EDUCATIONAL STUDIES
The Relationship between the Change of BSCS Blue Versions and STS
1992 Volume 32 Issue 4 Pages 230-240
Details
1992 Volume 32 Issue 4 Pages 230-240
BSCS, which developed Blue, Green, and Yellow Version in 1960s, continued to revise them after that. BSCS also developed several STS (Science, Technology, and Society) programsin late 1970s and 1980s. So, we took up 4th. (1980), 5th. (1985) and 6th. (1990) editions of BSCS Blue Version as an example, and investigated the relationship between it’s change and STS education.
The focus of this investigation was on the analysis of STS topics in the area of genetics, and the clarification ofinterrelationship among science, technology and society in goals, Chapter 1.“The Science of Life”,and Chapter 13. “The New Genetics” of Blue Versions.
As a result of these analyses, it was revealed that 6th. edition of Blue Version incorporated more intensively the rationale of STS. BSCS Blue Version 6th. edition, to be concrete, presented the following interrelationships among science, technology, and society:
1. knowledge generated by the scientific enterprise contributes to the development of new technologies, and vice versa ;
2. technology is both beneficial and detrimental to society ; and
3. science may solve society’s problems,in turn, society may decide the direction ofscientific research. In conclusion, how views of science Blue Version 6th. edition reflect was discussed.
It seems that BSCS is going to integrate it’s traditional curriculum approach with STS approach. As BSCS have had a greatinfluence upon science education in the United States, it is needed to check BSCS programs in the future, to predictthe direction of science education in the United States.
