IB THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE

1. IB THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE An Overview

3. TOK COURSE • Student as the knower • Encourages critical thinking about knowledge itself • Opportunity to step back from the relentless acquisition of new knowledge • Encourages students to share ideas with others • Understanding of knowledge as a human construct

4. AIMS Designed to enable students to: • develop a fascination with the richness of knowledge as a human endeavour, and an understanding of the empowerment that follows from reflecting upon it; • develop an awareness of how knowledge is constructed, critically examined, evaluated and renewed by communities and individuals; • encourage students to reflect on their experiences as learner, in everyday life and in the their studies, and to make connections between academic disciplines and between thoughts, feeling and actions;

5. AIMS (continued) • encourage an interest in the diversity of ways of thinking and ways of living of individuals and communities, and an awareness of personal and ideological assumptions, including participants’ own; • encourage consideration of the responsibilities originating from the relationship between knowledge, the community and the individual as citizen of the world.

6. REQUIREMENTS • 100 hours over two years. • IB Final Assessment in Year 12: • Oral Presentation on a contemporary issue chosen by the student: internally marked – 20 marks • Essay chosen from an IB prescribed list of questions: externally marked – 40 marks

8. WAYS OF KNOWING • Sense perception • Language • Reason • Emotion

9. SENSE PERCEPTION • Nature of sense perception • Limitations • Influence of culture, language and beliefs • Role in various areas of knowledge

10. LANGUAGE Nature of language Language and culture Language and thought Language and knowledge Language and areas of knowledge Does the language we use affect our understanding of the world or the past? How important are technical terms?

11. REASON Nature of reason Reason and knowledge Does all knowledge require some kind of rational basis? Strengths and weaknesses of reason

12. EMOTION Nature of emotion Can we ever know anything purely through emotions? How do emotions interact with reason, sense perception an language? Emotion and knowledge Does the role of emotion vary across the different areas of knowledge?

13. AREAS OF KNOWLEDGE • Mathematics • Natural Sciences • Human Sciences • History • The Arts • Ethics

14. Mathematics

15. Natural Sciences

16. Human Sciences

17. History • Nature of History • Methods of Gaining Knowledge • History and Knowledge Claims • History and Values

18. The Arts

19. Ethics

20. LINKING QUESTIONS • Belief • Certainty • Culture • Evidence • Experience • Explanation • Interpretation • Intuition • Technology • Truth • Values

21. KNOWLEDGE ISSUES, KNOWERS AND KNOWING • Nature of knowing • Knowledge communities • Knowers and sources of knowledge • Justification of knowledge claims

22. Theory of Knowledge: Presentation Structure Other Real-Life Situation Real-Life Situation Other Real-Life Situation application extraction Knowledge Issue (recognized) Knowledge Issue(s) (developed) progression

23. CLASS ACTIVITIES • Class discussions, debates and seminars • Student presentations and group activities • Reading feature articles, texts, plays, novels and biography • Guest speakers • Videos • Role play • Reflective writing and the maintenance of an on-going journal • Written exercises and essays

24. TINTERN TOK CAMP • Compulsory three day camp at the commencement of Term 1 each year. • Aims : • Provide for Year 11 students a general introduction to TOK; • Complete a variety of sessions on a TOK Area of Knowledge; • Focus Year 12 students on the assessment requirements; • Promote close working relationships between all IB students.