SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY STS

GENERAL CONCEPTS AND HISTORICAL EVENTS IN STS

GENERAL CONCEPTS &

HISTORICAL ANTECEDENTS
SUGGESTED TIME ALLOTMENT | 6 HOURS

This module will provide an in-depth discussion and understanding on general LEARNING OUTCOMES
concepts and historical antecedents in which social considerations changed
the course of science and technology in global and local setting. Discussion on
the interaction of science and technology throughout the history is also one of 1) Discuss the interactions
the objective of this module. This module will also improve the critical thinking between Science and
analysis on how scientific and technological developments affect the society Technology and society
and environment. throughout the history.

“If we lived on a planet where nothing ever changed, there would be little to 2) Discuss how scientific
do. There would be nothing to figure out. There would be no impetus for and technological
science. And if we lived in an unpredictable world, where things changed in developments affect
random or very complex ways, we would not be able to figure things out. But society and the
we live in an in-between universe, where things change, but according to
environment.
patterns, rules, or as we call them, laws of nature. If I throw a stick up in the air,
it always falls down. If the sun sets in the west, it always rises again the next
morning in the east. And so it becomes possible to figure things out. We can 3) Identify the paradigm
do science, and with it we can improve our lives.” shifts in history

— Carl Sagan, Cosmos (1980, 1985), 32.

VOCABULARY LIST

ANTECEDENTS. A thing or
event that existed before or
logically precedes another;
WEEK 2 -3 occurring before; previous

Materials and Media To do for OL/B/FLEX Expected Output SCIENCE. The observation,
identification, description,
 Course Packet  Any available  Juxtaposition experimental investigation,
Module online platforms for Output Activity and theoretical explanation
teaching which are of phenomena.
preferred by the  STS Magic Card
students (user TECHNOLOGY. The
friendly)  Short essay about application of scientific
the reading knowledge for practical
 Pretest, Lesson  LMS link provided material purposes
Activity, Reading to the students
Materials, Output  Pre-test and post-
SOCIETY. The totality of
Activity, test (quiz/formative
Assignment, Quiz assessment) people regarded as forming
a community of interdependent
individuals.

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 1

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

PRETEST

Answer the Pretest. Submit your answer sheet TRUE OR FALSE.

to your instructor for checking. The checked
pre-test will be return to you together with
Write T if the statement is TRUE
the answer key for review.
and F if FALSE.
If you got a high score, good job! It means
that you have already know much about the
__________1. Astronomy is one of the main
topics to be discuss in this module.
concerns during the Ancient
times.
If you got low score, take it as a challenge!
This means that you will learn more on this
__________2. Sumerian civilization was
module.
established in Iraq.

__________3. Sumerian wheel was invented

Read the Lesson 1: STS Introduction for travelling.
material. This material discusses the general
concepts that will enrich your knowledge. __________4. King Nebuchadnezzar is the
Babylonian king who was
believed to initiate the
Do the Learning Task/Assignment 1: building of “The Hanging
Juxtaposition Activity. Instructions and Gardens of Babylon”.
format will be provided in the module.
__________5. Johann Gutenberg invented
the printing press utilizing
Read the Lesson 2: Historical Antecedents wooden machines.
and History of Science and Technology by
Olivia Caoili. __________6. Telescope is a medieval
instrument invented by
Zacharias Janssen.
Do the learning task/assignment 2: STANDING __________7. Pasteurization is the process
IN THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS Instructions used to preserve and to keep
and format will be provided in the module. dairy products from spoiling
faster through cooling.

Answer the Posttest. __________8. The telephone was invented by

Alexander Graham Bell.

__________9. The Filipino Doctor who

invented the Medical
Incubator is Dr. Fe del Mundo.

__________10. Science is developed through

technology.

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 2

 GENERAL CONCEPTS

SCIENCE is the study of the nature and behavior of natural things and the
SCIENCE is the study of the nature knowledge that we obtain about them. It is a system of acquiring knowledge
and behavior of natural things and based on the scientific method. It is also an organized body of knowledge
the knowledge that we obtain about gained through research. It is done through observation of natural phenomena,
them. It is a system of acquiring and/or through experimentation that tries to simulate natural processes under
knowledge based on the scientific controlled conditions.
method. It is also an organized body
It is from the Latin word ‘scientia’, meaning "knowledge“. It is a systematic
of knowledge gained through
enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable
research. It is done through
explanations and predictions about nature and the universe.
observation of natural phenomena,
and/or through experimentation that It is also the human attempt to understand the natural world, with or without
tries to simulate natural processes concern for practical uses of that knowledge. The natural world includes
under controlled conditions. volcanoes, gravity, atoms, plants and animals, people, societies and galaxies.
Science tries to discover facts and relationships and then tries to create theories
It is from the Latin word ‘scientia’,
that makes sense of these facts and relationships.
meaning "knowledge“. It is a
systematic enterprise that builds and TECHNOLOGY came from two (2) Greek words: “techne” (skill, craftsmanship,
organizes knowledge in the form of art) and “logos” (discourse, reason). It is the skills, methods and processes used
testable explanations and predictions to achieve goals. It refers to tools and machines that may be used to solve real-
about nature and the universe. world problems. It is the human attempt to change the world. It is a human
activity involved with making and using of material artifacts.
It is also the human attempt to
Technology involves tools, techniques and procedures for putting the findings
understand the natural world, with
of science to practical use.
or without concern for practical uses
of that knowledge. The natural world
includes volcanoes, gravity, atoms, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
plants and animals, people, societies
and galaxies. Science drives technology by making new technology possible through
scientific breakthroughs. Science is the pursuit of knowledge about the natural
Science tries to discover facts and world through systematic observation and experiments. Technology is
relationships and then tries to create developed through science.
theories that makes sense of these Scientists use technology in all of their experiments. Technology is the
facts and relationships. application of scientifically gained knowledge for practical use.

TECHNOLOGY came from two (2)

Greek words: “techne” (skill, ROLE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
craftsmanship, art) and “logos”
Science and Technology alter the way people live, connect, communicate and
(discourse, reason). It is the skills,
transact, with profound effects on economic development. It is the key drivers
methods and processes used to
to development, because technological and scientific revolutions underpin
achieve goals. It refers to tools and
economic advances, improvements in health systems, education and
machines that may be used to solve
infrastructure.
real-world problems. It is the human
attempt to change the world. It is a The technological revolutions of the 21st century are emerging from entirely
human activity involved with making new sectors, based on micro-processors, tele-communications, bio-technology
and using of material artifacts. and nano-technology. Products are transforming business practices across the
economy, as well as the lives of all who have access to their effects. The most
Technology involves tools, remarkable breakthroughs will come from the interaction of insights and
techniques and procedures for applications arising when these technologies converge.
putting the findings of science to
It has the power to improve the lives of poor people in developing countries. It
practical use.
is also differentiators between countries that are able to tackle poverty
effectively by growing and developing their economies, and those that are not.
It is the engine of growth.

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 3

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

Technology uses science to solve problems, and science uses technology to

make new discoveries. However, technology and science have different goals.
The goal of science is to answer questions and increase knowledge. The goal
of technology is to find solutions to practical problems.

SCIENCE is the study of the nature SOCIETY

and behavior of natural things and
the knowledge that we obtain about Society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a
them. It is a system of acquiring large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject
knowledge based on the scientific to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations.
method. It is also an organized body Societies are characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations)
of knowledge gained through between individuals who share distinctive culture and institutions; a given
research. It is done through society may be described as the sum total of such relationships among its
observation of natural phenomena, constituent of members. In the social sciences, a larger society often
and/or through experimentation that exhibits stratification or dominance patterns in subgroups.
tries to simulate natural processes
under controlled conditions.
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY
It is from the Latin word ‘scientia’,
(STS) is an interdisciplinary field that studies the conditions under which the
meaning "knowledge“. It is a
production, distribution and utilization of scientific knowledge
systematic enterprise that builds and
and technological systems occur; the consequences of these activities upon
organizes knowledge in the form of
different groups of people.
testable explanations and predictions
about nature and the universe. This course deals with interactions between science and technology and social,
cultural, political, and economic contexts that shape and are shaped by them.
It is also the human attempt to (CMO No. 20, series of 2013).
understand the natural world, with
or without concern for practical uses
of that knowledge. The natural world HOW SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY AFFECT SOCIETY
includes volcanoes, gravity, atoms, Science and technology have had a major impact on society, and their impact is
plants and animals, people, societies growing.
and galaxies.
By making life easier, science has given man the chance to pursue societal
Science tries to discover facts and concerns such as ethics, aesthetics, education, and justice; to create cultures;
relationships and then tries to create and to improve human conditions.
theories that makes sense of these Science influences society through its knowledge and world view. Scientific
facts and relationships. knowledge and the procedures used by scientists influence the way many
individuals in society think about themselves, others, and the environment. The
TECHNOLOGY came from two (2) effect of science on society is neither entirely beneficial nor entirely detrimental.
Greek words: “techne” (skill,
craftsmanship, art) and “logos”
(discourse, reason). It is the skills, HOW SCIENCE AND
methods and processes used to TECHNOLOGY AFFECT SOCIETY
achieve goals. It refers to tools and
machines that may be used to solve Science influences society through its knowledge and world view. Scientific
real-world problems. It is the human knowledge and the procedures used by scientists influence the way many
attempt to change the world. It is a individuals in society think about themselves, others, and the environment.
human activity involved with making Social needs, attitudes, and values influence the direction of technological
and using of material artifacts. development.
The effect of science on society is neither entirely beneficial nor entirely
Technology involves tools,
Figure 1. Interaction of Science, Technology detrimental. (see Figure 1)
techniques and
and Society.
procedures for
putting the findings of science to
practical use.

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 4

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

JUXTAPOSITION ACTIVITY
INSTRUCTIONS
Upon reading lesson 1: General Concepts, do Juxtaposition Activity.
In short bond paper, choose 2 objects found in your house. Draw the object and answer the questions without using any
references such as books or internet search engine. Write as n=many answer as you can. A sample format was provided
below. For rubrics, please refer to the Rubrics page at the end of the module. (Handwritten only)

a. What is the science behind the object?

b. What is/are the technology involve?
c. What is/are the issues and concerns?
d. Who is/are the scientist/s involve?

