STS

• Science, from the Latin "scientia", which means "knowledge". It refers to the systematic and methodical activity of building and organizing knowledge about how the universe behaves through observation, experimentation, or both.
• Technology is the application of scientific knowledge, laws, and principles to produce services, materials, tools, and machines aimed at solving real-world problems. It came from the Greek word "techne", which means "art, kill, or cunning of hand."
• Society is a group of people with common interests, traditions, purpose, and/or activity. Human societies are characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations) between individuals who share a distinctive culture and institutions. A society can enable its members to benefit in ways that would not otherwise be possible on an individual basis.
• Science


  • It is an empirical field
  • It is a systematic field
  • It covers general truths and facts
  • It is a total societal enterprise
• Steps of the scientific method

  1. Observation

  2. Hypothesis

  3. Plan methods

  4. Collect data

  5. Examine data and draw conclusions

  6. Share findings
• Proper application of the scientific method allows us to get to the truth through careful observation and rigorous testing and re-examination of data. Without these steps and just simple concluding things, we will all be left without nothing but empty claims.
• Science achieves social impact alongside a financial return. It is a balance between profit and social value. For example, medical treatments. While the hospital benefits from the patients asking for treatment, the hospital's main goal is to heal and help people.
• Science should not be seen as just for the advancement of knowledge, nor as a mere economic activity, providing products and services to generate income. Science is mainly there to develop relevant, effective, and accessible solutions according to the needs of the community.
• Science generally means knowing or possessing knowledge that is sufficiently general, clearly conceptualized, carefully reasons, systematically organized, critically examined, and empirically tested.
• Technology


  • It is an applied science
  • It is a body of knowledge and skills by which we control and modify the world
  • It is a total societal enterprise
• Applied science is a discipline that is used to apply existing scientific method and knowledge drawn from conclusions to develop more practical goals and applications. Technology is one of the fruits of studies and discoveries in scientific history.
• The design of a flight vehicle demands a knowledge of many technology/engineering disciplines and complex scientific concepts and processes. Technological advancement is made possible because of scientific research, knowledge, and discoveries. Technology, in essence, is one of the many applications of science.
• Science is a body of knowledge – a collection of valuable information about a certain phenomenon. Though, technology is also the same. From intelligent robots and self-driving cars to gene editing and 3D printing, dramatic technological change is happening at lightning speed all around us with the use of systematized knowledge and skills.
• With the rise of the digital age, technology has the power to do many things, and changing the world is one of them. Long time ago, air travel was way too vague a concept to grasp but now, we can even go to the space. Communication was made unbelievably fast and convenient.
• Computers are increasingly faster, more portable, and higher-powered than ever before. With all of these revolutions, technology has also made our lives easier, faster, better, and more fun.
• Technology is also a total societal enterprise, means that social welfare or benefit of the community must always be in the picture. But with the rise of capitalism, the financial value is now being considered more than the social value.
• Interconnections of Science, Technology, and Society

  • Science aims to improve society
  • Society benefits from technology because it makes life easier
  • Technology demands from science for improvement
  • Science gives us insight into what kind of technologies we could potentially create
  • Technology alters how we can behave
  • Society drives technological innovations and scientific inquiry
  • Science explores for the purpose of knowing, while technology explores for the purpose of making something useful from that knowledge
• The influence of the government, the capitalists, and other sectors in the society on these interconnections make it complicated.
• STS' roots lie in the interwar period and continue into the start of the Cold War.
• The best-known product of this interest was Thomas Kuhn's classic 1962 study, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
• STS is originally offered only at the UP Diliman but in 2013, CHED adopted the course and included STS in the list of GE subject offerings.
• STS is an interdisciplinary field that studies the conditions under which the production, distribution and utilization of scientific knowledge and technological systems occur.
• Science, Technology, and Society is the study of how society, politics, and culture affect scientific research and technological innovation, and how these in turn, affect society, politics, and culture.
• The Three-Age System


  • Stone Age (3.4 MYA – 3300 BC)
  • Bronze Age (3300 BC – 1200 BC)
  • Iron Age (1200 to 500 BC)
• The Paleolithic Period (Old Stone)

  • Longest phase of human history.
  • Humans were food gatherers/hunters
  • They are nomads with no permanent shelter
• Notable tools and discoveries in the Paleolithic Period


  • Venus (carving of a voluptuous woman)
  • Sewing (invention of the needle)
  • Pit houses (temporary shelters)
  • Pottery and baskets (for gathering and storing)
• Notable tools and discoveries in the Mesolithic Period

  • Microliths (small stone tools)
  • Agriculture (led to more permanent settlements)
• Notable tools and discoveries in the Neolithic Period


  • Fire (for different uses)
  • Tools (polished hand axes for plowing and tilling)
  • Art (pottery, sewing, weaving)
• The Bronze Age


  • Advances in metallurgy to metal working were made, as bronze, a copper (88%) and a tin alloy (12%), was discovered
  • Organized government, law, and warfare, as well as the beginnings of religion, also came into play
  • The earliest written accounts, including Egyptian hieroglyphs and petroglyphs (rock engravings), are also dated to this age
• Bronze tools recovered


  • Ox-drawn bronze plow
  • Wheel
  • Irrigation
  • Field system
• Notable tools and discoveries in the Bronze Age

  • Soap (first ever soap in human history)
  • Smelting Iron (a metal harder than copper and tin)
  • Smelting Pits (produce higher temperatures for extraction of iron from ores)
  • Gold and Silver Weights (for weighing coins)
  • First Coin (imprinted metal pieces for exchange)
• The Middle Ages (Dark Ages)


  • Life in Europe was very hard
  • Very few people could read and write, leading to superstitious beliefs
  • The people thought that fate ruled their existence, therefore, there was little hope for the improvement of their condition
• Notable innovations in Europe during the Middle Ages

  • Horse collar (pulls on horse's shoulders to enable it to plough and carry wagons)
  • Watermill (rotates and generate electricity from that movement)
  • Magnetic compass (provides direction to European mariners/conquistadors)
  • Clock (tells time, formed with the development of the verge escapement)
  • Wool, cotton, silk (most common materials during the first industrialization of cloth making)
  • The Great or Jersey wheel (the first improvement made in the process of cotton spinning)
• Notable innovations in China during the Middle Ages

  • Seismoscope (an early type of seismograph)
  • Chinese paper making (used officially in writing but was used first as clothing, wall decor, artwork, and in toilets)
  • Magnetic compass (first compasses were made of lodestone)
  • Cannon (weapons for military activities)
  • Gun powder (weapon for military activities that lead to the development of explosive weapons)
  • Acupuncture (utilizes)
• Watermill


  • Rotates and generate electricity from that movement
• Magnetic compass


  Provides direction to European mariners/conquistadors
• Clock


  Tells time, formed with the development of the verge escapement
• Common materials during the first industrialization of cloth making

  • Wool
  • Cotton
  • Silk
• The Great or Jersey wheel

  The first improvement made in the process of cotton spinning
• Seismoscope


  • An early type of seismograph that determine the presence and direction of an earthquake