A Case Study of the Perception of Science and Technology in Lower Secondary School Class : Introduction of a Teaching Device that Converts Vibrations into Electricity

Abstract

A study was carried out in a public lower secondary school third grade class, in which two one-hour science classes were used to encourage students to think about the direction that science and technology should take in the future. Before the study, approximately 90% of students thought that technological change was necessary to enrich human life. As a result of having studied about the progress of technology and the associated environmental problems, in particular, the efficiency and the problems associated with various forms of energy generation for the first one hour, the number of students who thought scientific technological change was necessary for life in the future decreased to less than half. However in the second hour, the students conducted experiments using a device that converted vibrations into electricity, a method that had not been used for large scale energy generation. They also studied the economics of such generation through an example and test calculations as it would be used in society. Almost all students came to the conclusion that progress in science and technology has an important role in finding solutions to problems facing society such as "the drying up of energy resources" and "environmental damage." Based upon the foregoing, it was suggested that this form of learning was effective in deepening the students' understanding of the effects of the direction that science and technology take.