NAME ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
COURSE/SECTION ______________________________________________________________________________________________

JUXTAPOSITION ACTIVITY

Object 1. Ball

Science Behind Technology Involved Issues and Concenrns Scientist/s Involved

 Course Packet  Any available  Juxtaposition  Juxtaposition

Module online platforms for Output Activity Output Activity
teaching which are
preferred by the  STS Magic Card  STS Magic Card
students (user
friendly)  Short essay about  Short essay about
the reading mate\ the reading
 PrLesson Activity,  LMthe students material
Reading Materials,  Pre-test and post- st-test
Output Activity, test (quiz/formative (quiz/formative
Assignment, Quiz assessment) assessment)

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 5

 HISTORICAL
ANTECEDENTS

ANCIENT TIMES
SCIENCE is the study of the nature
and behavior of natural things and In the ancient times, the primary concern are transportation and navigation,
the knowledge that we obtain about communication and record-keeping, mass production, security and protection,
them. It is a system of acquiring as well as health, aesthetics, and architecture.
knowledge based on the scientific
method. It is also an organized body SUMERIAN CIVILIZATION
of
Figureknowledge gainedAlphabet
through
2. Sumerian Cuneiform Sumeria is located in the southernmost tip of ancient Mesopotamia, now
research. It is done through
known as Iraq. Sumerians are known for their high degree of cooperation with
observation of natural phenomena,
others and their desire for great things. They are not contented with the basic
and/or through experimentation that
things that life can offer.
tries to simulate natural processes
under controlled conditions. 1. Cuneiform is considered as the first writing system developed by
Sumerians. A system that utilizes word pictures and triangular symbols
It is from the Latin word ‘scientia’, which are carved on clay using wedge instruments and then left to dry.
meaning "knowledge“. It is a This allowed Sumerians to keep records of things with great historical
systematic enterprise that builds and value of their everyday life. (see Figure 2)
organizes knowledge in the form of
2. Uruk City is considered to be the first true city in the world. Built by
testable explanations and predictions
Figure 3. Uruk City Sumerians using only mud or clay from the river, which they mixed with
about nature and the universe.
reeds, producing sun-baked bricks. Bricks are used to make houses that
protected them from the harsh weather and to build a wall around the
It is also the human attempt to
city that prevented wild animals and neighboring raiders from entering.
understand the natural world, with (see Figure 3)
or without concern for practical uses
of that knowledge. The natural world 3. The Great Ziggurat of Ur is also called as the “Mountain of god”. It was
includes volcanoes, gravity, atoms, built in the same manner that Sumerians constructed the City of Uruk
plants and animals, people, societies using sun-baked bricks. It served as the sacred place of their chief god,
and galaxies. where only their priests were allowed to enter. (see Figure 4)
Figure 4. The Great Ziggurat of Ur 4. Irrigation and Dikes are created by Sumerians to bring water to
Science tries to discover facts and farmlands and at the same time control the flooding in the rivers. This
relationships and then tries to create was considered as one of the world’s most beneficial engineering works.
theories that makes sense of these This enable Sumerians to enjoy year-long farming and harvesting, which
facts and relationships. increased their food production. (see Figure 5)

TECHNOLOGY came from two (2) 5. Sailboats are primarily used by Sumerians for transportation through
Greek words: “techne” (skill, their waterways such as rivers and seas. Used to carry large quantities of
craftsmanship, art) and “logos” products and were able to cover large distances. (see Figure 6)
(discourse, reason). It is the skills, 6. Wheel was invented by Sumerians for farm work and food processing.
methods and processes used to Farmers were able to mill with less effort in less time. (see Figure 7)
achieve goals. It refers to tools and
machines
Figure that may
5. Irrigation be used to solve
and Dikes 7. Plow was invented by Sumerians to dig the earth in a faster pace. This
real-world problems. It is the human enable farmers could cultivate larger parcels of land faster, enabling them
attempt to change the world. It is a to mass produce food without taking so much effort and time. (see Figure 8)
human activity involved with making
and using of material artifacts.

Technology involves tools,

techniques and procedures for
putting the findings of science to
practical use.

Figure 6. Sailboat Figure 7. Wheel Figure 8. Plow

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 6

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

BABYLONIAN CIVILIZATION
SCIENCE is the study of the nature
and behavior of natural things and Babylonian civilization emerged near the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers.
the knowledge that we obtain about Babylonians are great builders, engineers, and architects
them. It is a system of acquiring
1. Hanging Gardens of Babylon was a structure said to be made up of
knowledge based on the scientific
layers of gardens that contained several species of plants, trees, and
method. It is also an organized body
vines. It was said to be built by the great Babylonian King
of knowledge gained through
Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife Queen Amytis. However, no physical
research. It is done through
evidence has been found to prove its existence and its exact location.
observation of natural phenomena,
Some said this is a product of the creative imagination of the great King.
and/or through experimentation that
If it really existed it may be considered as one of the greatest engineering
tries to simulate natural processes
and architectural achievements of the world that is almost impossible to
under controlled conditions.
replicate. (see Figure 9)
ItFigure
is from the Latin
9. Sumerian word
Cuneiform ‘scientia’,
Alphabet 2. Tower of Babel In biblical literature, it is a structure built in the land of
meaning "knowledge“. It is a Shinar (Babylonia). The story of its construction appears to explain the
systematic enterprise that builds and existence of diverse human languages. According to Genesis, the
organizes knowledge in the form of Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty
testable explanations and predictions city and a tower with its top in the heavens. God disputed the work by so
about nature and the universe. confusing the language of the workers that they could no longer
understand one another. The city was never completed, and the people
It is also the human attempt to were dispersed over the face of the earth. (see Figure 10)
understand the natural world, with
or without concern for practical uses EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION
of that knowledge. The natural world Another early civilization famous for its legacy located in North Africa. Aside
includes volcanoes, gravity, atoms, from engineering technology, the Egyptians have contributed other practical
plants and animals, people, societies things that the world now considers as essential.
and galaxies.
1. Paper or Papyrus. Invented by Egyptians since clay tablets were heavy to
Science tries to discover facts and transport and not convenient for safe-keeping. Papyrus was a plant that
relationships and then tries to create grew abundantly along the Nile River in Egypt. This invention was a major
theories that makes sense of these accomplishment in Egyptian record-keeping and communications. (see
Figure 10. Irrigation and Dikes Figure 11)
facts and relationships.
2. Ink. Invented by Egyptians since they ceased to use clay tablets and
TECHNOLOGY came from two (2) invented the papyrus. Made by combining soot with different chemicals
Greek words: “techne” (skill, to produce inks with different colors. (see Figure 12)
craftsmanship, art) and “logos”
(discourse, reason). It is the skills, 3. Hieroglyphics. Writing system developed by Egyptians which uses
methods and processes used to symbols. Egyptians believed that this writing system was provide to them
achieve goals. It refers to tools and by the gods. (see Figure 13)
machines that may be used to solve 4. Cosmetics. Invented by Egyptians for health and aesthetic reasons.
real-world problems. It is the human Egyptians wore Kohl around the eyes to prevent and even cure eye
attempt to change the world. It is a diseases. Kohl was created by mixing soot or malachite with mineral
human activity involved with making galena. Egyptians believed that a person wearing make-up was protected
and using of material artifacts. from evil and that beauty was a sign of holiness. (see Figure 14)
Figure 11. Paper or Papyrus
Technology involves tools,
techniques and procedures for
putting the findings of science to
practical use.

Figure 12. Ink Figure 13. Hieroglyphics Figure 14. Cosmetics

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 7

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

5. Wig. Another cosmetic invention of ancient Egyptians. During the ancient

SCIENCE is the study of the nature times, wigs were worn for health and wellness rather than for aesthetic
and behavior of natural things and purposes. The wigs were used to protect the shaved heads of the wealthy
the knowledge that we obtain about Egyptians from harmful rays of the sun. It was considered cleaner than
them. It is a system of acquiring natural hair because it prevented the accumulation of head lice. (see Figure
knowledge based on the scientific 15)
method. It is also an organized body
of knowledge gained through 6. Water Clock/Clepsydra. This device utilizes gravity that affects the flow
research. It is done through of water from one vessel to the other. The amount of water (or its height,
observation of natural phenomena, depending on the method used) remaining in the device determines how
and/or through experimentation that much time has elapsed since it is full. It is widely used as a timekeeping
tries to simulate natural processes device during the ancient times. (see Figure 16)
under controlled conditions.
GREEK CIVILIZATION
It is from the Latin word ‘scientia’, Greece is an archipelago in the southeastern part of Europe and known as the
meaning "knowledge“. It is a birthplace of eastern philosophy. Some of the major achievements of the
Figure 15. Wig
systematic enterprise that builds and Greeks include in-depth works on philosophy and mathematics.
organizes knowledge in the form of
1. Alarm Clock. Alarm clock during ancient times is used to tell the
testable explanations and predictions
individual when to stop or when to start. Greek’s alarm clocks used large
about nature and the universe.
complicated mechanisms to time the alarm. They made use of water (or
sometimes small stones or sand) that dropped into drums which sounded
It is also the human attempt to
the alarm. Plato was believed to have utilized an alarm clock to signal the
understand the natural world, with
start of his lecture. Plato’s version of alarm clock used four vessels lines
or without concern for practical uses
up vertically. The upper vessel supplied the water which dropped to the
of that knowledge. The natural world
vessel below it, which was set to be filled in a given time. After it was full,
includes volcanoes, gravity, atoms,
water was siphoned off at a faster rate into the third vessel which would
plants and animals, people, societies
cause the expulsion of contained air, creating a whistling noise.
and galaxies.
Afterwards, thus vessel would empty towards the bottom vessel for
storage and reuse.(see Figure 17)
Science tries to discover facts and
relationships and then tries to create 2. Water Mill. It was considered as one of the most important
theories that makes sense of these contributions of the Greek civilization to the world. Commonly used in
facts and relationships. agricultural processes like milling of grains which was necessary form of
Figure 16. Water Clock/Clepsydra food processing during that time. Because of this, the mass production or
TECHNOLOGY came from two (2) rice, cereals, flours, and the like became common. Greeks only required
Greek words: “techne” (skill, access to rivers or flowing water where a mechanism of a large wheel
craftsmanship, art) and “logos” with small “buckets” of water attached to it could be installed.(see Figure 18)
(discourse, reason). It is the skills,
methods and processes used to
achieve goals. It refers to tools and
machines that may be used to solve
real-world problems. It is the human
attempt to change the world. It is a
human activity involved with making
and using of material artifacts.

Technology involves tools,

techniques and procedures for
putting the findings of science to
practical use. Figure 18. Water Mill

ROMAN CIVILIZATION
Roman Empire was perceived to be the strongest political and social entity in
the west. Considered to be the cradle of politics and governance during that
Figure 17. Alarm Clock period and looked up by other civilizations as their model in terms of legislation
and codified laws.

