GOVERNMENT POLICIES ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

 National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP)- the government agency consulted by the DOST to conduct a
research and consult various sectors in the society to study how the Philippines can prepare itself in meeting the
ASEAN 2015 Goals.
NRCP’s clustered policies on Science and Technology:
1. Social Sciences, Humanities, Education, International Policies and Governance
2. Physics, Engineering and Industrial Research, Earth and Space Sciences, and Mathematics
3. Medical, Chemical, and Pharmaceutical Sciences
4. Biological Sciences, Agriculture, and Forestry

SCIENCE EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES

The Concept of Science Education
 Science education focuses on teaching, learning, and understanding science.
 Teaching science involves developing ways on how to effectively teach science by means of exploring pedagogical
theories and models in helping teachers teach scientific concepts and processes effectively.
 Learning science includes both pedagogy and the most interesting aspect which is helping students understand and
love science.
 Understanding science implies developing and applying science-process skills and using science literacy in
understanding the natural the natural world and activities in everyday life.

SCIENCE EDUCATION IN BASIC AND TERTIARY EDUCATION

Basic Education
 Science education helps students learn important concepts and facts that are related to everyday life.

Tertiary Education
 Science education deals with developing students’ understanding and appreciation of science ideas and scientific
works.

SCIENCE SCHOOLS IN THE PHILIPPINES

1. Philippine Science High School System (PSHSS)
 A government program for gifted students in the Philippines.
 It is a service institute of the DOST whose mandate is to offer free scholarship basis for secondary course with special
emphasis on subjects pertaining to the sciences.

2. Special Science Elementary Schools (SSES) Project

 The SSES aimed to develop Filipino children equipped with scientific and technological knowledge, skills, and values.

3. Quezon City Regional Science High School

 The school was established on September 17, 1967 and originally named as Quezon City Science High School.
 The school was a product of a dream to establish a special science high school for talented students in science and
mathematics.

4. Manila Science High School

 It is the first science high school in the Philippines.
 MSHS aims to produce scientists with souls that is why humanities courses and other electives are included in their
curriculum.

5. Central Visayan Institute Foundation

 It is the home and pioneer of the prominent school-based innovation known as the Dynamic Learning Program (DLP).
Dynamic Learning Program (DLP)
 A synthesis of classical and modern pedagogical theories adapted to foster the highest level of learning, creativity, and
productivity.

INDIGENOUS SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE PHILIPPINES

Indigenous Knowledge System
 It is embedded in the daily life experiences of young children as they grow up.

Some examples of indigenous knowledge that are taught and practiced by indigenous people are:
 Predicting weather conditions and seasons using knowledge in observing animals’ behavior and celestials bodies;
  Using herbal medicines;
 Preserving foods;
 Classifying plants and animals into families and groups based on cultural properties;
 Building local irrigation system
 Producing wines and juices from tropical fruits ; and
 Keeping the custom of growing plants and vegetables in the yard.

INDIGENOUS SCIENCE
 It is part of the indigenous knowledge system practiced by different groups of people and early civilizations.

THE CONCEPT OF INDIGENOUS SCIENCE

1. Indigenous science uses science process skills such as observing, comparing, classifying, measuring, problem solving,
inferring, communicating, and predicting.
2. Indigenous science is guided by culture and community values such as the following:
 The land is a source of life. It is a precious gift from the creator.
 The Earth is revered as “Mother Earth” .
 All living and nonliving things are interconnected and interdependent with each other.
 Human beings are stewards or trustee of the land and other natural resources. They have the responsibility to preserve
it.
 Nature is a friend to human beings---it needs respect and proper and proper care.
3. Indigenous science is composed of traditional knowledge practiced and valued by people and communities such as
ethno-biology, ethno-medicine, indigenous farming methods, and folk astronomy.

HUMAN FLOURISHING IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Technology as a Mode of Revealing
 The term “generation gap” is attributed mainly to the changes brought about by technology.

