MODULE 1 1

General Concepts and Historical Events in

Science, Technology, and Society
(The Cradles of Early Science)

HOW TO LEARN FROM THIS MODULE

Here’s a simple guide for you in going about the module:
1. Read and follow the instructions carefully.
2. Read each lesson and do all the activities provided for you.
3. Perform all the activities diligently to help and guide you in understanding the topic.
4. Take the Learning Activities after each lesson to determine how well you understood
the topic.
5. Answer the Assessment Task at the end of the module to measure how much you have
gained from the lessons. You may answer it via the online link provided or write your
answers on a sheet of paper that you can physically submit, or you may take a picture
of your answers and send it via messaging platforms with which you agreed with your
instructor during the class orientation.

INTRODUCTION

Science and Technology plays a major role in our day to day living. It allows
us to complete our tasks easier and more efficient. S&T innovations help us
accomplish difficult and complicated tasks with so little time and so little effort without
sacrificing its output. The continuous developments in this field are not just products
of people’s imagination or the ―AHA moment‖ but by gradual improvements of earlier
works from different periods which was driven by our continuous desire to raise the
quality of life of the people.

This module will focus on the development of science and scientific ideas in
the community and on how it gradually made an impact on our society. After
completing the module, you should be able to answer the following:
 How did Science and Technology affected the society and environment & vice
versa?
 What were the significant innovations and inventions that changed the world
over the course of history?
 What were the scientific and technological advancements in the Philippines
throughout time?

Science,Technology and Society- (STS-GEC 6)

Isabela State University
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this module, the learner should be able to:

o Discuss the interactions between S&T and society throughout history;

o Discuss how scientific and technological developments affect society
and the environment; and
o Identify the paradigm shifts in history.

LEARNING CONTENT

 Historical antecedents in which social considerations changed the

course of science and technology:
 In the World: Ancient, Middle and Modern Ages
 In the Philippines
Advancement in technology and innovations were driven by
different factors which include concerns in transportation,
communication, food production agriculture and industry, military,
conservation of life and engineering and architecture as well as
aesthetics, power and energy. Science also gave emphasize to
organized observational methods and measurement.

LESSON 1. Driving Concerns for Science and Technology Development

1. Transportation. Our means of moving from place to place have

developed faster and more comprehensive with every passing generation
of technology. Initially, people look for new places, discover new horizons,
search for food, find better locations for settlements, and trade surplus
goods for what is needed, we have progressed from relying on human and
animal muscle to the utilizing combustion-powered automobiles, aircraft,
and rockets.
 Examples: wheel, wheeled chariot, sailboat, sailing ship, road,
compass, steamboat, railroad, bicycle, automobile, airplane, space
launcher, jetliner, GPS

2. Communication. Communication is the transmission of information for the

purpose of creating understanding, especially to facilitate human
endeavors in discovering and occupying new places to settle in and
explore as well as to expedite transactions in the trade industry and
prevention of conflicts. The means of communication today have
transformed drastically that it extended limitless possibilities in our reach,
broadened our vision, and expanded our knowledge that we are often said
to live in the Age of Information.
 Examples: cuneiform, ink, papyrus, paper, hieroglyphics, newspaper,
bound book or codex, numbers, Greek and Latin alphabet, parchment

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Isabela State University
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and vellum, printing press, photography, telegraph, telephone,

phonograph, motion picture, radio, television, transistor,
communications satellite, personal computer

3. Food production, agriculture, and industry. The growth of living

organisms and the manufacturing of new materials and objects are vital to
the maintenance of life. This is true to the increasing number people in
different parts of the world. These factors were fundamental to defining
human beings as superior to all other living creatures. Improvements in
food production, agriculture, and industry demonstrate the steadfastness
of human beings to make their material lives safe, easier, comfortable, and
prosperous.
 Examples: plowshare, silk, tea, bronze, iron, petroleum refinery, power
loom, canning, refrigeration, steel, aluminum, sheet and plate glass,
rayon, Bakelite, combine harvester, industrial robots, fullerenes

4. Military. Weapons and armors were important in the discovery of new

places, especially in the establishment of alliances, taking of needed
resources, conflicts, security, and protection. Stronger nations tend to
invade and colonize weaker ones to expand their territories as well as their
resources. Inventions in the field of weaponry and security have
contributed in the deliberate and organized application of deadly force
against other people.
 Examples: spear, bow and arrow, gunpowder, rifled muzzle- loaders,
submarine, machine gun, assault rifle, tank, ballistic missile,
nuclear weapons

5. Conservation of life, medicine, and health. Nothing testifies more

convincingly to human ingenuity than their ability to understand the
processes of the human body and to influence the longevity of life through
the study and improving the processes of saving lives, maintaining good
health, and preventing the spread of diseases..
 Examples: smallpox vaccine, general anesthesia, pasteurization, X-
ray imaging, insulin, antibiotics, blood transfusion, polio vaccine, birth
control pill, heart transplantation, genetic engineering, cloning

6. Engineering and architecture. The building of great structures is a sign

not only of human inventiveness but of organization. Over time we have
gathered the intelligence, materials, and collective will to bridge chasms,
erect soaring towers, domes, and vaults, and even create artificial
controlled environments inside our own homes. Architectural designs,
though seen by some as a mere style, are actually signs of technological

Science,Technology and Society- (STS-GEC 6)

Isabela State University
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advancement. It is a status symbol of how advanced a nation’s

technology is and it establishes the identity of a nation.
 Examples: city, ziggurat, irrigation, dike, Wonders of the World,
aqueduct, arch, brick, dam, Roman dome, plumbing, paved road,
reinforced concrete, suspension bridge, dynamite, skyscraper,
elevator, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning

7. Aesthetics. Humans also developed technology to improve how they look.

This is to make them visually appealing and presentable through addition
of features and decorations.
 Examples: wig, cosmetics

8. Power and energy. Fundamental to all inventions are power and energy,
the harnessing of the capacity of the physical world to do work. The
human race has applied its genius to using all sources of energy for a
multitude of ends.
 Example: waterwheel, controlled fire, windmill, steam engine, electric
battery, electric generator and motor, incandescent lightbulb, steam
turbine, gasoline engine, jet engine, nuclear reactor laser, wind
turbine, solar cell, fuel cell

9. Observation and measurement. Magnitude—especially the magnitude of

time and distance—is a property that has always defied human beings but
that people in turn have always tried to master. And so we have the
invention of clocks and calendars for dividing time into discrete units, or of
telescopes and microscopes for viewing objects too small or too far away
for the eye to see. The inventions profiled here, unlike those profiled
elsewhere in this book, do not attempt to move, manipulate, or change our
surrounding world; rather, they attempt to help us quantify and
comprehend it.
 Examples: water clock or clepsydra, alarm clock, Gregorian calendar,
clock, watch, telescope, microscope, radar, atomic clock, calculator

Science,Technology and Society- (STS-GEC 6)

Isabela State University