Theory of Knowledge

table topics

• On your table is a yellow index card: the youngest among you will pick it up and choose which prompt to read outloud.
• Younger: read the prompt, manage the discussion, five minutes.

TOK 2020

• intro key concepts
• integrate concepts into your curriculum
• have some fun

What do you already know about the theory of knowledge course or curriculum?

theory of knowledge

• IB is 52: ToK developed by early IB teachers
• the shortening shelf life of what we call knowledge
• importance of learning to learn-students at the core
• process and methods of knowing
• questioning - always

is it a subject?

• step back from relentless acquisition of new knowledge
• consider knowledge questions
• structured inquiry into real life situations in all areas of knowledge
• a note on epistmology...

Write down some things you believe you know to be true.

How - that is, by what methods, do you know them to be true?
List several...

shared/personal

THe Big tok question

• How do you know what you claim to know?
• How do you know about the world?

ToK consumer

• IB Diploma candidate
• 16 years of life experience and ten years formal education
• vast knowledge, beliefs, opinions from inside/outside school

now and 2022

areas of knowledge now

• the arts
• ethics
• history
• human sciences
• indigenous knowledge systems
• maths
• natural sciences
• religious knowledge system

areas of knowledge new

• History
• Human sciences
• Natural sciences
• Mathematics
• The Arts
• students are expected to explore and build up familiarity with all of these
• Is your AoK missing?

ways of knowing now

• memory
• imagination
• reason
• emotion
• intuition
• sense perception
• faith
• language

Optional Themes

• students develop detailed knowledge on two of them:
• knowledge and indigenous societies
• knowledge and language
• knowledge and politics
• knowledge and religion
• knowledge and technology
• Handout!

language, please!

• profound and neccessary in all AoKs
• can be neutral or value laden
• may not perfectly map the real world - can mask a poor understanding of the real world
• subtleties and difficulties associated with the concept of 'meaning'
• knowledge about relationships, beliefs, hopes and predictions about the world are encoded in our language
• language can have power

language and the knower

• How would these three people describe an American nickel?
• A six-year old
• A banker
• A metalurgist

steven pinker

core theme: knowledge and the knower/new

• me/we as a knower and a thinker
• my/our perspectives, biases, and assumptions
• where do my/our values come from?
• How do I/we navigate the world?
• How do I/we know when I/we're being manipulated or 'spun?'

four key elements

• scope
• perspective
• methods and tools
• ethics
• Handout!

On your table...

• Brief blurby email that was just sent to all of us very recently from MS
• Work together to identify the four themes

knowledge questions

• a very BIG deal in ToK

knowledge questions come in two sizes

• first order
• claims that are made within particular areas of knowledge or by individual knowers about the world.

knowledge questions

• second order
• claims that are made about knowledge; the four themes

for example

• What part does moral choice play in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird?
• What role does literature (the arts) play in shaping our ethical perspectives?

again...

• How can mathematical models help us understand how diseases spread?
• What is causing the spread of the Zika virus?

one more...

• To what extent do social and economic policies affect minorities in totatlitarian dictatorships?
• To what extent did Mao's GLF shape the status of women in the Chinese countryside?

why kq

• Do you see any value in crafting, or helping your students craft, knowledge questions in your classes?

group try

• Think of some content you intend to teach in the coming months.
• Craft first and second order knowledge questions.
• Put them on the poster!

2020 Tok essay title #4

• "The role of analogy is to aid understanding rather than to provide justification." To what extent do you agree with this statement?
• how do expert knowers use analogies?
• to communicate analogy you may employ metaphors
• all subjects employ metaphorical language

metaphors and maths

resources

• One Note for IB
• ToK for Teachers tab
• all handouts and stuff by group
• ToK for ToK teachers under construction

bibliography

• Alchin, Nicolas. Theory of Knowldge. Hodder Education, 2003.
• Dombrowski, Eileen, et al. “Perspective on a Curious Subject: What Is IB Theory of Knowledge all about?” My IB.
• Dunn, Michael. theoryofknowledge.net. Last accessed 12/11/19.