TOK and Internationalism in the Science Classroom

1. TOK and Internationalism in the Science Classroom John Green Li Po Chun UWC

2. Ideally TOK teachersandTOK lessons should not exist!

3. What is TOK about? • What does it mean to “know” something? • How do we get knowledge? • How certain are we of this knowledge? • How do factors relating to ourselves cause our knowledge to differ from that of others?

4. The TOK Diagram

5. Skills based subjects Some subjects seem to be more skills based. The content is not vital as the skills learnt can be applied to a wide range of material. These subjects seem to almost necessarily include a high proportion of TOK concepts Literature, History, Fine arts

6. Content based subjects Other subjects concentrate more on acquiring new ideas and memorising new material. In these, perhaps because of time pressure, it requires a more conscious effort to address TOK issues Natural Sciences, Mathematics, Language

7. Clarifying a few ideas • Believing and Knowing • Is it all to do with shared evidence? • The concept of Truth • Is there such a thing as “absolute truth”? • If so can we ever know it? • If we cannot is it a useful concept?

8. The gods did not reveal, from the beginning All things to us, but in the course of time Through seeking we may learn and know things better, But as for certain truth, no man hath known it, Nor shall he know it, neither of the gods Nor yet of all the things of which I speak, For even if by chance he were to utter The final truth, he would himself not know it: For all is but a woven web of guesses Xenophanes (translated by KarlPopper) Xenophanes

9. How do we get knowledge? • Empiricism We observe the world around us and remember our experiences • Rationalism We apply logical thought processes • Mysticism We experience inner feelings about the world

10. How do we get knowledge? • Authority In practice we get most of our knowledge because we accept what somebody else tells us as being true • Revelation A subset of authority, when we believe the source of the knowledge speaks on behalf of God

11. Why do we decide to accept something as true? • Correspondence It fits in with what we observe “The colour of this text is blue” • Coherence It fits in with other things we accept as true “Your spouse was driving you car at 140 kph” but “The car is so old it cannot go more than 100 kph”

12. Problems of perception • Imprecise perception Sitting next to the air-con in the theatre • Mistaken interpretation Is it a star a planet or a plane? What is the image on the right?

13. Problems of perception • Inappropriate filtering With the flowers coming into bloom and the birds singing it is wonderful to be in Paris in the the Springtime

14. Forms of Logic • Deductive Logic Applies generalisations to a particular case “TOK teachers hate marking essays, so John had an unhappy time when he received 40 essays just before the end of term”

15. Forms of Logic • Inductive Logic Draws generalisations from observations of specific cases “Copper(II) nitrate is blue, copper ethanoate is blue, copper(II) sulphate is blue. Perhaps all copper(II) compounds are blue?”

16. TOK and Science More specifically, what TOK ideas apply to the teaching of science?

17. What does Science try to do? • Elucidate a coherent law/system of laws that governs the universe ? • This presupposes: • This is comprehensible to humans. • Cause and effect? • No variation with time? • Such a law/system of laws exists.

18. But surely this is doomed to failure? How would we ever know that it was the final truth; that we had reached the end of our quest for knowledge? Remember Xenophanes!

19. So is Science different? • Don’t all fields of knowledge try to explain life, the universe and everything? • History - how and why humans have acted • Literature - how it feels to be in a particularsituation • The Arts - alternative interpretations • Religion - maybe the next universe as well! • Maths - a possible exception? Does it create its own universe?

20. Surely it is! • Doesn’t Science • Prove things true? • Help us to understand how the world works? • Enable us to predict accurately? • Test things through experiments?

21. What is truth, what is heat?

22. What is heat?

23. Certainty? • Is it true now? • Was it true then? • How can we know if something is true?(i.e. certain for ever) • If absolute truth is not possible to achieve, isit a useful concept?

24. Prove things are true? • Think of theories of the past - caloric, phlogiston, spontaneous creation etc. • Maybe only religion can offer ustruth and certainty in that sense?

25. Understand the World? • What do we mean by “understand”? • Do we simply draw analogies between things we find difficult to visualise and those we find easier to visualise? • Most of science is concerned with models or paradigms

26. Models in Science • What purpose do we use models for – if they are fit for the purpose is this a problem? e.g. electrons being like planets orbiting the nucleus sun? • Do we sometimes confuse models with Mnemonics? Does Le Chatelier’s principle really help us understand equilibrium better?

27. Models in Science Above all we must be careful not to confuse models and reality – do we know what atoms are “really” like? “The map is not the territory” Alford Korzybski

28. Enable us to predict accurately? • 100 million years ago could the theory of evolution have predicted that humans would evolve? • Doesn’t studying History allow us to predict the future by studying the past? • Doesn’t studying Romeo and Juliet allow us to predict that bad consequences result from feuds?

29. Test things through experiments? • How can you experiment in Astrophysics, or Palaeontology? • Experiment occurs in almost all fields? • Music • Drama • Microeconomics and Macroeconomics?

30. Traditional Scientific Methodology Probably originally attributable to Aristotle

31. Traditional Scientific Methodology Revived in the Renaissance by Francis Bacon

32. Traditional Scientific Methodology Observe Hypothesise Experiment Evaluate

33. Traditional Scientific Methodology Scientific Law!

34. Traditional Scientific Methodology • But is this how Science really works? • Do we ever function as neutral observers? • Do we really do experiments to prove a theory is right? • How often must a hypothesis be proved right before it becomes a law?

35. Twentieth century thoughts Karl Popper We can never prove a law right, we can only prove it wrong Science must make testable predictions

36. Twentieth century thoughts “Our belief in any particular natural law cannot have a safer basis than our unsuccessful critical attempts to refute it.” Karl Popper

37. Twentieth century thoughts Thomas Kuhn Science advances by means of slow progress, then sudden leaps forward called “Paradigm Shifts”

38. The Periodic Table as an example John Dalton’s Atomic Theory A Paradigm shift! ~1800 • All matter is composed of atoms • There are different types of atoms with different masses • Atoms can combine together in small whole numbers

39. The Periodic Table as an example Döbreiner’s triads 1817 The element that has an atomic mass that is the mean of two others has similar chemical properties

40. The Periodic Table as an example

41. The Periodic Table as an example 1864 Newland’s Octaves If the elements are placed in order of increasing atomic mass, every eighth element has similar properties

42. The Periodic Table as an example

43. The Periodic Table as an example 1869 Dmitry Mendeleev Testable predictions! Arranged the elements in order of increasing atomic mass, but found that in order to obtain periodicity, gaps had to be left. He predicted that new elements would be discovered to fill these

44. Mendeleev’s Periodic Table The coloured squares show the gaps that Mendeleev predicted would be filled by new elements

45. Mendeleev’s Predictions

46. The Periodic Table today Extended to new areas, e.g. the electronic structure of atoms This is something that science often achieves, unifying ideas - similar to Newton using gravity to explain things falling and planetary motion

47. TOK encourages students to reflect on questions such as these:(From an official IB presentation) “Is the scientific method a product unique to Western culture, or is it universal?” and maybe “Do all cultures pursue science for the same reasons?”

48. Which science topics might show differences in cultural values? • Environmental issues • Global warming • Whaling • Challenging accepted values • Cloning • Evolution

49. Internationalism in Science • Be aware of the different nationalities of people who have contributed to your field of science and deliberately introduce these. • Know what technological advances have been made in different cultures and make students aware of this. • In the past other civilisations were progressing much more rapidly than the West. • Nowadays how many published scientific papers have only workers from one culture?