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 8

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

1. Newspaper. One of the major contributions of the Romans. Known as

SCIENCE is the study of the nature “Gazettes”, this contained announcements of the Roman Empire to the
and behavior of natural things and people. Gazettes were engraved in metal or stone tablets and then
the knowledge that we obtain about publicly displayed. With the advent of the paper minutes of the
them. It is a system of acquiring proceedings of the Roman senate were done in shorthand. These
knowledge based on the scientific documents were edited and published on the same day that they were
method. It is also an organized body recorded. (see Figure 19)
of knowledge gained through 2. Bound Books or Codex. Record-keeping was much easier since paper
research. It is done through did not easily break, was lightweight, and did not occupy much space.
observation of natural phenomena, This has resulted the civilizations to become fond of record-keeping,
and/or through experimentation that especially documenting historical events and newly legislated laws. It was
tries to simulate natural processes believed that Julius Caesar started the tradition of stacking up papyrus to
Figure controlled
under 19. Gazette conditions.
form pages of a book. Later on, they were able to provide covers to
protect the papyrus. The earlier covers were made of wax but were later
It is from the Latin word ‘scientia’, on replaced by animal skin which proved to be stronger and longer-
meaning "knowledge“. It is a lasting. With the papyrus pages bound together and covered by animal
systematic enterprise that builds and skin, the ancient Roman Empire was able to produce the first books or
organizes knowledge in the form of codex. (see Figure 20)
testable explanations and predictions
about nature and the universe. 3. Roman Architecture. One of the most visual contribution of the ancient
Roman Empire to the world. Considered as the continuation of Greek
It is also the human attempt to architecture, hence, the resemblance. Roman architecture was regarded
understand the natural world, with as pioneering since the Romans were able to adapt new building and
or without concern for practical uses engineering technology on architectural designs. This development in the
of that20.
knowledge. The natural world field of engineering and architecture was fully supported and funded by
Figure Codex
includes volcanoes, gravity, atoms, the Roman government so they were able to implement major projects
plants and animals, people, societies such as large churches (cathedrals and basilicas), aqueducts, coliseums,
and galaxies. amphitheaters, and even residential houses.
4. Roman Numerals. Devised by Romans to address the need for a
Science tries to discover facts and standard counting method that would meet their increasing
relationships and then tries to create communication and trade concerns. Not widely used at present due to its
theories that makes sense of these inherent limitations, however, quite a number of enthusiasts would still
facts and relationships. use it over more popular number systems, like the Hindu-Arabic system.

TECHNOLOGY came from two (2) CHINESE CIVILIZATION

Greek words: “techne” (skill,
craftsmanship, art) and “logos” Considered as the oldest civilization in Asia, if not the world. Famous among
(discourse, reason). It is the skills, other ancient civilizations because of its silk trade.
methods and processes used to 1. Silk. Chinese developed technology to harvest the silk, naturally
achieve goals. It refers to tools and produced by silkworms, and process it to produce paper and clothing.
machines that may be used to solve Silk production resulted in the creation of a product for trade. This has
real-world problems. It is the human opened China to the outside world, making way for cultural, economic,
attempt to change the world. It is a and scientific exchanges.
human activity involved with making
and using of material artifacts. 2. Tea Production. Tea is a beverage produced by pouring hot or boiling
water over crushed or shredded dried tea leaves. It was believed that the
Technology involves tools, first tea was drunk by a Chinese emperor. Tea production was developed
techniques and procedures for when an unknown Chinese inventor created a machine that was able to
putting the findings of science to shred tea leaves into strips. This machine was done using a wheel-based
practical use. mechanism with sharp edges attached to a wooden or ceramic pot. This
has made China known for tea exports aside from silk products.
3. Great Wall of China. Once considered as the only man-made structure
that can be seen from the outer space. It is said to be the largest and
most expensive infrastructures that the nation built. It was constructed to
keep out foreign invaders and control the borders of China. Made with
stone, brick, wood, earth, and other minerals, it showcased the extent of
Chines engineering technology at that time.

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 9

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

4. Gun Powder. One of the most interesting inventions in China. Originally

SCIENCE is the study of the nature developed by Chinese alchemists who aimed to achieve “elixir of life” or
and behavior of natural things and immortality but instead they accidentally invented a black powder that
the knowledge that we obtain about could generate large amounts of heat and gas in an instant. Made by
them. It is a system of acquiring mixing charcoal, sulfur, and potassium nitrate. Also used by Chinese for
knowledge based on the scientific fireworks during important celebration in China.
method. It is also an organized body
of knowledge gained through
research. It is done through
MEDIEVAL/MIDDLE AGES
observation of natural phenomena, The start of the middle ages was marred by massive invasions and migrations
and/or through experimentation that and wars were prevalent. Trade and commerce among nations increased, which
tries to simulate natural processes resulted in greater demands for transportation technology. Also known as the
under controlled conditions. “Age of Exploration”.
1. Printing Press. Johan Gutenberg was able to invent the printing press, a
It is from the Latin word ‘scientia’, more reliable way of printing using a cast type. He utilized wooden
meaning "knowledge“. It is a machines that extracted juices from fruits, attached to them a metal
systematic enterprise that builds and impression of the letters, and pressed firmly the cast metal into a piece of
organizes knowledge in the form of paper, which then made an exact impression on paper. This general
testable explanations and predictions invention soon evolved to be the mechanical printing press which was
about nature and the universe. eventually used all over the world. This invention addressed the need for
publishing books that would spread information to many people at a
It is also the human attempt to faster rate.
understand the natural world, with
or without concern for practical uses 2. Microscope. Zacharias Janssen was able to develop the first compound
of that knowledge. The natural world microscope guided by the principles used for the invention of eyeglasses.
includes volcanoes, gravity, atoms, With this device, people were able to observe organisms that were
plants and animals, people, societies normally unseen by the naked eye. The microscope was key in
and galaxies. discovering new means in preventing and curing various illnesses.
3. Telescope. An optical instrument that helps in the observation of remote
Science tries to discover facts and [Link] helped navigators during this time to see far and wide to
relationships and then tries to create avoid dangers in the sea. Together with telescope, the invention of the
theories that makes sense of these compass, oars, and rudders made sea travelling easier and faster.
facts and relationships.
4. War Weapons. Great development in the weaponry technology occurred
TECHNOLOGY came from two (2) during this time. Weapons were developed as offensive tools and as
Greek words: “techne” (skill, defensive tools. For open-area battles, people developed cross bows and
craftsmanship, art) and “logos” long bows so that they could attack the enemies at long ranges. Creation
(discourse, reason). It is the skills, of iron body armors addressed the need to protect soldiers during close
methods and processes used to range hand-to-hand combats. However, body armors are heavy and
achieve goals. It refers to tools and limited soldiers’ movement. This problem was eventually addressed by
machines that may be used to solve the invention of the chainmail.
real-world problems. It is the human
attempt to change the world. It is a MODERN TIMES
human activity involved with making
Due to the booming world population, the demand for goods, transportation,
and using of material artifacts.
communication, etc. increased. This has marked by development of industries
during this time. Food processing and medicine posed some of the bigger
Technology involves tools,
challenges since health was of great concern.
techniques and procedures for
putting the findings of science to 1. Pasteurization. Louis Pasteur, a French biologist, microbiologist, and
practical use. chemist, found a way to solve the problem on keeping the manufactured
food from deteriorating, especially dairy products. He invented
Pasteurization, the process of heating dairy products to kill the harmful
bacteria that allow them to spoil faster. Other contributions of Pasteur
includes his works on molecular asymmetry, fermentation, and
vaccination.

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2. Petroleum Refinery. Modern times demanded better means of

SCIENCE is the study of the nature powering homes and transportation. At first, people used animal oils for
and behavior of natural things and generating light to illuminate their homes. However, the production of
the knowledge that we obtain about animal oils could not keep up with the demand. Samuel M. Kier was able
them. It is a system of acquiring to invent kerosene by refining petroleum. Kerosene was later on referred
knowledge based on the scientific as the “Illuminating Oil” because it was used at first to provide lighting to
method. It is also an organized body homes and later applied for heating purposes. The development of
of knowledge gained through kerosene established the petroleum refinery industry.
research. It is done through
observation of natural phenomena, 3. Telephone. It was considered as one of the most important invention of
and/or through experimentation that that time, Alexander Graham Bell developed telephone. This addressed
tries to simulate natural processes the need of communication system which would allow the government to
under controlled conditions. administer their states well.
4. Calculator. Modern times required a faster way to compute more
It is from the Latin word ‘scientia’, complicated equations. The creation of modern calculators did not only
meaning "knowledge“. It is a pave the way for easier arithmetic calculations, but also resulted in the
systematic enterprise that builds and development of more complex processing machines like the computer.
organizes knowledge in the form of
testable explanations and predictions
about nature and the universe.
PHILIPPINE INVENTIONS
Despite being considered as a developing country, the Philippines also
It is also the human attempt to contributed to the global advancement of science and technology. Since
understand the natural world, with Philippines is known to be one of the most vulnerable countries in terms of
or without concern for practical uses natural disasters, many of the discoveries and inventions made by Filipinos were
of that knowledge. The natural world therefore built from indigenous materials or crafted to adapt to the harsh
includes volcanoes, gravity, atoms, tropical environment.
plants and animals, people, societies
and galaxies. LIST OF PHILIPPINE INVENTIONS

Science tries to discover facts and  Salamander Amphibious Tricycle

relationships and then tries to create  Karaoke
theories that makes sense of these  16-bit microchips
facts and relationships.  Coconut oil-fueled power generator
 Medical incubator
TECHNOLOGY came from two (2)  Salt lamp
Greek words: “techne” (skill,  Erythromycin –Ilosone
craftsmanship, art) and “logos”  Yoyo
(discourse, reason). It is the skills,  Videophone
methods and processes used to  iIduced mango flowering (chemical spraying)
achieve goals. It refers to tools and  DeBCC Cream
machines that may be used to solve  Quink – ink
real-world problems. It is the human  Fermented Fish Sauce
attempt to change the world. It is a  Macapuno
human activity involved with making  E-Jeepney
and using of material artifacts.  Mosquito Ovicidal/Larvicidal (OL) Trap
 Methods of Controlling Leprosy
Technology involves tools,  Banana Catsup
techniques and procedures for  Game of the Generals
putting the findings of science to  Coconet
practical use.  Eco-G3000, a low-cost, low maintenance fuel-emission reduction device
designed to reduce vehicular gas consumption and toxic emission.

