Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Comprehensive Review

A complete set of vocabulary practice flashcards covering human flourishing, the scientific method, historical developments of science and technology globally and in the Philippines, major inventors, and governmental S&T policies across Philippine presidencies.

Flourishing

The highest good of a human attempt to achieve their goal, representing success as a human being when achieved for the betterment of life.

Aristotle

Greek philosopher (385-323 B.C.) who posited that flourishing arises from components such as friendship, wealth, power, and phronesis, and coined the concept of eudaimonia.

Phronesis

A component of human flourishing identified by Aristotle, referring to practical wisdom.

Eudaimonia

An ideology coined by Aristotle that combines the Greek words for 'good' and 'spirit' to describe the peak of human happiness attained through the pursuit of becoming a better person.

Hedonistic View of Well-Being

The belief that happiness is the polar opposite of suffering, where the presence of happiness indicates the absence of pain, and life's purpose is to maximize happiness while minimizing misery.

Egoism (Aristotelian Ethics)

The ethical viewpoint holding that the central idea is an individual's own personal happiness, flourishing, and well-being, because one's own life is the only life a person must live.

Scientific Method

A logical process for experimentation used to observe and answer questions through a sequence of steps from observation to conclusion and recommendation.

Material Technology

A category of technology where knowledge is directly embedded into technological products such as tools, equipment, agro-chemicals, improved plant varieties, hybrids, animal breeds, and vaccines.

Knowledge-Based Technology

A category of technology involving technical knowledge, management skills, and processes required to successfully produce products or cultivate crops.

Department of Science and Technology (DOST)

The premier Philippine agency tasked with overseeing national technology development, conducting scientific research, formulating the comprehensive National Science and Technology plan, and maintaining a national databank.

Sustainable Alternative Lighting (SALt) Lamp

An environment-friendly and sustainable alternative light source developed by Aisa Mijeno that runs on saltwater, specifically designed for coastal communities.

Ramon C. Barba

Filipino scientist known for discovering the method of inducing the flowering of mango trees using sprays of ethrel and potassium nitrate.

Fe V. del Mundo

The 'Mother of Philippine Pediatrics' who invented the incubator, a jaundice-relieving device, and popularized the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, applesauce, toast) to treat diarrhea.

Maria Y. Orosa

Filipino food scientist who formulated Soyalac, calamansi juice, banana ketchup, fruit wines, and rice cookies known as ricebran or darak to combat beri-beri.

Angel Alcala

The first Filipino scientist to conduct comprehensive studies on Philippine reptiles and amphibians and creator of the first artificial reef around the Philippine coastline.

Free Republic Act of 1988

Legislation enacted during President Corazon Aquino's administration that opened free public education at the secondary level.

Science and Technology Agenda for National Development (STAND)

A 1993 initiative under President Fidel V. Ramos prioritizing export winners, domestic countryside needs, support industries, and the coconut industry.

Republic Act No. 8439

Also known as the Magna Carta for Science and Technology Personnel, passed under the Ramos administration to provide incentives and benefits for scientific workers.

Republic Act No. 7687

The Science and Technology Scholarship Law of 1994, which provided scholarships to deserving Filipino students pursuing careers in science and technology.

Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999 (Republic Act No. 8749)

Environmental legislation signed under President Joseph Estrada to preserve the atmosphere and promote sustainable development of natural resources.

Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 (Republic Act No. 8792)

Legislation signed by President Joseph Estrada that outlaws computer hacking and establishes legal protections for online commercial transactions.

Filipinovation

An initiative established under President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo aiming to position the Philippines as an innovation hub in Asia.

Biofuels Act of 2006 (Republic Act No. 9367)

Legislation under President Arroyo that mandates the development and usage of biofuels across the country as a cheaper, cleaner alternative to conventional gasoline.

Agricultural and Fisheries Mechanization Law (Republic Act No. 10601)

An act signed during President Benigno Aquino III's administration to improve the agriculture and fisheries sector through mechanization (AFMech).

Bureau of Government Laboratories

Institution established on July 1, 1901, by the Philippine Commission under the Department of Interior, replacing the Spanish-era Laboratorio Municipal.

Bureau of Science

Government body established on October 26, 1905, succeeding the Bureau of Government Laboratories to focus on the study and treatment of tropical diseases.

Science Act of 1958 (Republic Act No. 2067)

Act passed by the Philippine Congress that established the National Science Development Board to coordinate, intensify, and fund scientific and technological research.

Presidential Decree No. 49, s. 1972

Decree issued by Ferdinand Marcos Sr. establishing the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA).

Presidential Decree No. 334, s. 1973

Decree creating the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) to promote industrial and economic growth through efficient energy usage.

National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST)

Established in 1976 under the Marcos administration, serving as the highest scientific advisory and recognition body composed of outstanding Filipino scientists.

National Science and Technology Authority (NSTA)

The reorganized scientific body created through Executive Order No. 784 in 1982 to provide central coordination of national R&D, later converted to DOST in 1986.

Scientia

The Latin root word of science, literally meaning 'knowledge.'

Techne

The Greek root word of technology, meaning 'art, skill, or cunning of hand.'

Science, Technology, and Society (STS)

An interdisciplinary academic field that examines how modern scientific and technological changes shape cultural, economic, and political values and how society reciprocal influences them.

Stone Age Hand Axes

Edged stone tools made from volcanic rocks starting approximately $2.3\,\text{million}$ years ago in Eastern Africa by roughly shaping and trimming flakes.

Cuneiform

The world's first writing system, developed by the Sumerians, utilizing wedge-shaped symbols and word pictures pressed into wet clay tablets with reeds.

City of Uruk

Regarded as the first true city in the world, built by the Sumerians using river mud, clay, and reeds to produce sunbaked structural bricks.

Papyrus

Writing material developed by ancient Egyptians by processing the papyrus reed plant into thin, durable sheets for recording information.

Hieroglyphics

The formal ancient Egyptian writing system composed of logographic, symbolic, and illustrative characters carved onto temple walls and written on papyrus.

Clepsydra

An ancient Egyptian water clock designed to measure the passage of time via the regulated gravitational flow of water into or out of a marked vessel.

Water Mill

An ancient Greek technological innovation commonly utilized in agriculture for processing and milling grains into flour.

Gutenberg Printing Press

A fifteenth-century movable-type mechanical press invented by Johannes Gutenberg that revolutionized text reproduction and information dissemination across Renaissance Europe.

Nicolaus Copernicus

Renaissance astronomer who established the heliocentric model, demonstrating that the sun sits at the center of the solar system while the Earth revolves and rotates.

Galileo Galilei

Renaissance scientist who improved the astronomical telescope, observed lunar mountains and craters, and developed early thermoscopes and military compasses.

Isaac Newton

English physicist and mathematician who authored the 'Principia Mathematica,' formulated the laws of motion and universal gravitation, and built the practical reflecting telescope.

Pasteurization

A thermal process invented by Louise Pasture involving heating dairy products to kill bacteria responsible for rapid milk spoilage.

Samuel M. Kier

An American industrialist who invented kerosene by refining crude petroleum, initiating the modern petroleum-refining process.

Alexander Graham Bell

The inventor credited with developing the electrical telephone during the Industrial Revolution, fundamentally transforming voice telecommunication.

Electric Arc Lamp

An early electrical lighting device developed by Humphry Davy in 1802 that generated illumination through a high-voltage electrical arc.

Yuri Gagarin

Soviet cosmonaut who became the first human to travel into outer space in 1961, featured prominently in 20th-century space exploration milestones.