STS- PRELIM

• Science, Technology and Society


  • An interdisciplinary field examining the ways in which society influences the creation of scientific knowledge and technological development
  • Study of how society, politics, and culture affect scientific research and technological innovation and vice-versa
  • Deals with the historical development of Science and Technology, including their philosophical underpinnings
  • Concerns non-Science students as much as those in the Science and Technology programs
• Science involves learning and discovering new facts
• Science


  • A systematic and methodical activity of building and organizing knowledge about how the universe behaves through observation and experimentation, or both
  • The systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world
• Technology


  • Application of scientific knowledge, laws, and principles to produce services, materials, tools, and machines aimed at solving real-world problems
  • Use of scientific knowledge for practical purposes or applications
  • Creating and inventing things
• Science is the systematic activity of building and organizing knowledge
• Science


  • Latin sciencia, meaning ‘KNOWLEDGE’
• Science is an intellectual/practical activity of observing and experimenting
• How does SCIENCE CONTRIBUTE to TECHNOLOGY?

  • New knowledge serves as a direct source of ideas for new technological possibilities
  • Source of tools and techniques for more efficient engineering design and a knowledge base for evaluation of feasibility of designs
  • Research instrumentation, lab techniques, and analytical methods used in research eventually find their way into design and industrial practices
  • Practice of research as a source for development and assimilation of new human skills and capabilities useful for technology
  • Creation of a knowledge base important in the assessment of technology in terms of its wider social and environmental impacts
  • Knowledge base enables more efficient strategies of applied research, development, and refinement of new technologies
• How does TECHNOLOGY give back to SCIENCE?

  • Provides a fertile source of novel scientific questions and helps justify the allocation of resources needed to address these questions efficiently and timely, extending the agenda of science
  • Source of otherwise unavailable instrumentation and techniques needed to address novel and more difficult scientific questions more efficiently
• Scientific Method


  • Mathematical and experimental technique employed in the sciences
  • Controlled, systematic investigations rooted in objective reality aiming to develop general knowledge about natural phenomena
• Characteristics of a Scientific Method

  • Orderly & systematic processes
  • Control external factors
  • Findings based on empirical evidences
• Quantitative Measurement

  • Measurement of data put into numbers
  • Examples: mass of a sample, length of a wire, molecules in a mole, volume of a gas, temperature of a sample
• Qualitative Observation


  • Describes properties or occurrences not relying on numbers
  • Important in experiments requiring interpretation
• Types of Observations in the Scientific Method

  • Quantitative Observation
  • Qualitative Observation
• Scientific Method Sequence

  1. Observation

  2. Define the Problem or Objectives

  3. Formulate a Hypothesis

  4. Test the Hypothesis

  5. Results Interpretation

  6. Conclusion

  7. Communicate results
• Scientific Method


  • Mathematical and experimental technique employed in the sciences
  • The technique used in the construction and testing of a scientific hypothesis
  • Controlled, systematic investigations rooted in objective reality aiming to develop general knowledge about natural phenomena
• Quantitative Observation


  • Describes properties or occurrences relying on numbers
  • Common in physics, biology, and natural sciences
• Qualitative Measurement


  • Focuses on collecting non-numerical information
  • Examples: hair colors of players, color of cars, letter grades of students, types of coins, shape of candies, color of a sample, texture of a surface, coarseness of a powder, aroma of a reaction, malleability of a metal
• Paradigm Shifts


  An important change that happens when the usual (traditional) way of thinking about or doing something is replaced by a new and/or different way
• Historical Antecedents


  Factors that paved the way for the presence of advanced and sophisticated scientific and technological innovations today
• History of Science & Technology

  1. Focuses on how it has evolved over time

  2. Explores the impact of scientific and technological innovations on social, cultural, political, and economic contexts throughout history
• Historical Antecedents in S & T

  • Factors that paved the way for the presence of advanced & sophisticated, scientific & technological innovations today
• History of S & T in the World divided into 3 ages: Ancient Age, Middle Age, Renaissance (period between Middle and Modern Age), Modern Age
• Ancient Civilizations paved the way for advances in Science & Technology
• Major technological developments during the Neolithic period included fire, stone tools and weapons, and clothing
• Antecedent


  Defined as a precursor to the unfolding or existence of something
• Knowledge of the History of S & T

  • Useful in appraising the innovations today
  • Important in understanding how previous generations influenced and were influenced by developments in S & T today
• S & T in the Ancient Times (through 599 BCE) had 3 periods: Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age
• Ancient Period


  • Wheel: potter’s wheel (Sumerians)
  • Heavy plough (plow) - Europe
  • Compound microscope
  • Paper: papyrus-material similar to thick paper (Egyptians)
  • Gunpowder (black powder) - Chinese
  • Telescope
  • Shadoof: early tool invented and used for irrigation (Egyptian)
  • Paper Money - Chinese
  • Jacquard Loom
  • Antikythera Mechanism: oldest known antecedents of modern clockwork (Greeks)
  • Mechanical clock
  • Engine-Powered Airplane
  • Aeolipile: ancient precursor of the steam engine
  • Spinning Wheel - Indians
  • Television
  • Cuneiform: system of writing which utilized word pictures carved on clay (Sumerians)
  • Native copper, wheel, Baghdad batter - Mesopotamians
• Technological development in the Iron Age

  • Iron smelting technology replaced Bronze
• Civilizations in the Fertile Crescent

  • Mesopotamian Civilization
  • Sumerian Civilization
  • Babylonian Civilization
  • Egyptian Civilization
• Characteristics of Roman Civilization

  • Characterized by war between science and religion
  • Decline of science in Europe
  • Fall of the Roman Empire due to rise of Christianity
• Characteristics of Egyptian Civilization

  • Developed along the Nile River
  • Used papyrus for paper
  • Invented the shadoof for irrigation
  • Used hieroglyphics for writing
  • Practiced mummification
  • Developed handheld mirrors
  • Invented an ancient Egyptian toothbrush
  • Engaged in Egyptian Astronomy
• Neolithic Revolution

  1. Marked the start of the Bronze Age

  2. Urbanization of Stone Age

  3. Use of copper and bronze
• Technological developments in the Bronze Age

  • Agricultural technology (land cultivation)
  • Animal domestication (cattle, sheep, goat)
  • Permanent settlements (houses of stone, mud)
• 500 AD - 1500 AD


  Middle Ages (Medieval Period)
• Contributions of Babylonian Civilization

  • Babylonian Astrology
  • Babylonian Astronomy
  • Mathematics
  • Cartography (Map-making)
  • Jewelry-making
  • Calendar System
  • Babylonian Lunisolar Calendar
• Contributions of Greek Civilization


  • Believed in understanding the universe through reason
  • Influenced Western Culture in Politics, Philosophy, and the Arts
  • Developed institutions like Lyceum, Academy, Museum
  • Famous personalities like Plato, Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Aristotle
• The Fertile Crescent is the cradle of civilization
• When Christianity became the state religion, the Church reduced the state resources by acquiring large pieces of land and keeping the income for itself