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A HISTORY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE PHILIPPINES

By: Olivia C. Caoili

INTRODUCTION

The need to develop a country's science and technology has generally been recognized as one of the
imperatives of socioeconomic progress in the contemporary world. This has become a widespread concern of
governments especially since the post-world war II years.
Among Third World countries, an important dimension of this concern is the problem of dependence in science
and technology as this is closely tied up with the integrity of their political sovereignty and economic self-
reliance. There exists a continuing imbalance between scientific and technological development among
contemporary states with 98 per cent of all research and development facilities located in developed countries
and almost wholly concerned with the latter's problems. Dependence or autonomy in science and technology
has been a salient issue in conferences sponsored by the United Nations.
It is within the above context that this paper attempts to examine the history of science and technology in the
Philippines. Rather than focusing simply on a straight chronology of events, it seeks to interpret and analyze the
interdependent effects of geography, colonial trade, economic and educational policies and socio-cultural
factors in shaping the evolution of present Philippine science and technology.
As used in this paper, science is concerned with the systematic understanding and explanation of the laws of
nature. Scientific activity centers on research, the end result of which is the discovery or production of new
knowledge. This new knowledge may or may not have any direct or immediate application.
In comparison, technology has often been understood as the "systematic knowledge of the industrial arts." As
this knowledge was implemented by means of techniques, technology has become commonly taken to mean
both the knowledge and the means of its utilization, that is, “a body, of knowledge about techniques." Modern
technology also involves systematic research but its outcome is more concrete than science, i.e. the production
of "a thing, a chemical, a process, something to be bought and sold."
In the past, science and technology developed separately, with the latter being largely a product of trial and
error in response to a particular human need. In modern times, however, the progresses of science and
technology have become intimately linked together. Many scientific discoveries have been facilitated by the
development of new technology. New scientific knowledge in turn has often led to further refinement of existing
technology or the invention of entirely new ones.

PRECOLONIAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

There is a very little reliable written information about Philippine society, culture and technology before the
arrival of the Spaniards in 1521. As such, one has to reconstruct a picture of this past using contemporary
archaeological findings, accounts by early traders and foreign travelers, and the narratives about conditions in
the archipelago which were written by the first Spanish missionaries and colonial officials. According to these
sources, there were numerous, scattered, thriving, relatively self-sufficient and autonomous communities long
before the Spaniards arrived. The early Filipinos had attained a generally simple level of technological
development, compared with those of the Chinese and Japanese, but this was sufficient for their needs at that
period of time.
Archaeological findings indicate that modern men (homo sapiens) from the Asian mainland first came over-land
and across narrow channels to live in Palawan and Batangas around 50,000 years ago. For about 40,000 years,
they made simple tools or weapons of stone flakes but eventually developed techniques for sawing, drilling and
polishing hard stones. These Stone Age inhabitants, subsequently formed settlements in the major Philippine
islands such as Sulu, Mindanao (Zamboanga, and Davao), Negros, Samar, Luzon (Batangas, Laguna, Rizal,

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Bulacan and the Cagayan region). By about 3,000 B.C., they were producing adzes ornaments of seashells and
pottery of various designs. The manufacture of pottery subsequently became well developed and flourished for
about 2,000 years until it came into competition with imported Chinese porcelain. Thus over time pottery making
declined. What has survived of this ancient technology is the lowest level, i.e., the present manufacture of the
ordinary cooking pot among several local communities.
Gradually, the early Filipinos learned to make metal tools and implements -- copper, gold, bronze and, later, iron.
The Iron Age is considered to have lasted from the second or third century B.C. to the tenth century A.D.
Excavations of Philippine graves and work sites have yielded iron slags. These suggest that Filipinos during this
period engaged in the actual extraction of iron from ore, smelting and refining. But it appears that the iron
industry, like the manufacture of pottery, did not survive the competition with imported cast iron from Sarawak
and much later, from China.
By the first century A.D., Filipinos were weaving cotton, smelting iron, making pottery and glass ornaments and
were also engaged in agriculture. Lowland rice was cultivated in diked fields and in the interior mountain regions
as in the Cordillera, in terraced fields which utilized spring water.
Filipinos had also learned to build boats for the coastal trade. By the tenth century A.D., this had become a highly
developed technology. In fact, the early Spanish chroniclers took note of the refined plank-built warship called
caracoa. These boats were well suited for inter-island trade raids. The Spaniards later utilized Filipino expertise in
boat-building and seamanship to fight the raiding Dutch, Portuguese, Muslims and the Chinese pirate Limahong
as well as to build and man the galleons that sailed to Mexico.
By the tenth century A.D., the inhabitants of Butuan were trading with Champa (Vietnam); those of Ma-i
(Mindoro) with China. Chinese records which have now been translated contain a lot of references to the
Philippines. These indicate that regular trade relations between the two countries had been well established
during the tenth to the fifteenth centuries. Archaeological findings (in various parts of the archipelago) of
Chinese porcelains made during this period support this contention. From the Sung (960-1278) and Yuan (1260-
1368) Dynasties, there are descriptions of trade with the Philippines, and from the Sung and Ming (1360-1644)
Dynasties there are notices of Filipino missions to Peking.
The most frequently cited Chinese account in Philippine history textbooks is that of Chao Ju-Kua in 1225. He described the
communities and trading activities in the islands of Ma-i (Mindoro) and San-hsu (literally three islands which present-day
historians think refer to the group of Palawan and Calamian Islands). The people of Ma-i and San-hsu traded beeswax,
cotton, true pearls, tortoise shell, medicinal betelnuts, yu-ta cloth (probably jute or ramie?) and coconut heart mats for
Chinese porcelain, iron pots, lead fishnet sinkers, colored glass beads, iron needles and tin. These were practically the
same commodities of trade between the islands and China which the first Spanish colonial officials recorded when they
came to the Philippines more than two centuries later.
The Filipinos in Mindanao and Sulu traded with Borneo, Malacca and parts of the Malay Peninsula. This trade
seems to have antedated those with the Chinese. By the time the Spaniards reached the archipelago, these trade
relations had been firmly established such that the alliance between the rulers of Manila and Brunei had become
strengthened by marriage. It was through these contacts that Hindu-Buddhist, Malay-Sanskrit and Arab-Muslim
Cultural and technological influences spread to the Philippines. There have also been some references (by early
travelers during the precolonial period) to trade relations between Japan and the Philippines. To date however,
Philippine historians have not found any prehispanic references to the Philippines in Japanese literature of the
period.
By the time the Spaniards came to colonies the Philippines in 1565; they found many scattered, autonomous
village communities (called barangays) all over the archipelago. These were kinship groups or social units rather
than political units. They were essentially subsistence economies producing mainly what they needed.

These communities exhibited uneven technological development. Settlements along the coastal areas which had
been exposed to foreign trade and cultural contacts such as Manila, Mindoro, Cebu, Southern Mindanao and
Sulu, seem to have attained a more sophisticated technology. In 1570, for example, the Spaniards found the

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town of Mindoro "fortified by a stone wall over fourteen feet thick," and defended by armed Moros -- "bowmen,
lancers, and some gunners, linstocks in hand." There were a "large number of culverins" all along the hillside of
the town. They found Manila similarly defended by a palisade along its front with pieces of artillery at its gate.
The house of Raja Soliman (which was burned down by Spaniards) reportedly contained valuable articles of trade
-- "money, copper, iron, porcelain, blankets, wax, cotton and wooden vats full of brandy." Next to his house was
a storehouse which contained: much iron and copper; as well as culverins and cannons which had melted. Some
small and large cannon had just begun. There were the clay and wax moulds, the largest of which was for a
cannon seventeen feet long, resembling a culverin...
These reports indicate that the Filipinos in Manila had learned to make and use modern artillery. The Spanish
colonizers noted that all over the islands, Filipinos were growing rice, vegetables and cotton; raising swine, goats
and fowls; making wine, vinegar and salt; weaving cloth and producing beeswax and honey. The Filipinos were
also mining gold in such places as Panay, Mindoro and Bicol. They wore colorful clothes, made their own gold
jewelry and even filled their teeth with gold. Their houses were made of wood or bamboo and nipa. They had
their own system of writing and weights and measures. Some communities had become renowned for their
plank-built boats. They had no calendar but counted the years by moons and from one harvest to another.
In the interior and mountain settlements, many Filipinos were still living as hunters. They gathered forest
products to trade with the lowland and coastal settlements. But they also made "Iron lance-points, daggers and
certain small tools used in transplanting."
On the whole, the pre-colonial Filipinos were still highly superstitious. The Spaniards found no temples or places
of worship. Although the Filipinos knew how to read and write in their own system, this was mainly used for
messages and letters. They seem not to have developed a written literary tradition at that time.(20) This would
have led to a more systematic accumulation and dissemination of knowledge, a condition that is necessary for
the development of science and technology. Because of the abundance of natural resources, a benign
environment and generally sparse population, there seemed to have been little pressure for invention and
innovation among the early Filipinos. As governor Francisco de Sande observed in 1575, the Filipinos do not
understand any kind of work, unless it be to do something actually necessary -- such as to build their houses,
which are made of stakes after their fashion; to fish, according to their method; to row, and perform the duties of
sailors; and to cultivate the land...

DEVELOPMENTS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

During the Spanish Regime

The beginnings of modern science and technology in the Philippines can be traced to the Spanish regime. The
Spaniards established schools, hospitals and started scientific research and these had important consequences
for the rise of the country’s professions. But the direction and pace of development of science and technology
were greatly shaped by the role of the religious orders in the conquest and colonization of the archipelago and
by economic and trade adopted by the colonial government.
The interaction of these forces and the resulting socio-economic and political changes must, therefore, be
analyzed in presenting a history of science and technology in the Philippines.
Spanish conquest and the colonization of the archipelago were greatly facilitated by the adoption of an
essentially religious strategy which had earlier been successfully used in Latin America. Known as reduccion, it
required the consolidation of the far-flung, scattered barangay communities into fewer, larger and more
compact settlements within the hearing distance of the church bells. This was a necessary response to the initial
shortage of Spanish missionaries in the Philippines. This policy was carried out by a combination of religious
conversion and military force.
The net result of reduccion was the creation of towns and the foundation of the present system of local
government. The precolonial ruling class, the datus and their hereditary successors, were adopted by the Spanish
colonial government into this new system to serve as the heads of the lowest level of local government; i.e. as

