Netherlands HAVO 4 (bovenbouw, 2e fase) Nature, Life and Technology
Chapters: 3
1. Skills
General skills · Science and technology skills · NLT-specific skills
- Research Skills: From a Question to a Finished Project – Research is a careful way of finding an answer. You ask a clear, focused question, plan how to answer it, find information and check that each source can be trusted, collect and analyse your own data, draw a conclusion that the evidence supports, and share it while crediting every source you used.
- The Scientific Method – The scientific method is the careful way scientists find out how the world works. Observe something, ask a testable question, make a hypothesis (a clear, testable guess), test it with a fair experiment (change one variable, measure one, keep the rest the same), repeat and record data, analyse it, draw a conclusion and share it so others can check. Results that fail the test are useful too: they send you back to a new hypothesis.
- Interdisciplinary Science: Solving Problems Across Subjects – Real problems do not come sorted into school subjects. Interdisciplinary science means joining ideas and methods from several fields, such as physics, chemistry, biology, maths, technology, art and social science, to understand or solve one problem. This joined-up way of asking questions is also called convergent inquiry. Teams use the design cycle (research, plan, build, test, improve), make models, measure and share results, and think about how a solution affects people and nature. Climate change, clean water, medical scanners and smart cities are all solved this way.
2. Exact sciences and technology
Interdisciplinarity · Science and technology interplay
- Interdisciplinary Science: Solving Problems Across Subjects – Real problems do not come sorted into school subjects. Interdisciplinary science means joining ideas and methods from several fields, such as physics, chemistry, biology, maths, technology, art and social science, to understand or solve one problem. This joined-up way of asking questions is also called convergent inquiry. Teams use the design cycle (research, plan, build, test, improve), make models, measure and share results, and think about how a solution affects people and nature. Climate change, clean water, medical scanners and smart cities are all solved this way.
- Science, Technology and Society: How Discoveries Change Our Lives – Science finds out how nature works; technology uses that knowledge to make tools and solve problems. Society shapes science too, by asking questions, paying for research and making rules. Big changes such as the printing press, the steam engine, electricity, vaccines and the internet changed how people work, live and think. Every technology has benefits and risks. To decide wisely we look at evidence, weigh benefits against risks, ask who gains and who loses, think about ethics and the future, and use safety rules.
3. Earth and nature
Monitoring and managing the living environment
- Sustainability – Sustainability means meeting our needs today without taking away the ability of future people to meet theirs. It rests on three pillars — environment, society and economy. A resource is used sustainably when we use it no faster than it renews. Today humanity uses about 1.7 Earths' worth of resources a year, and this use is very unequal. Stewardship, careful planning and spatial tools like GIS help us move towards sustainability.