Philippine E-Journals

Science, Technology, Society and Environment (STSE) Approach in Environmental Science for Nonscience Students in a Local Culture

Bernadette I. Del Rosario

Discipline: Natural Sciences, Technology

 

Abstract:

Students in the academe are as much a part of the system that tries to understand the relationship of man to science, technology, society and the environment. For these students, education becomes relevant and meaningful only to the extent that they are able to maximize resources and methods in understanding the subject. In the hope of providing this kind of educational environment the study introduced an approach capitalizing on the relationship of science, technology, society and environment. It is therefore the aim of the study to use the STSE approach in teaching an environmental science course. STSE is an approach using the interactions of four important factors namely; science, technology, society and environment. Using activities derived from the local environment, a learning climate unique to the STSE approach was developed and used to determine the influence such approach on the academic achievement and environmental science self-efficacy of students. Quantitative and qualitative designs were used in the study. An experimental design using Solomon’s Four Group Design was used for the quantitative part, while observation and interview were used in the qualitative part. The STSE approach is found to be effective in improving the academic performance as well as the environmental science self efficacy of the students who were exposed to the approach.