WHAT DO YOU STUDY IN S-T-S CURRICULA ?

This is the table of contents of a book dealing with S-T-S Issues. one minute readings: issues in S-T-S -- Richard F. Brinckerhoff -- addison / wesley -- 1992 -- ( science-technology-society ). Just scanning this index allows you to see the huge scope of what might be encompassed by such a curriculum. However --- so many of these situations are so emotion --- that sometimes the "science" gets lost in the discussion -- and people with tongue in cheek say that S-T-S means --- Stop Teaching Science.
Those 'chapters' in bold face have been modified in some form and are "here" some place on the home pages. Dr. Leyden has the original book if you want to see any of these topics.

Introduction
This book is different from most of your other school books. Yes, it is full of questions, but:

none of the questions have any correct answers. Your teacher doesn't have any either.
all of the questions ask your opinion and are open to argument among your classmates, friends, or family.
most of the questions will give you a new "slant" on the science course you are taking.
most of the questions deal with "hot" issues you are learning about through the newspaper, magazines, and TV.

In writing this book, I looked for places where the science you are studying now has something important to do with the world, with the USA, and with your hometown daily life. In most of those places, applications of science are raising tough questions and are creating problems that science cannot answer.
Instead, the answers are being worked out right now by the actions of voters, taxpayers, parents, and consumers. Whether you like it or not, these actors include you. This book is intended to give you some practice-a warmup if you will-for the kind of decisions you will have to make often as you experience life. To deal with the questions in this book, you will need a knowledge of science to find not the "right" answers ( because there are none ) but the "best possible" answers. Sometimes finding a "best possible" answer will be frustrating. You may need to argue with others whose "best possible" answer differs from yours. You may never know how your answer would work if it were tried. it will often be fun. It will always be useful practice, for that is precisely the kind of problem solving that parents, politicians, business people, and, yes, scientists, have to do all the time. Welcome to the real world !

Contents

Introduction iv
Biology
General Biology
Issue 1 Definition of "Life" 2
Issue 2 Dollar Value of a Human Life 3
Issue 3 Debating Dissection 5
Issue 4 Daily Hazards to Life and Health 6
Issue 5 Tobacco 8
Issue 6 Drugs and Sports Technology 9
Issue 7 Patenting Plants and Animals 11
Issue 8 Animal Rights 14
Issue 9 Vitamin C and History 17
Issue 10 The Geopolitics of Genes 18

Environment
Issue 11 photosynthesis: Greenhouse Effect 19
Issue 12 National Parks 21
Issue 13 Trees vs. Desert: A Project 22
Issue 14 World population Explosion 24
Issue 15 Population Paradox 26
Issue 16 U.S. Birthrate 27
Issue 17 Pesticide Pollution 28
Issue 18 Medfly 30
Issue 19 Destruction of Species 31
Issue 20 Destruction of Tropical Forests 33
Issue 21 Worthless Species? 35

Bioethics
Issue 22 Human Gene Manipulation 36
Issue 23 Fetal Medical Examination 38
Issue 24 AIDS and Society's Responsibility 40
Issue 25 Organ Transplants 41
Issue 26 Medical Tests for Health Insurability 43

Chemistry
General Chemistry
Issue 27 Law of Conservation of Matter 46
Issue 28 Randomness: Entropy 48
Issue 29 Methane & Fermentation: Developing Countries 50
Issue 30 Ozone Catalysis: Destruction of Our Atmosphere 52
Issue 31 Hazardous Chemicals, Dioxin, and Molecular Formulas 54
Issue 32 Manganese, Platinum, Chromium, and Foreign Policy 56

Waste
Issue 33 Waste Disposal 57
Issue 34 Underground Toxic Wastes 58
Issue 35 Radioactive Waste Disposal 59

Pollution
Issue 36 Acid Rain 60
Issue 37 Catalysis and City Air Pollution 62
Issue 38 Oil Pollution 64
Issue 17 Pesticide Pollution 28

Natural Resources
Issue 39 Petroleum Depletion 65
Issue 40 Ocean-Bottom Minerals 66
Issue 41 Precipitation: Cloud Seeding 68

Physics
Mechanics
Issue 42 Newton's Laws and the Existence of God 72
Issue 43 Newton's Second Law (F = ma) in Athletics 73
Issue 44 Elementary Mechanics and Women's Liberation 74
Issue 45 Accelerated Motion Equations and Highway Safety 76
Issue 46 Science and Athletic Records 78

Heat, Light, and Sound
Issue 47 Heat, Light, and Sound 80
Issue 48 Air Conditioning 82
Issue 49 Cryogenics 83
Issue 50 Convection 85
Issue 51 Loud Sounds 87
Issue 52 Scattering of Light: Light Pollution 89

Electricity
Issue 53 High-Voltage Power Lines 90
Issue 54 Current Electricity and the Telephone 91

Radiation
Issue 55 Absorption of Radiation: Greenhouse Effect 92
Issue 52 Scattering of Light: Light Pollution 89
Issue 56 Television: The Third Parent 95

Nuclear
Issue 57 Nuclear Power: Risk Assessment 97
Issue 35 Radioactive Waste Disposal 59
Energy
Issue 58 Energy: U.S. Consumption 99
Issue 59 Solar Energy 100
Issue 60 Energy Conversion: Developing Countries 101

Earth and Space Science
Issue 61 Earthquakes 104
Issue 41 Precipitation: Cloud Seeding 68
Issue 55 Absorption of Radiation: Greenhouse Effect 92
Issue 30 Ozone Catalysis: Destruction of Our Atmosphere 52
Issue 62 American Space Program 105
Issue 63 Outer Space: Infinite Dump 106
Issue 64 Extraterrestrial Intelligence 108

Social Science
General Social Science
Issue 65 Tragedy of the Commons 110
Issue 66 Exponential Growth 112
Issue 67 Feedback: Positive and Negative 114
Issue 68 Long-Term Effects of Technology 116
Issue 69 Science and Congress 117
Issue 70 Women as Scientists and Inventors 118
Issue 71 Citizens' Responsibility to Society 119
Issue 72 Risk 120
Issue 73 Metric System 122

Computers
Issue 74 Computers and the Workplace 124
Issue 75 Automation Costs Jobs 125
Issue 76 Computers and Privacy 126
Issue 77 Aphabetization: Chinese 128

Misconceptions
Issue 78 Popular Ideas about Science 129
Issue 79 Astrology 130
Issue 80 Science and Non-Science 132

History
Issue 50 Convection 85
Issue 48 Air Conditioning 82
Issue 44 Elementary Mechanics and Women's Liberation 74

Government
Issue 32 Manganese, Platinum, Chromium, and Foreign Policy 56
Issue 40 Ocean-Bottom Minerals 66
Issue 71 Citizen's Responsibility to Society 119
Issue 76 Computers and Privacy 126
Issue 69 Science and Congress 117
Issue 62 American Space Program 105

Economics
Issue 2 Dollar Value of a Human Life 3
Issue 5 Tobacco 8
Issue 7 Patenting Plants and Animals 11
Issue 26 Medical Tests for Health Insurability 43
Issue 40 Ocean-Bottom Minerals 66
Issue 66 Exponential Growth 112
Issue 75 Automation Costs Jobs 125
Issue 74 Computers and the Workplace 124

Appendix
Quotations 1 Science as Foolishness 134
Quotations 2 Science in Our Culture 136

12 / 17u / 95