IB Core Requirements
Theory of Knowledge
Theory of Knowledge (TOK)
Encourages students to develop an approach to learning that goes beyond the traditional areas of academics and encourages appreciation of other cultural perspectives.
One of its key goals is to spark critical thinking about knowledge itself and help students make sense of the knowledge that they acquire.
A few of the main questions
- What counts as knowledge?
- How does it grow?
- What are its limits?
- Who owns knowledge?
- What is the value of knowledge?
- What are the implications of having, or not having, knowledge?
Theory of knowledge activities and discussions aim to help students discover and express their views on knowledge issues. The course encourages students to share ideas with others, listen to and learn from what others think.
Theory of Knowledge Essay Prescribed Titles 2023
1. Is replicability necessary in the production of knowledge? Discuss with reference to two areas
of knowledge.
2. For artists and natural scientists, which is more important: what can be explained or what cannot be explained? Discuss with reference to the arts and the natural sciences.
3. Does it matter if our acquisition of knowledge happens in “bubbles” where some information and voices are excluded? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge.
4. Do you agree that it is “astonishing that so little knowledge can give us so much power” (Bertrand Russell)? Discuss with reference to the natural sciences and one other area of knowledge.
5. Are visual representations always helpful in the communication of knowledge? Discuss with reference to the human sciences and mathematics.
6. To what extent is the knowledge we produce determined by the methodologies we use? Discuss with reference to history and one other area of knowledge.
