The role of science in the development of society, the goals and objectives of science

 

Knowledge and understanding of science 

 

This objective refers to enabling students to understand the main ideas and 

concepts of science and to apply them to solve problems in familiar and unfamiliar 

situations. Students are expected to develop critical and reflective thinking and judge 

---

the credibility of scientific information when this is presented to them. 

 

At the end of the course, students should be able to: 

• 

recognizeandrecallscientificinformation 

• 

explain and apply scientific information to solve problems in familiar and unfamiliar 

situations 

• 

analyse scientific information by identifying components, relationships and patterns, 

both in experimental data and ideas 

• 

discuss and evaluate scientific information from different sources (Internet, 

newspaper articles, television, scientific texts and publications) and assess its 

credibility.Attitudesinscience 

 

This objective goes beyond science and refers to encouraging attitudes and 

dispositions that will contribute to students’ development as caring and responsible 

individuals and members of society. This objective is set in the context of the science 

class but will pervade other subjects and life outside school. It includes notions of 

safety and responsibility when working in science as well as respect for and 

collaboration with others and their shared environment. 

 

Duringthecourse, studentsshould: 

• 

carry out scientific investigations using materials and techniques safely and 

skillfully 

• 

work effectively as members of a team, collaborating, acknowledging and 

supporting others as well as ensuring a safe working environment 

• 

show respect for  themselves and others, and deal responsibly with the living and 

non-living environment. 

Scientific research is published in an enormous range of scientific literature. 

Scientific journals communicate and document the results of research carried out in 

universities and various other research institutions, serving as an archival record of 

science. The first scientific journals, Journal des Sçavans followed by the 

Philosophical Transactions, began publication in 1665. Since that time the total 

number of active periodicals has steadily increased. In 1981, one estimate for the 

number of scientific and technical journals in publication was 11,500. The United 

States National Library of Medicine currently indexes 5,516 journals that contain 

articles on topics related to the life sciences. Although the journals are in 39 

languages, 91 percent of the indexed articles are published in English.Most scientific 

journals cover a single scientific field and publish the research within that field; the 

research is normally expressed in the form of a scientific paper. Science has become 

so pervasive in modern societies that it is generally considered necessary to 

communicate the achievements, news, and ambitions of scientists to a wider 

populace. Science magazines such as New Scientist, Science & Vie, and Scientific 

American cater to the needs of a much wider readership and provide a non-technical 

---

summary of popular areas of research, including notable discoveries and advances 

in certain fields of research. Science books engage the interest of many more people. 

Tangentially, the science fiction genre, primarily fantastic in nature, engages the 

public imagination and transmits the ideas, if not the methods, of science. 

 

Recent efforts to intensify or develop links between science and non-scientific 

disciplines such as literature or more specifically, poetry, include the Creative 

Writing Science resource developed through the Royal Literary Fund.