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cabezas de barangay. The colonial authorities found the new set-up expeditious for establishing centralized
political control over the archipelago -- for the imposition and collection of the tribute tax, enforcement of
compulsory labor services among the native Filipinos, and implementation of the compulsory sale of local
products to the government.
The Filipinos naturally resisted reduccion as it took them away from their rice fields, the streams and the forests
which were their traditional sources of livelihood and also subjected them to the onerous economic exactions by
the colonial government. Thus the first century of Spanish rule brought about serious socio-economic
dislocation and a decline kin agricultural production and traditional crafts in many places. In the region
surrounding the walled city of Manila, Filipinos migrated from their barangays to the city in order to serve in the
convents and thus avoid the compulsory labor services in the shipyards and forests. Over the centuries, this
population movement would greatly contribute to the congestion of Manila and its suburbs.
The religious orders likewise played a major role in the establishment of the colonial educational system in the
Philippines. They also influenced the development of technology and promotion of scientific research. Hence,
these roles must next be examined.
Various decrees were issued in Spain calling for the establishment of a school system in the colony but these
were not effectively carried out. Primary instruction during the Spanish regime was generally taken care of by the
missionaries and parish priests in the villages and towns. Owing to the dearth of qualified teachers, textbooks
and other instructional materials, primary instruction was mainly religious education. Higher education was
provided by schools set up by the different religious orders in the urban centers, most of them in Manila. For
example, the Jesuits founded in Cebu City the Colegio de San Ildefonso (1595) and in Manila, the Colegio de San
Ignacio (1595), the Colegio de San Jose (1601) and the Ateneo de Manila (1859). The Dominicans had the
Colegio de San Juan de Letran (1640) in Manila. Access to these schools was, however, limited to the elite of the
colonial society -- the European-born and local Spaniards, the mestizos and a few native Filipinos. Courses
leading to the B.A. degree, Bachiller en Artes, were given which by the nineteenth century included science
subjects such as physics, chemistry, natural history and mathematics.
On the whole, however, higher education was pursued for the priesthood or for clerical positions in the colonial
administration. It was only during the latter part of the nineteenth century that technical/ vocational schools
were established by the Spaniards.(26)
Throughout the Spanish regime, the royal and pontifical University of Santo Tomas remained as the highest
institution of learning. Run by the Dominicans, it was established as a college in 1611 by Fray Miguel de
Benavides. It initially granted degrees in theology, philosophy and humanities. During the eighteenth century,
the faculty of jurisprudence and canonical law was established. In 1871, the schools of medicine and pharmacy
were opened. From 1871 to 1886, the University of Santo Tomas granted the degree of Licenciado en Medicina
to 62 graduates. For the doctorate degree in medicine, at least an additional year of study was required at the
Universidad Central de Madrid in Spain.
The study of pharmacy consisted of a preparatory course with subjects in natural history and general chemistry
and five years of studies in subjects such as pharmaceutical operations at the school of pharmacy. At the end of
this period of the degree of Bachiller en Farmacia was granted. The degree of licentiate in pharmacy, which was
equivalent to a master's degree, was granted after two years of practice in a pharmacy, one lof which could be
taken simultaneously with the academic courses after the second year course of study. In 1876, the university
granted the bachelor's degree in pharmacy to its first six graduates in the school of pharmacy. Among them was
Leon Ma. Guerrero, who is usually referred to as the "Father of Philippine Pharmacy" becuase of his extensive
work on the medicinal plants of the Philippines and their uses. The total number of graduates in pharmacy
during the Spanish period was 164.
There were no schools offering engineering at that time. The few who studied engineering had to go to Europe.
There was a Nautical School created on 1 January 1820 which offered a four-year course of study (for the
profession of pilot of merchant marine) that included subjects as arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry,
physics, hydrography, meteorology, navigation and pilotage. A School of Commercial Accounting and a School
of French and English Languages were established in 1839.

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In 1887, the Manila School of Agriculture was created by royal decree but it was able to open only in July 1889.
The School was designed to provide theoretical and practical education of skilled farmers and overseers and to
promote agricultural development in the Philippines by means of observation, experiment and investigation.
Agricultural stations were also established in Isabela, Ilocos, Albay, Cebu, Iloilo, Leyte and parts of Mindanao. The
professors in the School were agricultural engineers. The School was financed by the government but it appears
that its direction was also left to the priests. The certificates of completion of the course were awarded by the
University of Santo Tomas or the Ateneo Municipal. It seems that the School was not successful as Filipinos did
not show much inclination for industrial pursuits.
In 1863, the colonial authorities issued a royal decree designed to reform the existing educational system in the
country. It provided for the establishment of a system of elementary, secondary and collegiate schools, teacher-
training schools, and called for government supervision of these schools. The full implementation of this decree,
however, was interrupted by the coming of the Americans in 1898.
Higher education during the Spanish regime was generally viewed with suspicion and feared by the colonial
authorities as encouraging conspiracy and rebellion among the native Filipinos. For this reason, only the more
daring and persevering students were able to undertake advantaged studies. The attitude of the Spanish friars
towards the study of the sciences and medicine was even more discouraging. As one Rector of the University of
Santo Tomas in the 1960s said: "Medicine and the natural sciences are materialistic and impious studies." It was
not surprising, therefore, that few Filipinos ventured to study these disciplines. Those who did were poorly
trained when compared with those who had gone to European universities. Science courses at the University of
Santo Tomas were taught by the lecture/recitation method. Laboratory equipment was limited and only
displayed for visitors to see. There was little or no training in scientific research. Sir John Bowring, the British
Governor of Hongkong who made an official visit to the Philippines in the 1850s wrote:
Public instruction is in an unsatisfactory state in the Philippines--the provisions are little changed from those of
the monkish ages.
In the University of Santo Tomas... no attention is given to the natural sciences... nor have any of the educational
reforms which have penetrated most of the colleges of Europe and America found their way to the Philippines.
In spite of the small number of Filipino graduates from the UST in medicine and the sciences they still faced the
problem of unemployment. This was because the colonial government preferred to appoint Spanish and other
European-trained professionals to
At the start of the American regime, a German physician of Manila submitted a report to the authorities on the
conditions at UST's medical college. The report mentions, among others, its lack of library facilities, the use of
outdated textbooks (some published in 1845), that no female cadaver had ever been dissected and the anatomy
course was a "farce", that most graduates "never had attended even one case of confinement or seen a case of
laparotomy" and that bacteriology had been introduced only since the American occupation and "was still
taught without microscopes!" Many of these graduates later joined the revolutionary movement against Spain.
With the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the consequent ease in travel and communications that it
brought about, the liberal ideas and scientific knowledge of the West also reached the Philippines. The
prosperity that resulted from increased commerce between the Philippines and the rest of the world enabled
Filipino students to go to Europe for professional advanced studies. These included Jose Rizal who was able to
pursue studies in Medicine and specialize in ophthalmology in Spain and Germany; Graciano Apacible who
studied medicine in Madrid; Antonio Luna who obtained his Ph.D. in pharmacy in Madrid and later worked with
renowned scientists in Ghent and Paris; Jose Alejandrino who took up engineering in Belgium, and others. It was
this group of students which set up the Propaganda Movement in Europe that eventually led to the Philippine
revolution against Spain.
The religious orders provided most of the teaching force and institutions of learning in the colony. This was
similar to the situation that had earlier prevailed in Europe (where they had come from) during the medieval
ages. Inevitably, members of the religious orders also took the lead in technological innovation and scientific
research. This involvement invariably arose from their need to provide for basic necessities as they went around
the archipelago to perform their missionary work of propagating the Catholic faith and to finance the colleges,
hospitals and orphanages that they had established.

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The Spaniards introduced the technology of town planning and building with stones, brick and tiles. In many
places, religious (such as Bishop Salazar in Manila) personally led in these undertakings. Because of the lack of
skilled Filipinos in these occupations, the Spaniards had to import Chinese master builders, artisans and masons.
The native Filipinos were drafted, through the institution of compulsory labor services, to work on these projects.
In this manner, the construction of the walls of Manila, its churches, convents, hospitals, schools and public
buildings were completed by the seventeenth century.
Towards the end of the sixteenth century, the religious orders had established several charity hospitals in the
archipelago and in fact provided the bulk of this public service. These hospitals became the setting for
rudimentary scientific work during the Spanish regime long before the establishment of the University of Santo
Tomas (UST) college of medicine. Research in these institutions were confined to pharmacy and medicine and
concentrated on the problems of infectious diseases, their causes and possible remedies. Several Spanish
missionaries observed, catalogued and wrote about Philippine plants, particularly those with medicinal
properties. The most notable of these was Father Fernando de Sta. Maria's Manual de Medicinas Caseras
published in 1763 which was so in demand that it had undergone several editions by 1885.
By the second half of the nineteenth century, studies of infectious diseases such as smallpox, cholera, bubonic
plague, dysentery, leprosy and malaria were intensified with the participation of graduates of medicine and
pharmacy from UST.(45) At this time, native Filipinos began to participate in scientific research. In 1887, the
Laboratorio Municipal de Ciudad de Manila was created by decree. Its main functions were to conduct
biochemical analyses for public health and to undertake specimen examinations for clinical and medico-legal
cases. It had a publication called Cronica de Ciencias Medicas de Filipinas showing scientific studies being done
during that time.
There was very little development in Philippine agriculture and industry during the first two centuries of Spanish
rule. This was largely due to the dependence of the Spanish colonizers on the profits from the Galleon or Manila-
Acapulco trade, which lasted from 1565 to 1813. It was actually based on the trade with China which antedated
Spanish rule. The galleons brought to Latin America Chinese goods -- silk and other cloths, porcelain and the like
-- and brought back to Manila Mexican silver. When the Spanish and Portuguese thrones were united from 1581
to 1640, goods brought to Manila by ships from Japan and Portuguese ships from Siam, India, Malacca, Borneo
and Cambodia were also carried by the galleons to Mexico. During the time, Manila prospered as the entrepot of
the Orient.
The Filipinos hardly benefited from the Galleon trade. Direct participation in the trade was limited to Spanish
inhabitants of Manila who were given shares of lading space in the galleons. Many of them simply speculated on
these trading rights and lived off on their profits. It was the Chinese who profited most from the trade. They
acted as the trade's packers, middlemen, retailers and also provided services and other skills which the Spanish
community in Intramuros needed.
Spanish preoccupation with the Manila Galleon eventually led to the neglect of agriculture and mining and the
decline of native handicrafts and industries in the Philippines. The deleterious effects of the trade on the
archipelago's domestic economy had been pointed out by some Spanish officials as early as 1592. But this seems
to have been largely ignored by colonial policy-makers. Only the local shipbuilding industry continued to
prosper because of necessity -- to build the galleons and other ships required for internal commerce and the
defense of the archipelago. This had become quite well developed according to a French visitor in the
nineteenth century. He observed:
In many provinces shipbuilding is entirely in the hands of the natives. The excellence of their work is proof that
they are perfectly capable of undertaking the study of abstruse sciences and that mathematical equations are by
no means beyond their comprehension....
Agricultural development was left to the resident Chinese and the Spanish friars. The latter saw in the cultivation
of their large estates around Manila a steady source of financial support for their churches, colleges, hospitals
and orphanages in Intramuros. The friar estates profited from the expanding domestic food market as a result of
the population growth of Manila and its suburbs. But the friars contribution in the development of existing

