances or energy liable to cause hazards to human
health, harm to living resources and ecological systems, damage to structure or amenity or
interference with legitimate uses of the environment”. Pollution is one of the great existential
challenges we 21st century often face today because it threatens the stability of the earth’s
ecosystems, undermines the social as well as the economic development of nations, and causes a
wide-range impact on human well-being especially in terms of: health, property, and livelihood.
Below are the impacts of different ‘pollution’ on the well-being of humankind:

Air Pollution happens when there’s a presence of any solid and liquid or gaseous substance that
may include noise and radioactive radiation are present in the atmosphere in such concentration
that may be directly and indirectly injurious to humans, other living organisms, plants, property,
or interferes with the normal environmental processes. Some of the human well-being impact of
air pollution are:

o high risk of respiratory infections

o heart disease and lung cancer
o smoke and fog formation leads to poor visibility, aggravates asthma, and breathing problems
to human
o cardiovascular damage nervous system damage
o harm to liver, spleen, and blood
o stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and preterm delivery to those pregnant women
o developmental damage
o susceptibility to infections
Water Pollution is also one of the most serious environmental problems in which it is caused by
a variety of human activities such as industrial, agricultural, and domestic. This pollution happens
when various toxic substances or chemicals enter water bodies such as lakes, rivers, oceans, and
so on that pose a threat to humans and the environment. In addition, this is the major source of
waterborne disease and other health problems such as:

o contaminated water can cause and harbour bacteria that’s responsible for diarrhea, cholera,
dysentery, typhoid, hepatitis B, and polio
o pollutant in oceans can also harm human in a way where marine organisms (e.g. seafood’s,
etc.) can ingest toxins and when these toxins in contaminated organisms get deposited on
human tissue it may lead to long-term health conditions such as cancer, birth defects, and
numerous more
o it can cause paratyphoid fever, jaundice, amoebiasis, and malaria
o polluted water can result in health problems such as digestive issues, giardia, and even death

Noise Pollution is known as an invisible danger because it cannot be seen but it’s present
nonetheless. It is the unwanted or excessive exposure to elevated sound levels that may lead or
cause deleterious effects on wildlife, environmental quality, and human health in which it can
cause:

o increase of blood pressure, loss of temper, decrease in work efficiency, and loss of hearing
which may be first temporary but along it can become permanent if the noise stress continues
o it can cause common health problem such as NIHL or Induced Hearing Loss
o exposure to excessive loud noise may cause heart disease, sleep disturbance, and stress
o some are respiratory agitation, racing pulse, headaches, gastritis, colitis, and numerous more

Soil Pollution is the addition of substances which adversely affect the quality of the soul or its
fertility. It can further be defined as the presence of toxic chemicals (pollutants or contaminants)
in the soil, and with high enough concentrations to pose a risk to ecosystem and human well-being.

o can cause neuromuscular blockages as well as depression of the central nervous system,
headaches, nausea, fatigue, eye irritation, and skin rashes
o in human livelihood it can cause land use change, land degradation, soil sealing, loss of soil
and natural nutrients, and disturb the flora and fauna residing in soil— all of these may affect
human life that could lead to loss of major livelihood
o some diseases are vomiting and coughing, chest pain, and wheezing
o this may also pose a threat to human food security
3. Why is it important for people to study and learn about STS as an academic field, especially
in addressing the issue or problem depicted in the photograph?
In a wide scope it’s indeed extremely important for individuals to study, explore, and learn
“Science, Technology, and Society” or widely known as STS because it’s extremely crucial in the
world and human development. STS play’s a massive role in our society today because it
comprises science that’s a major helping hand in building knowledge about the universe and
constructing new ideas that’s beneficial to humanity, and because of that we have technology that
refers to methods, system, and devices which are the result of scientific knowledge being utilized
for practical purposes which helps the lives of the society that exists today. In learning STS it does
not only help individuals to develop knowledge, skills, and effective qualities to take responsible
citizenship action on science and technology oriented issues but it also gives them ample time to
learn and understand the knowledge of technology, science, and knowledge from the viewpoint of
the humanities and social sciences— so throughout the academic field of learning STS individuals
will surely become familiar with amendments of social and cultural analysis of modern science
and technology in interaction with social, political, economic, and cultural processes of change.
One of the many reasons why it’s important to study Science, Technology, and Society (STS) it’s
because it aims to prepare future scientists and engineers to participate or be involved in a society
increasingly shaped by research and development involving science. Learning STS plays a main
role in addressing the issues or problems depicted in the pictures because it allows individuals who
undergo STS learning to mediate the process from the discovery of existing resources and
programs to the resolution of such actual or even potential community issues. In short the students
and individuals who study STS that acquire extensive understanding about it can investigate and
dive deeply through the issue or problem so that they can construct and recommend strong possible
methods and solutions that can resolve the indicated problems. This is made possible because
learning STS prepares students to understand both the technical and social dimensions of science
and develops their critical interdisciplinary thinking, research, and communication skills. In
addition, if everyone is willing to study the field of STS we will definitely solve every
environmental and other problems that concerns humanity; in which we can unite together or to
act as one to save the world by doing what’s better for our environment because STS provides
deep understanding of our world and shows people what are the possible scenarios that will happen
if everyone shall unite in giving attention to our environment and to our entire world.

4. What was the key crisis that helped drive the development of the field Science and Technology
in Society? How did those crises change our understanding of science and technology? What
impact has this had on how science is practiced by scientists and perceived by non-scientists?
There are numerous key crises that helped drive the development of the field of Science and
Technology in Society. In my part and as of the pictures I presented in the box that depicts issues
or problems in science and technology I believe that one of its key crises are: natural and man-
made disasters.
These crises are able to change our understanding of science and technology because they help us
know and understand the mechanism and potential human threat of man-made and natural hazards,
and because of these posing crises and threats we can clearly see that science and technology is a
double-edged sword which can give positive and negative impacts not just to human but also to
the living organisms and environment. These crises always remind us that science and technology
plays a vital role not just in our lives but also to the future progress of human civilization. It’s
because science provides knowledge in wide-range areas and the scientific results it possesses are
linked to the development of new and improved technologies — a tool that promotes development
in human lives. On the other hand, these crises also made us realize and are able to change our
minds that although (science and technology) it gives promising positive results it can’t be still
denied that the impacts of science and technology in the environment has included the misuse and
damage of our natural earth.
This aforementioned crisis has impacts on how science nowadays is practiced by scientists, and
because of this they worked hard to achieve positive results on how to give the world and to what
resides in it a better life. Environmental scientists practise science to help the environment; in
which they use their knowledge to protect the environment by identifying problems and finding
solutions that minimize hazards to the health of the environment and population. They analyze
measurements or observations (e.g. in air, soil, water, and etc.) to determine the way to clean and
preserve the environment, they also concern themselves in studying the impact of human activity
on the environment and identifying ways to manage, minimize, and eliminate any negative
impacts. With the scientists' hard work and perseverance the world is able to become more stable
where humans can live accordingly. The non-scientists perceived science because of the numerous
things it provides in human lives (e.g. medicines, technologies, etc.), the knowledge it shares and
disseminate towards the world, and the effects (positive and negative) it gives in our world.