As James Gallagher (1971) said in Wong & Hodson (2010):
"For future citizens in a democracy, understanding the interrelations of science, technology, and society may be as important as understanding the concepts and processes of science. An awareness of the interrelations between science, technology, and society may be a prerequisite to intelligent action on the part of a future electorate and their chosen leaders. (p. 337)"
I am certainly a strong believer of this statement, and I feel that as teachers it is our job to fully equip our students with these understandings and interrelations.
I wish to close with a little validation for Galileo, and some proof that some leaders like David Scott have successfully bridged science, technology and culture. Hundreds of years later, on the moon, Galileo's free fall experiment was proven.
"For future citizens in a democracy, understanding the interrelations of science, technology, and society may be as important as understanding the concepts and processes of science. An awareness of the interrelations between science, technology, and society may be a prerequisite to intelligent action on the part of a future electorate and their chosen leaders. (p. 337)"
I am certainly a strong believer of this statement, and I feel that as teachers it is our job to fully equip our students with these understandings and interrelations.
I wish to close with a little validation for Galileo, and some proof that some leaders like David Scott have successfully bridged science, technology and culture. Hundreds of years later, on the moon, Galileo's free fall experiment was proven.
From NASA's video library: "At the end of the last Apollo 15 moon walk, Commander David Scott held out a geologic hammer and a feather and dropped them at the same time. Because they were essentially in a vacuum, there was no air resistance and the feather fell at the same rate as the hammer, as Galileo had concluded hundreds of years before."