Science, Technology, and Society

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xii

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2. Introduction

   • David D. Kumar, Daryl E. Chubin

   Pages 1-8

3. Real Science Education: Replacing “PCB” with S(cience) through STS throughout All Levels of K-12 “Materials” as One Approach

   • Rustum Roy

   Pages 9-19

4. The Development of Civic Scientific Literacy in the United States

   • Jon D. Miller

   Pages 21-47

5. STS Science in Canada From Policy to Student Evaluation

   • Glen S. Aikenhead

   Pages 49-89

6. Trade-offs, Risks, and Regulations in Science and Technology Implications for STS Education

   • Julie C. DeFalco

   Pages 91-120

7. Thoughts about the Evaluation of STS More Questions than Answers

   • James W. Altschuld, David Devraj Kumar

   Pages 121-140

8. Science,Technology,Society,and the Environment Scientific Literacy for the Future

   • Kathleen B. de Bettencourt

   Pages 141-165

9. Marginalization of Technology within the STS Movement in American K-12 Education

   • Dennis W. Cheek

   Pages 167-192

10. Student Understanding of Global Warming Implications for STS Education beyond 20001

    • James A. Rye, Peter A. Rubba

    Pages 193-230

11. STS Education for Knowledge Professionals

    • J. Scott Hauger

    Pages 231-255

12. Reculturing Science Politics, Policy, and Promises to Keep

    • Daryl E. Chubin

    Pages 257-276

13. Trends and Opportunities in Science and Technology Studies A View from the National Science Foundation

    • Edward J. Hackett

    Pages 277-291

14. Back Matter

    Pages 293-308

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David D. Kumar and Daryl E. Chubin We live in an information age. Technology abounds: information tech­ nology, communication technology, learning technology. As a once popular song went, "Something's happening here, but it's just not exactly clear." The world appears to be a smaller, less remote place. We live in it, but we are not necessarily closely tied to it. We lack a satisfactory understanding of it. So we are left with a paradox: In an information age, information alone will neither inform nor improve us as citizens nor our democracy, society, or in­ stitutions. No, improvement will take some effort. It is a heavy burden to be reflective, indeed analytical, and disciplined but only constructively constrained by different perspectives. The science-based technology that makes for the complexity, contro­ versy, and uncertainty of life sows the seeds of understanding in Science, Technology, and Society. STS, as it is known, encompasses a hybrid area of scholarship now nearly three decades old. As D. R. Sarewitz,a former geologist now congressional staffer and an author, put it After all, the important and often controversial policy dilemmas posed by issues such as nuclear energy, toxic waste disposal, global climate change, or biotech­ nology cannot be resolved by authoritative scientific knowledge; instead, they must involve a balancing of technical considerations with other criteria that are explicitly nonscientific: ethics, esthetics, equity, ideology. Trade-offs must be made in light of inevitable uncertainties (Sarewitz, 1996, p. 182).

• education
• evaluation
• information
• politics
• science
• technology

• Florida Atlantic University, Davie, USA

  David D. Kumar

• National Science Foundation, Arlington, USA

  Daryl E. Chubin

Policies and ethics