HOW DOES SCIENCE PROMOTES PEACE

WEEK 5:

Here is my own opinion on how does science promotes peace.I considered it as another learning because I was able to think what are the significances of science aside from the fact that everything we do is science.

Science permeates our lives and informs our actions. Physics, for example, teaches us how mirrors work, how glasses can aid one's vision and how heat is treated by various household materials (plates and utensils). Chemistry discusses the principles of matter, like atoms, molecules and compounds. It discusses the countless different substances that can arise from the minutest variations within compounds. These atoms, molecules and compounds make up the water we drink, the food we eat, the air we breathe, the medicines we take when we are sick. Some we can't possibly live without.

Biology, the study of life, teaches us why we are the way we are, why we need what we need to survive, how all living things are categorized, when we all came from. These, and countless other questions and answers are all related to science. Going deeper into the concept of science and its importance, we can understand why it is essential for us to know science. Why? It’s because anyone could be a scientist more than that of the past’s scientists.

Similarly, science is also important in the international job market. The greater the advances in scientific technology, the greater the demand for workers sufficiently educated in these particular areas. Excellence in the sciences can open many doors, otherwise closed, for students. These skills can get you a job almost anywhere in the world, and with the growing concerns about finding jobs, it certainly helps to have so many options available to you. From engineering to dentistry, or from cancer research to maintaining a national park, a large percentage of the jobs today require background in science.

There is another important aspect of science that I have saved for last. Science is fun. Fun in many ways. Learning is always fun but it's especially rewarding when it has something to do with the things going on around you. There is a satisfaction that comes from learning about these often complex matters that goes far beyond merely getting a good grade. It helps you to understand the world around you and to appreciate its complexities. It teaches you that we can't possibly understand everything about the world ever, but we go on trying anyway, engaging in the never- ending search for truths... and why? We do this because science is fun and exciting. The more we learn, the more we want to learn, the more we feel ourselves pushed towards the answers and towards further questions, towards the future…

However, while we continue to marvel at new scientific discoveries and enjoy the benefits of innovative technological developments grounded upon scientific advances, there is a growing unease about science and mounting concern about its adverse consequences. In some quarters, these misgivings have turned into distrust and opposition, reactions which are worrying because they may erode the foundations of public support for science. That support, which is inseparable from public confidence in science and scientists, can no longer be taken for. Today, therefore, the case for science needs to be re-made, in terms that are convincing to a general public less and less deferential towards the pure intentions of scientists or their greater wisdom.

While science is recognized as contributing to some of the problems and looming crises facing our world, this does not mean that viable solutions can leave science out of account. The design of realistic solutions must be undertaken with science, not against it. We need the contribution of science, for example, to analyze the extent to which human activities are responsible for climate change, environmental degradation and other worrying phenomena. And it is scientists and engineers who will help us to prepare for tomorrow's complex problems.

Science must be mobilized globally to address the enormous problems related to public health, agricultural productivity, environmental degradation and poverty. This will require addressing of very real disparity between the developed and developing countries when it comes to producing scientific knowledge and using this knowledge for social and economic benefit. Closing this knowledge gap will require finding solutions to the unceasing exodus of scientific brainpower to the rich countries of the world.

Closing the scientific knowledge gap also requires partnerships between scientists, institutions and governments. Science is a shared enterprise. The pace of scientific progress and the interrelations between global problems require teamwork and networking. Consequently, national and international partnership and collaboration between scientific institutions, academia, NGOs and other sectors and disciplines are essential.

Without global science, there can be no sustainable development; without sustainable development, there can be no global peace.

BOOSTING MY CONFIDENCE

WEEK 4:

For me, this week is not the week for academics nor technical skills rather a week for preparation and confidence. Since I am one of the tour guides, it was really shaking dealing with the students of Ateneo de Manila. Although the students were just grade 7, I still can’t help myself but to worry and get nervous, perhaps because of the name of their school. But remembering that I am one of the salesmen of this academy, I should act as a true salesman as if I am bargaining with them through the promising future this academy can offer.

At first, my knees were shaking since it was my first time handling students coming from a prestigious school. I told myself that this is a great opportunity for me to show what I can do not only for me but for the academy as well. When I am explaining everything, I didn’t feel anything except fun. It was really a fun! I felt that “my students” were comfortable with me because whenever I see their faces, I am sure that they are enjoying. Above all, they always ask questions about the academy and the profession I chose. After the tour, I found it ordinary unlike what I expected to be.

They are good speakers but I was able to handle them. From this experience, I realized that trusting oneself is the most important tool on how to overcome one’s fear. With this, I knew now that work is not really as it is; as long as I am enjoying on what I am doing, confidence will be there and the essence of work is at hand.