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agricultural technology was more of quantitative than qualitative in nature. The profitability of their estates was
largely derived from the intensive exploitation of native technology and their free compulsory personal services.
Successive shipwrecks of and piratical attacks on the galleons to Mexico led to declining profits from the trade
and triggered an economic depression in Manila during the latter part of the seventeenth century. This situation
was aggravated by increasing restrictions on the goods carried by the Manila Galleon as a consequence of
opposition coming from Andalusion merchants and mercantilists in Spain.
At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Bourbon dynasty ascended to the Spanish throne and brought
with it political and economic ideas of the French Enlightenment. This paved the way for more government
attention to the economic development of the Philippines. Enterprising Spaniards began to exploit the mineral
wealth of the islands, develop its agriculture, and establish industries. These efforts were further encouraged by
the need to promote economic recovery after the British Occupation of Manila in 1762-1764.
Research in agriculture and industry was encouraged by the founding of the Real Sociedad Economica de los
Amigos del Pais de Filipinas (Royal Economic Society of Friends of the Philippines) by Governador Jose Basco y
Vargas under authority of a royal decree of 1780. Composed of private individuals and government officials, the
Society functioned somewhat like the European learned societies during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
and a modern National Research Council, It undertook the promotion of the cultivation of indigo, cotton,
cinnamon, and pepper and the development of the silk industry. During the nineteenth century, it was endowed
with funds which it used to provide prizes for successful experiments and inventions for the improvement of
agriculture and industry: to finance the publication of scientific and technical literature, trips of scientists from
Spain to the Philippines, professorships; and to provide scholarships to Filipinos.
In 1789, Manila was opened to Asian shipping. This inaugurated an era of increasing Philippine exports of rice,
hemp, sugar, tobacco, indigo and others and rising imports of manufactured goods. In 1814, Manila was officially
opened to world trade and commerce; subsequently other Philippine ports were opened.
Foreign capital was allowed to operate on an equal footing with Spanish merchants in 1829. By this means
agricultural production particularly of sugar and hemp, was accelerated and modernized. Local industries
flourished in Manila and its suburbs -weaving, embroidery, hatmaking, carriage, manufacture, rope-making, cigar
and cigarettes-making. Much of the finished products of these industries were exported. Yet although Philippine
exports kept rising during the nineteenth century, imports of manufactured goods also rose and foreign,
particularly English capital dominated external trade and commerce. This partly because of short-sighted Spanish
colonial trade policies and the relative inexperience and lack of capital of Spanish colonial trade policies and the
relative inexperience and lack of capital of Spanish and Filipino merchants.
The prosperity arising from expanded world trade and commerce in the nineteenth century led to Manila's rapid
development as a cosmopolitan center. Modern amenities -- a waterworks system, steam tramways, electric
lights, newspapers, a banking system -- were introduced into the city by the latter half of the nineteenth century.
Undoubtedly, commercial needs led to the Spanish governments establishment of a Nautical School, vocational
schools and a School of Agriculture during the nineteenth century. Various offices and commissions were also
created by the Spanish government by the Spanish government to undertake studies and regulations of mines,
research on Philippine flora, agronomic research and teaching, geological research and chemical analysis of
mineral waters throughout the country. However, little is known about the accomplishments of these scientific
bodies.
Meteorological studies were promoted by Jesuits who founded the Manila Observatory in 1865. The Observatory
collected and made available typhoon and climatological observations. These observations grew in number and
importance so that by 1879, it became possible for Fr. Federico Faura to issue the first public typhoon warning.
The service was so highly appreciated by the business and scientific communities that in April 1884, a royal
decree made the Observatory an official institution run by the Jesuits, and also established a network of
meteorological stations under it. In 1901, the Observatory was made a central station of the Philippine Weather
Bureau which was set up by the American colonial authorities. It remained under the Jesuit scientists and
provided not only meteorological but also seismological and astronomical studies.

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The benefits of economic development during the nineteenth century were unevenly distributed in the
archipelago. While Manila prospered and rapidly modernized, much of the countryside remained
underdeveloped and poor. The expansion of agricultural production for export exacerbated existing
socioeconomic inequality that had been cumulative consequence of the introduction of land as private property
at the beginning of Spanish rule. There was increasing concentration of wealth among the large landowners -the
Spaniards, especially the religious orders, the Spanish and Chinese mestizos, the native Principalia -and poverty
and landlessness among the masses. This inequality, coupled with abuses and injustices committed by the
Spanish friars and officials gave rise to Philippine nationalism and eventually the Revolution of 1896.
At the end of the Spanish regime, the Philippines had evolved into a primary agricultural exporting economy.
Progress in agriculture had been made possible by some government support for research and
education in this field. But it was largely the entry of foreign capital and technology which brought about the
modernization of some sectors, notably sugar and hemp production. The lack of interest and support for
research and development of native industries like weaving, for example, eventually led to their failure to survive
the competition with foreign imports. Because of necessity and the social prestige attached to university
education, medicine and pharmacy remained the most developed science-based professions during the Spanish
regime.

Science and Technology during the First Republic

There was very little development in science and technology during the short-lived Philippine Republic (1898-
1900). The government took steps to establish a secular educational system by a decree of 19 October 1898; it
created the Universidad Literaria de Filipinas as a secular, state-supported institution of higher learning. It
offered courses in law, medicine, surgery, pharmacy and notary public. During its short life, the University was
able to hold graduation exercises in Tarlac on 29 September 1899 when degrees in medicine and law were
awarded.

During the American Regime

Science and technology in the Philippines advanced rapidly during the American regime. This was made possible
by the simultaneous government encouragement and support for an extensive public education system; the
granting of scholarships for higher education in science and engineering; the organization of science research
agencies and establishment of science-based public services.
The Americans introduced a system of secularized public school education as soon as civil government was set
up in the islands. On 21 January 1901, the Philippine Commision, which acted as the executive and legislative
body for the Philippines until 1907, promulgated Act No. 74 creating a Department of Public Instruction in the
Philippines. It provided for the establishment of schools that would give free primary education, with English as
the medium of instruction. This was followed by the setting up of a Philippine Normal School to train Filipino
teachers. Secondary schools were opened after a further enactment of the Philippine in Commission in 1902. The
Philippine Medical School was established in 1905 and was followed by other professional and technical schools.
These were later absorbed into the University of the Philippines.
The colonial authorities initially adopted a coordinated policy for the promotion of higher education in the
sciences and government research institutions and agencies performing technical functions. The University of the
Philippines was created on 18 June 1908 by Act of the Philippine Legislature. Among the first colleges to be
opened were the College of Agriculture in Los Baños, Laguna in 1909, the Colleges of Liberal Arts, Engineering
and Veterinary Medicine in 1910 and the College of Law in 1911. By 1911, the University had an enrollment of
1,400 students, Four Years later, its enrollment had almost doubled (to 2,398) and the University included two
new units, a School of Pharmacy and a Graduate School of Tropical Medicine and Public Health. In 1916, the
School of Forestry and Conservatory of Music were established; and in 1918, the College of Education was
opened.
Except in the College of Medicine, where there were already a number of Filipino physicians who were qualified
to become its faculty members when it was opened in 1907, most of the early instructors and professor in the

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SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

sciences and engineering at the University of the Philippines were Americans and other foreigners. Qualified
Filipinos were sent abroad for advanced training and by this means foreign faculty were gradually replaced by
Filipinos. For example, in 1920, Filipino Ph.D. graduates of U.S. universities took over the Department of
Agriculture Chemistry in the College of Agriculture. By December 1926, the university's enrollment in all colleges
had reached 6,464 and out of a total teaching staff of 463, only 44 were Americans and other foreigners.
Before 1910, the American colonial government encouraged young men and women to get higher professional
education as much as possible in American colleges. In 1903, the Philippine commission passed an Act to finance
the sending of 135 boys and girls of high school age to the United States to be educated as teachers, engineers,
physicians and lawyers. One third of these were chosen by the governor-general on a nation-wide basis and the
rest by the provincial authorities. In exchange for this privilege, the pensionados, as they came to be called, were
to serve in the public service for five years after their return from their studies. Between 1903 and 1912, 209 men
and women were educated under this program in American schools. After the establishment of the University of
the Philippines, scholarships for advanced studies of a scientific or technical nature in American Universities were
given only in preparation for assignment to jobs in the public service.
The Philippine Commission introduced science subjects and industrial and vocational education into the
Philippine school system but they found that industrial and vocation courses were very unpopular with the
Filipinos. When the Manila Trade School was opened in 1901, the school authorities found it difficult to get
students to enroll in these courses. Because of their almost 400 years of colonial experience under the Spaniards,
middle class Filipinos had developed a general disdain for manual work and a preference for the prestigious
professions of the time, namely, the priesthood, law and medicine. Education in these professions came to be
regarded as the means of making the best of the limited opportunities in the Spanish colonial bureaucracy and
thus of rising from one's social class. Hence, even at the newly-opened University of the Philippines, it was
difficult to get students to enroll in courses which required field work such as, for example, agriculture, veterinary
medicine, engineering and other applied science. Scholarships were thus offered by the government to attract a
sufficient number of students to enroll in courses that were needed to fill up the technical positions in the
government service.
In the field of medicine, the Philippine Commission provided for as many scholarships as there were regularly
organized provinces in the Islands. These were awarded by the school departments after competitive
examinations in the provinces. A recipient of these scholarships was required to return to the province from
whence he came and to serve as a physician for as many years as his medical education was paid for by the
government. This policy was adopted not only to assure the medical school a continuing supply of carefully
selected students but also to ensure a balanced geographical distribution of physicians in the different provinces
and to counteract their tendency to settle in the large urban areas.
Selected graduates of the schools of medicine and nursing were also sent on government scholarship to
universities in the United States for postgraduate courses and training in special fields. In 1921, the Rockefeller
foundation provided for six fellowships for qualified Filipinos in universities in the United States and Europe, two
each in he fields of public health (preventive medicine), public health laboratory work and teacher training in
nursing education. Over several years, the Foundation provided more than thirty of these fellowships and also
financed shorter observation trips of many other health officials.
It also greatly aided in the establishment and development of the Graduate School of Public Health and Hygiene
in the University of the Philippines.
When the Bureau of Public Works was created in 1901, the Americans found that there were no competent
Filipino engineers, and American engineers had to be imported. As a consequence, a special effort was made to
attract Filipinos to pursue advanced studies leading to careers as engineers. In many cases government financial
assistance was provided to enable them to complete their professional studies in the United States. Upon
achieving their professional qualifications they were employed as junior engineers in the Bureau of Public Works.
Many of them rapidly advanced in their positions. Their career progress can be seen from the fact that whereas
in 1913 there were only 18 Filipino engineers out of a total of 145 engineers in the Bureau of Public Works, the
rest being American; by the end of 1925, out of 190 engineers in the Bureau, only 16 were Americans and 174
were Filipinos.

