IB DP TOK day

Friday 23rd September was, for second year BGE IB Diploma students, the 'TOK Essay Workshop', during which they explored the six prescribed essay titles, upon one of which they are required to write a 1600 word essay.

Theory of Knowledge is part of the core of the IB Diploma and involves students in an exploration of the nature of knowledge and how we know what we claim to know. It encourages students to be aware of themselves as thinkers, encouraging them to become more acquainted with the complexity of knowledge and to recognise the need to act responsibly in an increasingly interconnected but uncertain world (ww.ibo.org).

Mr Valentine, Ms Sheikh and Ms Bayerl were delighted with the way students engaged with the titles and are looking forward to reading the finished essays.

Which title would you choose?

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.