Role of Science and Technology in Education
We live in age of science and technology. Scientific inventions and modern day technologies have completely changed the human life and paving the way for our future. Science and Technology has added greatly to our material comforts. It has also quickened the tempo of life. It has given man an altogether new social and political outlook. Hence in this age the study of science is a necessity. Without such study a modern man is is like a bullock cart lumbering behind a motorized vehicle.
It should Begin at school – with the training of Observation
The study of science should begin early in life. The first steps should be to teach boys and girls the habit of observation. The child is always interested in trees, in flowers, in birds, in insects, in all the things that he sees around him. His curiosity in this regard should be fostered and developed. This can be done easily and naturally if teaching be related to those material objects that he is always seeing.
Knowledge of Technology should be imparted naturally in the form of answers to intelligent questions. At the initial stage, more can be taught in this way than mechanically through books and expositions.
And pass on to experiments
After a kindergarten course of this kind, books on science and technology should be gradually introduced. Here also practice, demonstration, actual experiments should precede the study of theories. It is only after the mind is well trained with the help of examples and experiments that the explanations of theories should be attempted. In our country, the reverse method is largely followed. It means wastage of time. A student passes out by mere memory work, and as memory becomes faint, his knowledge becomes nebular, leaving him in his original state of ignorance.
Its influences on the Mind
The study of science and technology has an educative influence on the mind, and is of far-reaching importance. It makes one a lover of truth. It creates realistic attitude to life. It is also the enemy of superstition. A scientist depends on his powers of observation, reason for his knowledge of truth. By applying his reason to observed facts before believing in anything, he acquires patience and diligence. He thus lays the foundation of true knowledge.
Conclusion
The study of science and technology acts as a perpetual urge to acquire knowledge. It deepens our sense of the mystery of creation. The more we know of the secrets of nature, the more we realized how much remains unknown. Today scientists speak of the wonder of nature with a thrill of emotion. We are learning as much of the secrets of the atoms in space as of the molecular cells in living organism.
So a modern curriculum of studies must include the study of science and technology, because the modern man needs a scientific mind in approaching the problems of life.
