Theory Of Knowledge - TOK

INTRODUCTION TO TOK

What makes TOK unique, and distinctively different from standard academic disciplines, is its process. This course is not about the acquisition of facts but the evolution of a critical perspective.

At the centre of the course is the student. Lessons are often discursive and always provocative.

In TOK students have the opportunity to step back from this relentless acquisition of new knowledge, in order to consider knowledge issues.

Questions include:

• What do I claim to know [about X]?
• Am I justified in doing so [how?]?
• What authorities brought this knowledge to my attention?

Such questions may initially seem abstract or theoretical, but TOK teachers bring them into closer focus by taking into account their students? interests and circumstances.

TOK activities and discussions aim to help students discover and express their views on knowledge issues. Students will complete a presentation and essay in year 13 that address the issues that have been explored over the course.

Language exerts hidden power, like a moon on the tides.

Rita Mae Brown

Students will study the ambiguity and impact of words in society and culture.

The teachers encourage students to share ideas with others and to listen to and learn from what others think. The course is taught by a range of staff from very different subject areas such as performing arts, English, Maths, Science and History.

WHAT WILL STUDENTS LEARN?

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

George Santayana

Students will study the subject of history and how historians shape facts. They will also study maths, natural sciences, the arts, ethics and social science.

Students should be able 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. Rather than accept information at face value, students will challenge the assumptions and paradigms underpinning the knowledge. Students should develop an awareness of how knowledge is constructed, critically examined, evaluated and renewed, by communities and individuals. Students will be able to weigh up the usefulness of different types of knowledge and justify their rejection of knowledge when appropriate.

They should be able to draw links across subject areas and see that a critically questioning approach is helpful across their studies.

El arte es una mentira que nos acerca a la verdad.

[Art is a lie that brings us nearer to the truth.]

Pablo Picasso

By the end of the course students should be able to appreciate the value and the limitations of knowledge from the scientific to the artistic.