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SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

The establishment of the University of the Philippines satisfied the short-run needs for professionally trained
Filipinos in the colonial government's organization and programs. What the authorities did not recognize was
that by providing for an extensive public school system at the elementary and secondary levels they had
increased tremendously the social demand for professional education. The University of the Philippines remained
the only publicly-supported institutions for higher education, and, since it could not meet the increasing social
demand for universities was left to the initiative of enterprising Filipinos. For many Filipinos, private education
became the alternative for professional education.
Many of the existing private nonsectarian universities were organized during the early period of the American
regime to help meet the increasing demand for professional education and the country's need for trained
manpower. At the same time, these schools remained distinctively Filipino in orientation as they were conceived
by their founders as a means to conserve the national heritage and prevent the complete Americanization of the
Filipinos.
At the outset of the American regime, there was no definite government policy on private schools. Because of
the widespread disorganization that followed a more of these schools were set up, government regulation and
control was found necessary. The first attempt to regulate private schools was through the Corporation Law (Act
No. 1459) enacted by the Philippine Commission in 1906. In effect, it treated the schools like commercial firms or
business enterprises except that they would be under the supervision of the Department of Public Instruction
rather than the Department of Trade and Industry.
In 1917, Act No. 2076 (Private School Act) was enacted by the Philippine Legislature. The Act recognized private
schools as educational institutions and not commercial ventures. It required the Secretary of Public Instruction to
"maintain a general standard of efficiency in all private schools and colleges so that...(they shall) furnish adequate
instruction to the public..." and authorized him to "inspect and watch" these school and colleges. The supervision
of these schools was entrusted to a staff of four within the Department of Public two supervisors. Instruction -- a
superintendent, an assistant superintendent and two supervisors.
The number of private colleges increased rapidly. In 1925 a survey of the educational system of the Island was
authorized Survey which was headed by Paul Monroe made a comprehensive investigation of all public and
private institutions of learning in the country. The Monroe Survey found most private schools substandard. It
reported that most of these were physically ill equipped and with more part-time than full-time faculty members.
Among the private colleges and universities, it found out that: "The equipment of all these institutions is owefully
inadequate, the laboratory for the teaching of science being but a caricature of the real thing".
As a consequence of the findings of the Monroe Survey, the Government took steps to improve the machinery
for the supervision of private schools. The Philippine Legislature created the Office of Private Education to look
into such matters as physical plant, school facilities, libraries, laboratory equipment and student load, and
administrative work such as enforcement of relevant government regulations, evaluating credits taken by
students, managing admission of foreign students and the like. As a result of the increased outlay for supervision
of private schools, their standards were improved.
During the American regime, the development of science gained more government support along with efforts to
establish an old extensive public school system and public health programs. The old Laboratorio Municipal was
absorbed by the Bureau of Government Laboratories created by the Philippine Commission in 1901. In 1905, the
latter was reorganized and renamed Bureau of Science. It remained the principal government research
establishment until the end of the Second World War.
It had a biological laboratory, a chemical laboratory, a serum laboratory for the production of vaccine virus,
serums and prophylactics, a library. Most of the senior scientists in the Bureau were initially Americans but as
Filipinos acquired the necessary training, they gradually took over their positions.
The Bureau of Science served as a valuable training ground for Filipino scientists. It performed the needed
chemical and biological examinations for the Philippine General Hospital and Bureau of Health and
manufactured the serums and prophylactics needed by the latter. Pioneering research was done at the Bureau of
Science on such diseases as leprosy, tuberculosis, cholera, dengue fever, malaria and beri-beri. Results of these

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SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

studies were readily available to the Bureau of Health for use in its various programs. Studies on the commercial
value of tropical products, tests of Philippine minerals and roadbuilding materials, the nutritional value of foods,
and other were similarly done at the Bureau of Science. From 1906, it published the Philippine Journal of Science
which reported not only work done in local laboratories but also scientific developments abroad which had
relevance to Philippine problems.
The American colonial authorities organized other offices which, by the nature of their operations, contributed
further to the growth of scientific research. These were the Weather Bureau (1901), the Board (later Bureau) of
Health (1898), Bureau of Mines (1900), Bureau of Forestry (1900), Bureau of Agriculture (1901), Bureau of Coast
and Geodetic Survey (1905), Bureau of Plant Industry (1929) and Bureau of Animal Industry (1929) (82) From
1927, there were proposals from professional societies for the creation of a National Medical Research Council
and a National Research Council similar to those in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The Philippine
Legislature passed an extensively emulated abroad."

Act in 1933 creating the National Research Council of the Philippine Islands (NRCP). Aside from working for the
promotion of scientific research, the NRCP actively participated in the deliberations and drafting of provisions
affecting science and industry in the 1934 Constitutional Convention.

Educational and science policy during the American regime was not coordinated with colonial economic policy.
While Filipinos were provided opportunities for higher education in the sciences and engineering, the economy
remained basically agricultural. To a great extent, Philippine economic development was determined by free
trade relations established in 1909 between the Philippines and the United States, and these continued long
after independence was achieved in 1946. As a result of this policy, the Philippine economy became tied to that
of the United States, remaining primarily an exporter of agricultural crops and raw materials and an importer of
American manufactured goods. Undoubtedly this delayed Philippine industrialization. The relative
underdevelopment of the physical sciences vis-a-vis the medical and agricultural sciences may be traced to this
policy. Basic and applied research in the medical, agricultural and related sciences received much greater
government support during the American regime than did industrial research.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

During the Commonwealth Period

In 1935, the Philippine Commonwealth was inaugurated and ushered in a period of transition to political
independence. The Constitution acknowledged the importance of promoting scientific development for the
economic development of the country by incorporating a provision (Article XIII, Section 4) declaring that "The
State shall promote scientific research and invention, Arts and Letters shall be under its patronage..."
The government, which was by this time completely under Filipino management, continued to expand its public
school system to accommodate the increasing number of schoolchildren. The Government abolished Grade VII
as the terminal grade in the elementary curriculum and also instituted the "double-single session" plan thus
reducing the time allotment or dropping certain subjects in the elementary school. The government also enacted
Commonwealth Act No. 180 (13 November 1936) reestablishing the Office of Private Education which had been
abolished in 1932.
On the whole, higher education was provided mainly by the private sector. By 1936, there were 425 private
schools recognized by the government, 64 of which we institutions at the College level and 7 were universities.
These were Centro Escolar University, Far Easter University, National University, Philippine Women's University,
Silliman University, University of Manila and the University of Santo Tomas. Together with the University of the
Philippines these had a total of 19,575 college students in all universities in the country. The combined significant
increase in trained scientists and engineers in the Philippines before the Second World War.

The Commonwealth government worked towards the development of economic self-reliance which would be
necessary to sustain genuine political independence. It created the National Economic Council to prepare an

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SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

economic program and advise the government on economic and financial questions. Several government
corporations were reorganized and new ones were created to perform such varied functions as the exploitation
and development of natural resources (e.g., the National Power Corporation); the development and promotion
of local industries (such as the National Development Company (NDC) and its subsidiaries, the National Abaca
and Other Fibers Corporation); promotion of agricultural production and marketing; and the like. The NDC was
especially mandated to undertake the development of successful researches of government science agencies
(such as the Bureaus of Science, Animal Industry and Plant Industry) for commercial production.
The Commonwealth government likewise adopted measures to encourage and provide assistance to private
Filipino businessmen in the establishment of industries and manufacturing enterprises. For example, it created
new agencies, such as the Bureau of Mines, to provide assistance to businessmen undertaking mining
exploration and development. It also increased appropriations for the Bureaus of Science, Plant and Animal
Industry, and thereby encouraged more scientific research for industrial purposes.

In spite of all these efforts, the Commonwealth government was unable to achieve its goal of economic self-
reliance. This was primarily because foreign trade and tariff policies remained under the control of the American
government. Free trade relations also continued and thus perpetuated the preferential treatment of exports of
agricultural raw materials. Moreover, the Pacific War broke out in 1941 and the Philippines was occupied by
Japanese troops.
The occupation of the Philippines by the Japanese during the War brought educational and
scientific activities practically to a halt as able bodied citizens joined the resistance movement. Worse still, much
of the country was reduced to ruins during the battles ought for the liberation in 1944-45. Manila, which was the
center of all educational and scientific activities, was razed to the ground, destroying everything that had been
built up before. It was in this condition that the Philippines became an independent state. The government had
to contend with economic reconstruction, normalization of operations as well as the task of planning the
direction of economic development.

Science and Technology since Independence

The underlying pattern of education and training of scientists, engineers and physicians established during the
America regime, as well as the direction of government support for scientific research and development, has
basically remained unchanged since independence in 1946. State support for education continues to be
concentrated at the elementary school level; private colleges and universities provide education for the majority
of the collegiate population.
The number of state universities and colleges has been increasing since 1946. However, their growth has not
been based on a rational plan. Partisan political considerations often determined the creation, location and
staffing of these institutions. Hence, many of them were ill-equipped and ill-prepared to provide quality higher
education particularly in the sciences and engineering. State universities and colleges vary in standards arising
largely from the uneven distribution of faculty development programs. The University of the Philippines System
remains the most developed with extensive graduate and undergraduate degree programs in the sciences and
engineering. It receives over half of the national budget for state universities and colleges.
Private universities and colleges have similarly increased in numbers since 1946. However, these vary in
standards. Most non-sectarian universities and colleges are organized and managed like business enterprises
and are heavily dependent on tuition fees. To operate profitably, they tend to concentrate on low-cost courses
like business administration, liberal arts and education, and encourage large enrollments in these. Sectarian
universities and college tend to be financially better endowed. Hence, they have been able to impose selective
admissions, lower faculty-student ratios and provide laboratory and library facilities requires for science and
engineering program. The large number of private colleges and universities to be supervised and the limited
Department of Education and Culture (now the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports) staff to do it has
hampered effective government supervision and control of their standards.
The number of college students and graduates from public and private universities and colleges has shown
tremendous increases since 1946. Nevertheless, the proportion of those in agriculture, medical and natural

