Theory of

Knowledge 2016

TOK in grade 12
TOK Essay externally graded
Essay planning document - Submit record of interactions
66% of grade
TOK Presentation externally moderated
Presentation planning document
33% of grade

TOK in grade 12
5 ways of knowing (History, natural sciences, human sciences,
arts, ethics)
Rotate between teachers (Michel, Studer, Arnold, Kincaid,
Markey)
I grade summatives
January, end of rotations and return to me to work on
essays and presentations
February final essays submitted
Early March, final presentations

Year 1 Revision

Relationships between shared and

personal knowledge

Personal
knowledge
Shared
knowledge

Personal
knowledge

Personal
knowledge

Ways of knowing

Language:
In what ways does language affect how we interpret the
world?
Might the language(s) we speak affect how we understand
ideas?

Reason & Emotion:

To what extent can we distinguish between rational and
emotional inputs into decision-making?
What is the role of reason (or emotion) in trying to reach
truth?
What does it mean to rationally criticise a knowledge
claim?
To what extent can reason operate in isolation from other
ways of knowing?
What is the role of reasoning in making claims beyond our
immediate experience?

Sense Perception:
Are there limits to what we can learn about the world
through perception?
How can we address the problems of perception using reason?
How can language be used to persuade and manipulate
people in their beliefs?
How can our expectations affect how we perceive the world?
What is the scope, and what are the limits of sensory
information in different areas of knowledge?

TOK Practice

Knowledge Claims
Extract a knowledge claim
What are the characteristics of a good knowledge claim
Explain the claim
Look for the knowledge imbedded in the claim
That is the information not explicitly stated, but is accepted
in order for the KC to be true
E.g. A good student always does what the teacher tells
him/her.
What knowledge is imbedded in the above claim?

Extracting Knowledge claims

Using the following source:
Extract 2 knowledge claims
Explain the claims
Consider which ways of knowing are used to justify the
knowledge in the claim
Explain how the WoK is being used to justify (grounds for
support of the KC or reasons for accepting it.
Consider