Article and a Knowledge Issue

The crucial and most difficult part of TOK, arguably, is making the leap to seeing Knowledge Issues in daily life. As a part of the course work, this skill becomes very important for internal and external assessment. Like any skill, it becomes easier with habitual practice.

This week each student brought in an article and briefly discussed a knowledge issue present in the article. I was continually impressed by the creativity of the selections, and how personal each choice was. Could each of you summarize your article in one or two sentences (not a paragraph!) and record in the form of an open question the knowledge issue you have found.

Due: 25 March

Variety in Presentations!

The TOK Presentation is a not an easy task, it cannot be thrown together after reading something hurriedly. It must be personal, well-researched and well-structured, addressing a real-life situation and focussing on the inherent knowledge issues.

The Guide to the course says that "presentations may take many forms, such as lectures, skits, simulations, games, dramatized readings, interviews or debates. Students may use supporting materials such as videos, MS Powerpoint presentations, overhead projections, posters, questionnaires, recordings of songs or interviews, costumes or props. Under no circumstances, however, should the presentation be simply an essay read aloud to the class" (page 47).

Keeping this in mind, be creative! Take a look at this film on teen dating made by a group of TOK students in California. It is a real-life situation and the students are focussing on Knowledge Issues. Write a reaction (250 words) to the short video below by Monday, March 21.

More on Knowledge Issues / The TOK Presentation

For the TOK Presentation and Essay students must clearly and directly address specific knowledge issues. What does this mean?

In the first semester we explored the inner part of the TOK diagram, that is, the Knower(s) and the Ways of Knowing (language, sense perception, emotion, and reason). We observed that human beings have many ways of knowing and understanding, and that each way has distinct advantages and disadvantages, possibilities and limitations. When we seek to understand through written or spoken language, this imposes possibilities and limitations. Our senses permit us to receive information, but this too can be delimited or expanded depending on different conditions. Emotion can color our sense perception and reasoning. Reason itself can be logical or illogical, deductive or inductive, and it can be mislead through the logical fallacies. All of these Ways of Knowing interact.

For the TOK course a knowledge issue will be formulated in relationship to these issues as well as to issues of belief, certainty, culture, evidence, experience, explanation, interpretation, justification, truth and values. It also can be focused on one of the Areas of Knowledge (Natural Sciences, Human Sciences, Mathematics, The Arts, and Ethics).

The IB does not prescribe but recommends that knowledge issues are:

• "Formulated as open questions that allow more than one possible answer
  
• Explicitly about knowledge itself and not subject-specific claims
  
• Expressed in the language of TOK
  
• Precise in terms of the relationships between these concepts."

The challenge of TOK is to assimilate a new way of understanding how we know. The presentation must deal with a real-life situation and then discover in this a clear and explicit knowledge issue. For example, Al Gore has been campaigning for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in order to reduce the greenhouse effect. In the documentary An Inconvenient Truth we see him presenting his argument to myriad audiences around the world. That is a real-life situation. But if we simply debate on carbon dioxide emissions, this would not be sufficient. For TOK it is not enough to debate the persuasiveness of the argument. The knowledge issue must be expressed at a higher level of abstraction. The knowledge issue, expressed as a question, becomes: What makes a scientific explanation persuasive?

The challenge is to express the knowledge issue at this level of abstraction and then to keep the examination of the knowledge issue in focus and grounded in real examples. One must demonstrate an informed and critical understanding of the knowledge issue. Keep in mind, as we continue in preparing the first presentation, the four areas in which you will be assessed (I have given you these criteria in class):

• Identification of Knowledge Issues
• Treatment of Knowledge Issues
• Knower's Perspective
• Connections

The first semester, we can see now, is fundamentally important in highlighting the issues in knowing. As we go ahead with focusing on the specific Areas of Knowledge, we must also begin to apply these concepts and questions to life. This is what makes the TOK perennially fascinating and relevant.

Richard Feynman and Science as Knowing

We are now turning to science as a way of knowing.

One of the most extraordinary people of the 20th century was Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winning physicist who left an lasting impact on science. His impact was in part due to his discoveries, and in part due to his amazing ability to teach science. Unconventional and creative, he engaged people in viewing the world in a manner at once poetic and scientific, balancing rigorous thought and enormous awe.

In class we began watching a video on Feynman. Please finish watching the video outside of class and record a reflection here. What does Feynman say about science as a way of knowing?

The Pyramids in Bosnia and Testing for Truth

In class yesterday we watched a brief news clip about the discovery of pyramids in Bosnia. How can we evaluate the validity of this claim? In previous classes we have seen that different tests can be applied to knowledge claims. We can test by reasoning, by observation, by seeking a reliable source, by emotion. What tests are used to validate the claim in Bosnia? What tests can invalidate it? What do you personally think about the claim?

Knowledge and Wisdom

In the last two classes we have isolated and discussed briefly three categories of knowledge:

• Experiential Knowledge
• Factual Knowledge
• Skills Knowledge

We also turned our attention to wisdom. In reflecting upon what constitutes wisdom, several students articulated that it encompasses all three categories, but emphasizes experiential knowledge. It also requires reflection.

Students too mentioned specific classmates who seemed wise in that they firmly and compassionately understood what was important and meaningful in specific situations.

Can wisdom be taught? If it cannot, what does this tell us about learning? If it can, could you create a course on wisdom and what would you teach? How would you teach it?

TOK Summary Activity

The Theory of Knowledge course is not intended to deepen extensively the knowledge of students in new areas. For example, as we learn about the four Ways of Knowing in the center of the TOK diagram, the student is not expected to become a scientist, a psychologist, a linguist or a logician. But by investigating the Ways of Knowing, and by comparing and contrasting the Areas of Knowledge as we go forward , the course can create a sharper awareness of how knowledge is gained and how these ways of gaining knowledge have different assumptions, methods, conditions, expectations, and conclusions.

So the focus of TOK is not on extensive new content, but on raising a new awareness of knowledge issues. This term refers to the issues that intersect and interact in claims of knowledge and the methods of arriving at these claims. Phrased in questions, some of these issues can be: In arriving at this knowledge, what have we assumed regarding our sensory perception, emotion, language, or reasoning? How are we using our senses, our emotions, our language, or reason? What method was used to gain this knowledge? What are the limits of this knowledge? What responsibility do we have because we have this knowledge?

As we move forward in the course, this focus on knowledge issues must remain sharp.

ACTIVITY

IB Mission Statement

The International Baccalaureate aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.

To this end the organization works with schools, governments and international organizations to develop challenging programmes of international education and rigorous assessment.

These programmes encourage students across the world to become active, compassionate and lifelong learners who understand that other people, with their differences, can also be right.

Question:
Earlier in the semester we reflected on the IB Mission Statement, and in the intervening weeks we have examined four Ways of Knowing: Sensory Perception, Emotion, Language, and Reason. Please reread the Mission Statement and reflect on how these four Ways on Knowing are present there.

Please post your answer of 600 words minimum on the blog by 21 December, 2010.