Science V/S Technology
By Akansha Goel, 29th Mar 2012 | Follow this author
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The Perspective of Technology Education, study of technology, diffference of science and technology
Science V/S Technology
The Perspective of Technology Education
Many countries in the world have been and are now implementing the study of technology.
In the United States as well as in other countries, there is confusion about the term “technology.”In 2001 and 2004, The International Technology Education Association (ITEA) conducted polls which were done by the Gallup Organization on how Americans think about technology.In both polls, a majority of Americans (62% in 2004 and 59% in 2001) responded that science and technology are basically one and the same thing.
When asked how important it is for high school students to understand the relationship between science and technology, 98% of the Americans stated that they thought that this was “very or somewhat important”. Most Americans (68% in 2004 & 67% in 2001) view technology very narrowly as being computers, electronics, and the internet.
There was near total consensus (98% in 2004 & 97% in 2001) in the public sampled that schools should include the study of technology in the curriculum.
What is Science?
Science seeks to understand the natural world.
What is Technology?
It is the innovation, change, or modification of the natural environment in order to satisfy perceived human wants and needs. (Standards for Technological Literacy, ITEA, 2000)
The goal of technology is to make modifications in the world to meet human needs. (National Science Education Standards, NRC, 1996)
In the broadest sense, technology extends our abilities to change the world: to cut, shape, or put together materials; to move things from one place to another; to reach farther with our hands, voices, and senses. (Benchmarks for Science Literacy, AAAS, 1993)
Technology is the process by which humans modify nature to meet their needs and wants. (Technically Speaking: Why All Americans Need to Know More About Technology, NAE/NRC, 2002)
Science vs. Technology
Science Deals with the natural world.
It is very concerned with what is (exists) in the natural world. (i.e.: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, Geology, etc.)
It Is concerned with processes that seek out the meaning of the natural world by “inquiry”, “discovering what is”, “exploring”, and using “the Scientific Method”.
Whereas..
Technology Deals with how humans modify, change, alter, or control the natural world.
It is very concerned with what can or should be designed, made, or developed from natural world materials and substances to satisfy human needs and wants .
It is concerned with such processes that we use to alter/change the natural world such as “Invention”, Innovation”, Practical Problem Solving, and Design.
"While technology and science have a common denominator being the natural world, they are similar yet very different."
>Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species' ability to control and adapt to their natural environments.
Technology has affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today's global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class. Many technological processes produce unwanted by-products, known as pollution, and deplete natural resources, to the detriment of the Earth and its environment. Various implementations of technology influence the values of a society and new technology often raises new ethical questions. Examples include the rise of the notion of efficiency in terms of human productivity, a term originally applied only to machines, and the challenge of traditional norms.
SCIENCE,ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
The distinction between science, engineering and technology is not always clear. Science is the reasoned investigation or study of phenomena, aimed at discovering enduring principles among elements of the phenomenal world by employing formal techniques such as the scientific method. Technologies are not usually exclusively products of science, because they have to satisfy requirements such as utility, usability and safety.
Engineering is the goal-oriented process of designing and making tools and systems to exploit natural phenomena for practical human means, often (but not always) using results and techniques from science. The development of technology may draw upon many fields of knowledge, including scientific, engineering, mathematical, linguistic, and historical knowledge, to achieve some practical result.
Technology is often a consequence of science and engineering — although technology as a human activity precedes the two fields. For example, science might study the flow of electrons in electrical conductors, by using already-existing tools and knowledge. This new-found knowledge may then be used by engineers to create new tools and machines, such as semiconductors, computers, and other forms of advanced technology. In this sense, scientists and engineers may both be considered technologists; the three fields are often considered as one for the purposes of research and reference.
The exact relations between science and technology in particular have been debated by scientists, historians, and policymakers in the late 20th century, in part because the debate can inform the funding of basic and applied science. In the immediate wake of World War II, for example, in the United States it was widely considered that technology was simply "applied science" and that to fund basic science was to reap technological results in due time. An articulation of this philosophy could be found explicitly in Vannevar Bush's treatise on postwar science policy, Science—The Endless Frontier: "New products, new industries, and more jobs require continuous additions to knowledge of the laws of nature... This essential new knowledge can be obtained only through basic scientific research." In the late-1960s, however, this view came under direct attack, leading towards initiatives to fund science for specific tasks (initiatives resisted by the scientific community). The issue remains contentious—though most analysts resist the model that technology simply is a result of scientific research.
>In modern use, "science" more often refers to a way of pursuing knowledge, not only the knowledge itself. It is "often treated as synonymous with ‘natural and physical science’, and thus restricted to those branches of study that relate to the phenomena of the material universe and their laws, sometimes with implied exclusion of pure mathematics. This is now the dominant sense in ordinary use."
Science in a broad sense existed before the modern era, and in many historical civilizations, but modern science is so distinct in its approach and successful in its results that it now defines what science is in the strictest sense of the term. Much earlier than the modern era, another important turning point was the development of the classical natural philosophy in the ancient Greek-speaking world.
A scientific theory is empirical, and is always open to falsification if new evidence is presented. That is, no theory is ever considered strictly certain as science accepts the concept of fallibilism. The philosopher of science Karl Popper sharply distinguishes truth from certainty. He writes that scientific knowledge "consists in the search for truth", but it "is not the search for certainty ... All human knowledge is fallible and therefore uncertain."[
In conclusion…
"The power and promise of technology can be further enhanced through the study of technology to assure that all people are technologically literate in the future."
Technology Education (the study of technology) should NOT be confused with Information Technology or Educational (or instructional) Technology..!!!
Comments
30th Mar 2012 (#)
I like your article. Is it not that science produces technology?
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30th Mar 2012 (#)
Yes thats true that science produces technology but not always..!!
Every technology does not involve science. Science is the reasoned investigation, aimed at discovering enduring principles among elements of the phenomenal world.
while Technologies are not usually exclusively products of science, because they have to satisfy requirements.
It depends on the field i gusse.
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