Topic 4: The Human Person Flourishing in terms of Science and

Technology

Learning Objectives

After successful completion of this module, you should be able to:

• analyze the steps in scientific method;

• explain the concepts of human flourishing and their importance for the “common
good” and present examples;
• enumerate some career jobs related to science and technology that lead to human
flourishing.

Activating Prior Knowledge

Learning Activity: SPOT THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

Direction: Each sentence below describes a step of the scientific method. Match each sentence
with the step of the scientific method listed below.

A. Recognize the problem

B. Making Observation
C. Form a hypothesis
D. Test the hypothesis with an experiment
E. Draw conclusions
______________ 1. Mark predicted that seeds would start to grow faster if an electric current
travelled through the soil in which they were planted.

______________ 2. Scott said, “If I fertilize my orchid plants, they will blossom.” stronger
when she gave the hen feed, to which extra calcium had been added.

______________ 3. Philip’s data showed that household cockroaches moved away from raw
mangoes.

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______________ 4. Ameera fed different diets to three groups of tilapia. Her experiment
showed that tilapias need vitamins and protein in their diet.

______________ 5. Angela’s experiment proved that earthworms move away from light.

______________ 6. Justine wondered if dyes could be taken out of plant leaves, flowers and
stems.

______________ 7. Kathy used a survey to determine how many classmates were left-handed
and how many were right-handed.

______________ 8. Bob read about growing plants in water. He wanted to know how plants
could grow without soil.

______________ 9. Kevin said “If acid rain affects plants in a particular pond, it might affect
small animals, such as crabs, that live in the same water.”

______________10. Alicia’s experiment showed that chicken eggshells were

Presentation of Contents

Problems that you encounter could be solved by simple ways. Maria could have solved her
problem if she tried to approach it systematically. This lesson will introduce you to the scientific
method. The scientific method is a logical and systematic way of solving a problem.

Making Observation and Stating the Problem

Different things happen around you. As you notice these, you take a mental note of what you
see, hear, feel, smell or taste. These mental notes are your observations. On the space below,
write five things that you can observe around you right now.

1. ______________________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________________________________
4. ______________________________________________________________________
5. ______________________________________________________________________

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Choose one observation from your list above. Choose the most interesting and from that,
compose your statement of the problem.

Statement of the problem: _____________________________________________________________

Formulating the Hypothesis

Your statement of the problem must have an answer. But at this point, you still do not have a
definite one, so you formulate your hypothesis. A hypothesis is a logical guess that answers the
question or problem. It could be correct or incorrect, which is what you will find out in the next
step. You could have more than one hypothesis, but you will consider them one at a time in the
succeeding steps.

Answer your statement of the problem by formulating three hypotheses.

1. ______________________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________________________________
Testing the Hypothesis with experiment

After proposing possible answer to the problem, you should prove whether your hypotheses are
true or not. This could be through experiments, test, or research. You need to plan how you
would test your hypothesis by logically writing down the steps that you will do.

Since you will be writing down steps of a procedure, your methodology should be numbered
and logically arranged. It should contain practical procedures, which are significant to the study
being conducted.

Choose one among the hypotheses you formulated. On the space below, write the procedure on
how you will test the hypothesis.

1. ______________________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________________

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 3. ______________________________________________________________________
4. ______________________________________________________________________
Stating the Conclusion

At this point, you now know if your hypothesis answered your question. If it did, you just
restate your hypothesis as your conclusion. If it did not, then you need to test other hypotheses.

Human Flourishing

According to Aristotle, there is an end of all of the actions that we perform which we desire for
itself. This is what is known as eudaimonia, flourishing, or happiness, which is desired for its
own sake with all other things being desired on its account. Eudaimonia is a property of one's
life when considered as a whole. Flourishing is the highest good of human endeavors and that
toward which all actions aim. It is success as a human being. The best life is one of excellent
human activity.

For Aristotle, the good is what is good for purposeful, goal-directed entities. He defines the
good proper to human beings as the activities in which the life functions specific to human
beings are most fully realized. For Aristotle, the good of each species is teleologically immanent
to that species. A person's nature as a human being provides him with guidance with respect to
how he should live his life. A fundamental fact of human nature is the existence of individual
human beings each with his own rational mind and free will. The use of one's volitional
consciousness is a person's distinctive capacity and means of survival.

One's own life is the only life that a person has to live. It follows that, for Aristotle, the "good"
is what is objectively good for a particular man. Aristotle's eudaimonia is formally egoistic in
that a person's normative reason for choosing particular actions stems from the idea that he must
pursue his own good or flourishing. Because self-interest is flourishing, the good in human
conduct is connected to the self-interest of the acting person. Good means "good for" the
individual moral agent. Egoism is an integral part of Aristotle's ethics.

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 Application

Activity 1: Applying the Scientific Method

Direction: Follow the scientific method focusing on what you can immediately observe that is
happening in the environment at 8 o’clock in the morning. Use the data sheet below to write
down your answers. For the data analysis, assume that you performed the test and were able to
prove that your hypothesis is an answer to the problem.

Location of Observation: ______________________________________________________________

I. Making Observations and stating the Problem

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

II. Formulating Hypothesis

1. ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________

III. Testing the Hypothesis with an experiment

1. ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________

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4. ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
5. ______________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________

IV. Stating the Conclusion

_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________

Guide Questions:

1. What do you think will happen if the steps in scientific method are in different order?
2. If you would be adding more steps to the scientific method, what would be these steps?
Discuss the additional steps you are proposing.

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Activity 2: G-R-E-A-T-W-O-R-K

Complete the mind map below by writing words that come to your mind when you hear the
word science and technology.