Martin Heidegger
 A German philosopher who said that Science and Technology must be taken as a part of human life that merits
reflective and meditative thinking.
 In his seminal work, The Question of Technology, urges us to question technology and see beyond people’s common
understanding of it.
What is technology?
 According to Heidegger, everyone knows the two statements that answer this:
1. Technology is a means to an end.
2. Technology is a human activity.
 Technology itself is a contrivance----in Latin, “instrumentum”

 Heidegger urged people to envision technology as a mode of revealing as it shows so much more about the human
person and the world.
 Heidegger also put forward the ancient Greek concepts of aletheia, poiesis, and techne.
Aletheia - means unhiddeness or disclosure
Poiesis- defined as bringing forth
-For Aristotle, it means making or producing something for a purpose.
Techne -root word for technology
- means skill, art, or craft
“Technology is a poiesis that discloses or reveals the truth.”

TECHNOLOGY AS POIESIS: Applicable to Modern Technology?

Does the idea that technology is poiesis apply to modern technology?
 Heidegger characterizes modern technology as a challenging forth since it is very aggressive in its activity.
 Modern technology challenges nature and demands of its resources that are most of the time, forcibly extracted for
human consumption and storage.
 Heidegger described modern technology as the age of switches, standing reserve, and stockpiling for its own sake.

QUESTIONING AS THE PIETY OF THOUGHT

 “Questioning is the piety of thought”---stated by Heidegger in his book “The Question Concerning Technology”.
 Normally, piety is associated with being religious but for Heidegger, piety means obedience and submission.
 In addressing what technology has brought forth , one cannot help but be submissive to what his/her thoughts and
reflections elicit.
  It is when we start questioning that we submit ourselves to our thought and leads one to search for his/her place in
the universe and in the grand scale of things.

ENFRAMING : WAY OF REVEALING IN MODERN TECHNOLOGY

 The way of revealing in modern technology is an enframing.
 Enframing- it is as if nature is put in a box or in a frame so that it can be better understood and controlled according to
people’s desires.
 Calculative thinking
- one orders and puts a system to nature so it can be understood better and controlled.
 Meditative thinking
- one lets nature reveal itself to him/her without forcing it.
 The Earth is made as a big gasoline station from which we extract, stockpile, and put in standing-reserve, ready to be
used as we see fit.

HUMAN PERSON SWALLOWED BY TECHNOLOGY

 According to Heidegger, if we allow ourselves to get swallowed by modern technology, we allow ourselves to get
swallowed by modern technology, we lose the essence of who we are as beings in this world.
 Heidegger further asserted that the “essence of technology is nothing technological”.
 The essence of technology is not found in the instrumentality and function of machines constructed, but in the
significance such technology unfolds.

ART AS A WAY OUT OF ENFRAMING

 Enframing as a mode of revealing in modern technology tends to block poiesis.
 The poetry that is found in nature can no longer be easily appreciated when nature is enframed.
 Heidegger proposes art as way out of this enframing because with art, we are better able to see the poetic in nature in
reality.
 It leads us away from calculative thinking and towards meditative thinking.
 According to the ancient Greek concept, there was a time when it was not technology alone that bore the name techne.

HUMAN FLOURISHING AS REFLECTED IN PROGRESS AND DEVELOPMENT

 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
 The main objective is to eradicate poverty by 2030.
 The main strategy for eradicating poverty is the same---GROWTH.

 An economist named Peter Edward argues that instead of pushing poorer countries to ”catch up” with rich ones, we
should be thinking of ways to get rich countries to “catch down” to more appropriate levels of development.
 In the US, the life expectancy to live long and have happy lives is 79 years and GDP per capita is $53,000.
 Costa Rica manages to sustain one of the highest happiness indicators and life expectancies in the world.
 The idea of “de-developing” rich countries might prove to be strong rallying cry in the global south, but will be tricky
to sell to westeners---“tricky but not impossible.
 According to recent consumer research, 70% of people in middle- and high-income countries believe
overconsumption is putting our planet and society at risk.
 The idea of “steady-state” economics is a step in the right direction and is growing in popularity, but it still doesn’t get
the framing right.
 Latin Americans are organising alternative visions around the indigenous concept of “buen vivir” or good living.
 The west has its own tradition of reflection on the good life and it’s time we revive it.