Science & Society Introduction

Science & Society

Introduction

Science & Society is a study of the relationships between science, the philosophy of science, science ethics, and the how these interface with society. It is a broad-based course covering major current issues from a historical, ethical, political, and scientific basis. The major topics to be covered are: (1) an overview of the issues relating science and society, (2) atomic energy and nuclear power, (3) the effect of certain chemicals on people and the environment, and (4) Darwin’s theory of evolution. The positive and negative aspects of these main topics, and the implications on society as a result of the application of scientific discovery, will be included. Reading assignments from thirty-five texts will be used to address the complexity in science and society issues. This course will also have flexibility to discuss any science topic of important current events such as - global warming and climate change, stem cell research, bioengineered foods, cloning, technology, etc. The texts chosen present the varied and sometimes controversial sides of scientific issues. Ultimately, this course is similar to scientific discovery in that it is open-ended scientific inquiry with the intent that students will improve their ability to question complex issues; to analyze conflicting data; to have a broader understanding of problems; and to formulate sound decision making processes to deal with issues that will eventually require action. It is essentially a change from what is known as a ‘traditional’ high school course to a seminar style Socratic discussion of topics that merge science and society issues. Course discussions will include science principles, equally important issues of ethics, politics, and historical information as they all relate to society. Scientific advances and discoveries will be presented via texts by authors that have actually made these discoveries, recorded and reported them, and by other noted scholars who have looked at the broader picture of a discovery and how it affects our society. Laboratory work will be based on action research in which the students take an involved role in not only the research, but also as a participant in determining potential change. Research on the health effects on teenage daily use of backpacks, the effects of possible over-medication of teenagers, analysis of chemicals used in common products, and an investigation into the school’s energy use, are examples of labs.

Wikipedia defines science as:
From the Latin scientia, knowledge, in the broadest sense, refers to any systematic knowledge or practice. In a more restricted sense, science refers to a system of acquiring knowledge based on the scientific method, as well as to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research.

Based on a broad interpretation of this definition Science & Society will be taught as an interdisciplinary science class. This course focuses on increasing scientific literacy so that scientific inquiry becomes a habit of mind even for the majority of students who will not pursue a scientific career. Society has never before experienced the tremendous acceleration in information dissemination via the Internet. People are now bombarded with huge amounts of information, specifically in this case scientific information; and there is an urgent need for society to be able to question with some knowledge various inputs that may or may not accurately reflect an objective position. This course will connect scientific discoveries with the effects on society and will address this media-overload. This course calls attention to scientists who have their own personal contracts with their own goals, biases, and desires to know and control nature. The discovery and application of atomic power, the uses and abuses of certain chemicals, the explanations and arguments for intelligent design and the history and place of evolutionary theory will be studied from the point of how science has been utilized and how it and has influenced society.
Wikipedia defines society as:
 “from the Greek socus, meaning locally social, and implies a social contract between members of the community.” This social contract between science and society is essentially the focus of this course.

Traditionally, high school science courses have been mainly general and advanced placement courses in physics, chemistry, and biology. These three science disciplines have an important role in making society scientifically literate. These have taught the ‘house-of-cards’ concept that defines and holds the disciplines in science intact. This course is an attempt to add to the scope of these three science disciplines. It will take an in depth look at specific topics in a broad-based sense. For example, in covering the topic of quantum mechanics in AP chemistry texts, little mention is made of the amazing developments in the United States and Europe during the time when fission was discovered in Germany ultimately resulting in the development of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos, New Mexico. Little mention is made of the development of the hydrogen bomb and the events that pushed scientists, in an almost fanatical direction, towards a result that has the potential to destroy mankind. The details relating that time of expansive discovery and the current political/nuclear situation in the world – nuclear proliferation, nuclear energy and waste, etc. – are not addressed in depth in a traditional chemistry course. Those issues and the discussion of ethics and the scientific and political struggles in making decisions is part of this course. The job of science education is to continually add to the students’ knowledge of that factual ‘house-of-cards’ theory and that is what this course intends. Because we are in a totally new world vastly different from even ten years ago there is a continuing need to expand our practical science knowledge. Thus, this course is an attempt to present science as integrated with historical events in time, with government policies that are shaped concurrently with the application of discoveries, and with political and ethical arenas that may influence scientists who have allegiances to those institutions and governments. Science & Society will attempt to tell the story of science and its connections to history, politics and ethical behavior.

Over time the relationship between society and science has become symbiotic. The benefits from science to society throughout the world are almost too numerous to mention and the need of resources by science from society is unquestionable. For example, the science required to get the space station in orbit and keep it functional has taken a combined effort of many scientists, governments, and engineers from all over the world and the international cooperation of research labs as well as science related industries. Benefits so ingrained in daily life as a result of scientific principles and discoveries have made life easier for everyone in developed countries. There is no question of the connection between society and science. The day of an average American student easily demonstrates the totally pervasive influence of science on their lives. The following list of scientific benefits is greatly condensed here – the comfort we enjoy in our homes with lighting, heating and general control of our environment - are all a result of years of scientific effort and discovery. The taken-for-granted use of personal items like electric tooth brushes, stereos, ipods, computers and computer games, cell phones and other personal electronic devices show the influence of science in our lives. Refrigerators, microwaves, ovens, furnaces, toasters, global positioning systems, the Internet, TVs, automobiles, airplanes, NMRs, MRIs, and on and on, are all based on past scientific discoveries. The positive effect of science on our lives and well being is almost immeasurable. The energy we consume, prescription drugs we take, foods we eat, the potable water we drink and the air we breathe are all influenced by science and their quality is based on scientific principles and discoveries made by scientists in fields of physics, chemistry, and biology, etc. There is no one that would deny that science has made our daily lives easier, more mobile, with more access to information and technology, and totally different from one generation to the next. Most people do not reflect for even a moment on the monumental influence science has on our lives, all of it rooted in thousands of scientific discoveries by thousands of scientist in the past and continuing today.

The progress of science and its influence on society from the industrial, atomic, electronic, and technological revolutions is staggering. Discoveries in science continue to push society to new frontiers some of which are coming under more scrutiny by society like cloning, stem-cell research, over-medication from a plethora of prescription drugs for almost any physical ailment, bioengineered crops, the use and spread of nuclear power, robotics use in society, nanotechnology, greenhouse gasses effects, pollution from oil and other chemicals, etc. There has never been a time when the complex relationship between science and society needs to be addressed as there is today. Ethical and political aspects of science have always existed but never more than today with the virtual explosion of basic and applied scientific research all over the world. The purpose of Science & Society is to address some of these challenging issues we currently face.