Some early work was done on setting up a framework for monitoring social change.7 In the late 1960s, a panel of social scientists co-chaired by Daniel Bell and Alice Rivlin came together to discuss and make recommendations to the government concerning the importance of establishing an effort to measure and report on social indicators. Their findings8 led to the development of a report series on social indicators.9 However, one of the important missing keys is a consensus on the nexus between science and engineering indicators and social indicators.

Although there is little consensus on a general framework to approach this vast and complex topic, researchers from various disciplines have done work on certain aspects of social and educational impacts of science and engineering. For example, some recent studies have examined wage differentials among groups of people who differ in the level of education they have achieved.10 These differences in salary may change over time as a consequence, in part, of scientific and engineering advances. That is, changes in the workplace may tend to increase the salaries of highly educated employees, whose skills are more commensurate with new technologies, while decreasing the salaries of less educated employees (Baldwin et al., 1995). As more research is conducted in this area, useful results are likely to emerge.

A related area of interest is educational opportunity, which has recently been linked to information technology. In particular, the quality of many forms of precollege education now depends on children's access to computers. Recent studies have examined the availability of computers to children in schools and at home. These studies have indicated differences in computer availability by income level, suggesting that low-income households may face increased barriers to ensuring their children receive an adequate education for competing in future job markets.11

Science Education and Public Understanding of Scientific and Technological Issues

• Choosing the right products and services to consume by understanding what makes products and services more attractive, safer, healthier, and consistent with other idealistic principles involving their production or use (such as whether they are environmentally safe).

• Interacting with others, including raising children (which is enhanced by education on the scientific characteristics of infants and children), helping others in emergency situations (such as administering emergency medical treatment), and interacting with individuals who have physical or cognitive disabilities.

• Participating in decisionmaking processes involving scientific matters, such as public decisionmaking on science policy (Petersen, 1984; and Krimsky, 1996), which could call for voicing opinions to others and/or voting, and private decisionmaking, e.g., determining how much physical exercise a person should perform.

6 See, for example, Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (1969), which reports on the deliberations and recommendations of a panel of social scientists concerning the importance of measuring and reporting on social indicators.

7 See, for example, Sheldon and Moore (1968), a compendium of research papers on the concepts and problems of developing various indicators of social change.

8 See Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (1969).

9 See, for example, Department of Commerce (1977).

10 See, for example, Acs and Danzier (1993) and Doms et al. (1995).

11 See, for example, Rockman (1995).

12 See, for example, Keeports and Morier (1994) on the importance of the scientific method in scientific inquiry.

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