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SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

sciences, and engineering has remained relatively low. There are very few graduates in the physical sciences.
Most students (and graduates) in agriculture come from state institutions while most of those in engineering and
medical sciences come from private institutions. In both, the majority of college students and graduates continue
to be in teacher training/education and commerce/business administration courses. This situation results from
the fact that students tend to enroll in courses where there are perceived employment opportunities and which
their families can afford. Engineering and science courses entail longer periods of study and have generally been
more expensive to pursue.
The rise of professional organizations of scientists and engineers followed closely the growth of higher education
in the Philippines. The earliest organizations were in medicine and pharmacy, professions which were the first to
be introduced during the colonial era. As the number of graduates in a particular discipline increased,
associations were formed to promote professional interests and regulate standards of practice and these were
modelled after their counterparts in the United States. Self-regulation by professional associations was
eventually institutionalized in government laws which established professional examining boards and licensing
procedures.
In certain cases, professional organizations initiated changes in the collegiate curriculum for their specialization
and worked for improvements in educational standards. The Philippine Medical Association (PMA) actively
worked to improve standards of medical education by limiting enrollment in medical colleges and adding
courses required for the medical degree. Academic members of the profession have led in questioning the
relevance of Western-oriented medical curriculum to Philippine conditions. This has resulted in recent
innovations in medical training such as more exposure of students to community medicine and the experimental
curriculum to produce doctors for rural areas. In the field of engineering, the Philippine Institute of Chemical
Engineers initiated a series of conference to discuss curriculum revisions for its profession. Results of these
conferences were then endorsed to the Department of Education and Culture (DEC) for official adoption. In other
branches of engineering, the government through DEC convened meetings of educators, members of
professional examining boards, representatives of professional organizations and the private sector to update
and adopt uniform core curricula for all universities and colleges to follow. These developments took place in
1973-1974.
On the whole, there has been little innovation in the education and training of scientists and engineers since
independence in 1946. This is in part due to the conservative nature of self-regulation by the professional
associations. Because of specialized training, vertical organization by disciplines and lack of liaison between
professions, professional associations have been unable to perceive the dynamic relationship between science,
technology and society and the relevance of their training to Philippine conditions.
Paralleling the increasing number of state colleges and universities has been a rise in government science
agencies since 1946. In 1947, the Bureau of Science was reorganized into an Institute of Science.(95) In the same
year, an Instituter of Nutrition, and in 1952, the Science Foundation of the Philippines (SFP) were created and
placed (along with the Institute of Science) under the Office of the President.(96) The Institute of Nutrition was to
perform research, advisory and extension functions while the Science Foundation was to stimulate research in
the sciences and engineering and promote science consciousness among the people. In 1952, the Commission
on Volcanology was also created and placed under the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP). Its
function was primarily basic research on volcanology.
Scientific work in government suffered from a lack of support, planning and coordination during the early
postwar years. The U.S. Economic Survey Mission to the Philippines in 1950, noted in its Report the dearth of
basic information needed by industries of the country, the neglect of experimental work and the meager
appropriation in the national budget for scientific research, including the low salaries of government scientists.
The Bell Mission recommended, among other things, the systematic exploration of the country's natural
resources to determine their potentialities for economic development.
Following the Bell Mission's Report, the Institute of Science was reorganized in 1951. Renamed Institute of
Science and Technology, it acquired the status of a government-owned corporation and was placed under the
office of Economic Coordination. Added to its former functions of resources survey, testing and standardization,
were the responsibility for improving industrial processes and stimulating technological development.

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In 1957, a report was submitted to the President pointing out the deterioration of Philippine science since the
early years of the American regime. The report analyzed the causes of this decline -- the lack of government
support; dearth of scientists of high training and ability; low morale of scientists and a lack of public awareness
of Science. It made several recommendations towards a long-range development of science in the country.
Consequently, Congress enacted the Science Act of 1958.
The Science Act created the National Science Development Board (NSDB) to formulate policies for the
development of science and coordinate the work of science agencies. The Act also created the Philippine Atomic
Energy Commission (PAEC) and the National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) and placed these, along
with the are actually the former organic and attached agencies of NSDB which have themselves been
reorganized. NRCP, under the NSDB.
In the 1960s additional science agencies were created by law which thereby expanded NSDB's organization and
functions. These were the Philippine Inventors Commission (1964), Philippine Coconut Research Institute (1964),
Philippine Textile Research Institute (1967), and Forest Products Research and Industries Development
Commission (1969).(102) Several existing agencies were also attached to NSDB for policy coordination -- the
NRCP, Metals Industry Research and Development Center (MIRDC), the SFP, Philippine Science High School
(PSHS) and Philippine Council for Agriculture and Resources Research (PCARR).
The creation of these science agencies undoubtedly shows increasing government concern and support for the
development of Philippine science and technology. In 1974, a national science
In 1982, NSDB was further reorganized into a National Science and Technology Authority (NSTA) composed of
four research and Development Councils; Philippine Council for Agriculture and Resources Research and
Development; Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research Development; Philippine Council for Health
Research and Development and the NRCP. NSTA has also eight research and development institutes and
support agencies under it. These
The expanding number of science agencies has given rise to a demand for high calibre scientists and engineers
to undertake research and staff universities and colleges. Hence, measures have also been taken towards the
improvement of the country’s science and manpower. In March 1983, Executive Order No. 889 was issued by the
President which provided for the establishment of a national network of centers of excellence in basic sciences.
As a consequence, six new institutes were created: The National Institutes of Physics, Geological Sciences,
Natural Sciences Research, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematical Sciences. Related to this efforts was the
establishment of a Scientific Career System in the Civil Service by Presidential Decree No. 901 on 19 July 1983.
This is designed to attract more qualified scientists to work in government and encourage young people to
pursue science degrees and careers.

Summary and Conclusion

This paper has shown that the development of science and technology in the Philippines has been greatly
influenced by its historical experience as a colony of Spain and the United States. Colonial policies, particularly
those on economic development and external trade, have over the centuries fostered a primarily agricultural,
export-oriented economy dependent on the outside world as market for its products and a source of
manufactured goods. This has led to a neglect and lack of support for industrialization.
This problem of colonial development has effected the historical development of Philippine science and
technology. The agricultural science generally tended to receive more funding and support compared to the
physical sciences. This pattern of support persisted despite the introduction of the other sciences into the
country's educational system during the American regime.
The continuing dependence of the Philippine economy on the United States even after independence in 1946, as
a result of the free trade relations and the virtual imposition of the "parity" amendment to the Philippine
Constitution by the US Congress has perpetuated the predominantly agricultural and rural character of
Philippine economy and society. This dependent development of Philippine society and economy has had
serious repercussions for the advancement of Philippine science and technology. Increasing social demand for

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 25

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

higher education has led to the growth of highly-trained professional manpower, particularly scientists,
engineers and physicians. However, because of the underdeveloped state of the economy, many of these
science-based professionals have either been unemployed or underemployed. Consequently, many of them have
been forced to migrate to developed countries, thus creating a "brain drain" or loss of valuable human resources
for the Philippines. (108) Worse still, this "brain drain" helps to perpetuate Philippine dependent development as
many of those who leave are highly educated and better trained professionals who are needed in the country's
development efforts. There is thus a need for the government to critically reexamine the interrelations between
past and present education and science policies with those of its economic development policies in order to be
able to redirect these towards the goal of attaining a strong, self-reliant economy and society. A well-developed
national science and technology is a critical factor in the achievement of this goal.

STANDING IN THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Choose 1 Philippine Invention from the “Lesson 1: Historical Antecedents” material.
2. In a 1/8 illustration board, draw or attach picture of the invention chosen. Determine the antecedents that
cause/lead to the invention. Include also the description of the invention. Be creative in designing your card.
3. Write your name, course and section in the output. Submit it to your instructor.

Sample Output

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 26

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

POSTTEST

Handwritten Only.

A. Define the following terms using your own words:

1. Science

2. Technology

3. Society

B. How does Science and Technology affect society? Explain

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 27

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

POSTTEST

C. Summarize the History of Science and Technology in the Philippines by Olivia C. Caoili.

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 28

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

RUBRICS FOR LEARNING TASKS

CRITERIA 4 3 2 1

Colors and Enhance Support Detract from

No effect
Patterns readability Readability readability

All pictures/ Most of the

Graphics/ Few of pictures/ Pictures or
drawing are picture/ drawings
Photos/ are clear and drawings are not
clear and are clear and
Drawing relevant clear or relevant.
relevant relevant

Excellent design
Needs Needs significant
and layout. It is Nice design and
Visual Clarity improvement in improvement in
neat and easy to layout. It is neat
and Appeal design, layout, or design, layout,
understand the and easy to read.
neatness. and neatness.
content.

Most of the Few of the

All the required
required required Missing most or
Required information are
information are information are all of the required
Elements/ clearly visible,
clearly visible, clearly visible, elements or
information organized and
organized and organized and information.
well placed.
well placed. well placed.

Multiple errors in
Excellent
Content spelling, grammar
spelling, 1-2 errors in
Spelling 3-5 errors in or punctuation.
grammar, spelling, grammar
grammar spelling, grammar The content is
punctuation and or punctuation.
punctuation or punctuation. copied and paste
original content.
or plagiarized/

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 29

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

RUBRICS FOR ESSAY WRITING

Needs
Excellent Very Good Average Unacceptable
CRITERIA Improvement
(5) (4) (3) (1)
(2)

As yet, the idea

has no clear
The idea is sense of
The writer is
clear and purpose or
The idea is beginning to Topic is not
focused. central theme.
mostly focused, define the topic, well-defined
Content/ Relevant The reader
and has some even though and/or there
Ideas details and must make
good details and development is are too many
quotes enrich inferences
quotes. still basic or topics.
the central based on
general.
theme. sketchy or
missing
details.

Sentences are
The reader has
well built, with The writing The text hums
The text seems to practice quite
Sentence strong and mostly flows, along with a
choppy and is a bit in order to
varied structure and usually steady beat, but
Fluency not easy to read give this paper a
that invites invites oral tends to be
orally. fair interpretive
expressive oral reading. flowery.
reading.
reading.

The form and

The reader
presentation of The format only
The writer's receives a
the text has a few
The writer's message is only garbled message
Format/ enhances the mistakes and is
message is understandable due to problems
ability for the generally easy to
Presentation understandable occasionally, and relating to the
reader to read and
in this format. paper is messily presentation of
understand and pleasing to the
written. the text, and is
connect with eye.
not typed.
the message.

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 30

SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE | GE 7 - SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, AND SOCIETY MODULE 1

History of technology. (2004, July 10). [Link] (n.d.). NASA History

Division | NASA. [Link]

The role of science and technology in the developing world in the 21st century. (n.d.). Institute for Ethics and
Emerging Technologies. [Link]

Science and technology in the Philippines. (2007, February 21). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Retrieved August 20, 2020, from [Link]

Science NetLinks. (n.d.). Science

NetLinks. [Link]

Society. (2002, February 1). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved August 20, 2020,
from [Link]

Author | MARIE GRACE ARELLANO-ROSALES 31