Tenho sido questionado sobre afinal como se pode definir atualmente Ciência (C), Tecnologia (T) e Sociedade (S). Não há uma única e consensual definição destes empreendimentos e que contemple tudo o que incluem a CTS.
Já escrevi sobre estes e suas inter-relações, nomeadamente na minha tese e livro de 2011 sobre a Educação CTS (ver publicações deste blog). Todavia voltei a fazer uma pesquisa rápida e encontrei (mantendo no original) várias definições como as que a seguir se destacam.
CIÊNCIA:
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Aikenhead (ver, por exemplo, em: http://www.usask.ca/education/profiles/aikenhead/webpage/sts05.htm) define Ciência como “The study of the natural world we call science.”
- Science is both a body of knowledge and a process. In school, science may sometimes seem like a collection of isolated and static facts listed in a textbook, but that’s only a small part of the story. Just as importantly, science is also a process of discovery that allows us to link isolated facts into coherent and comprehensive understandings of the natural world. (http://undsci.berkeley.edu/article/whatisscience_01)
- According Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, the definition of science is “knowledge attained through study or practice,” or “knowledge covering general truths of the operation of general laws, esp. as obtained and tested through scientific method [and] concerned with the physical world.”
TECNOLOGIA:
- De acordo com o mesmo Aikenhead tecnologia tem a ver com “The study of the artificially constructed world is technology. Technology is primarily concerned with developing knowledge and designing processes, in response to human needs and societal problems”.
- In a research and development organisation such as ESA, technology is a concept of primary importance, so by necessity the definition of the word is precise: ‘technology is the practical application of knowledge so that something entirely new can be done, or so that something can be done in a completely new way.’ (da agência espacial europeia: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Technology/What_is_technology); People make tools in order to do tasks they cannot otherwise accomplish – engineering is actually defined as ‘the use of technology to solve specific technical problems’.
- “Technology is a body of knowledge devoted to creating tools, processing actions and extracting of materials. The term ‘Technology” is wide and everyone has their own way of understanding the meaning of technology. We use technology to accomplish various tasks in our daily lives, in brief; we can describe technology as products, processes or organizations. We use technology to extend our abilities, and that makes people as the most important part of any technological system. Technology is also an application of science to solve a problem. But what you have to know is that technology and science are different subjects which work hand-in-hand to accomplish a specific task or solve a particular problem “(http://www.useoftechnology.com/what-is-technology/).
SOCIEDADE
- Society is a group of people with common territory, interaction, and culture (http://www.sparknotes.com/sociology/society-and-culture/section1.rhtml)
- Pode ser também “a large group of people who live together in an organizedway, making decisions about how to do things and sharing thework that needs to be done. All the people in a country, or in several similar countries, can be referred to as a society” (consultar e e informação complementar em: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/society)
Diferenças entre Ciência e Tecnologia:
Além de muitos artigos disponíveis nas bases de dados e servidores de variadas instituições e revistas aconselho a visualização do quadro comparativo em: http://www.diffen.com/difference/Science_vs_Technology
Afinal a visão que hoje é trabalhada desde o ensino básico ao superior é coerente com que realmente acontece nos vários campos de saber?
