The Theory of Knowledge Course Overview: Mrs. Southard This is an interdisciplinary two-course sequence. The course challenges students to reflect on what they know academically and personally and on how they know it. Students engage in daily discussions, prepare presentations relevant to course content, read selections from a variety of disciplines, draw on their experiences in other IB classes and outside school, and write regularly. The following topics will be explored: the character of “knowledge” and “knowing”, the place of the “knowing agent” in the development of knowledge, the component elements comprising the “knowing process”, the role of perception, emotion, language and reason in the acquisition of knowledge, forms of critical thinking, the features of science and scientific knowledge, the features of mathematics, the scope and limits of historical knowledge and social sciences, the study of the arts, and the role of ethics. Four central questions at the core of TOK: 1) What does this knowledge claim mean? 2) Is this knowledge claim true? 3) How do I know this knowledge claim is true? 4) What use, value does this claim have – and for whom does it have use, value?
ASSESSMENT The focus of TOK is personal growth through reflection and discussion. The course will include group work, oral presentations and class discussion, as well as lectures, reading, writing, and videos. During the course, students will complete work on their prescribed title, an essay of 1200 – 1600 words assessed externally by the IBO. Students will submit self-evaluation reports for their formal oral presentations, which constitute the internal assessment for the course. Other presentations and daily discussions, along with essays and written reflections provide students with opportunities to practice and develop their thinking and communication skills. There will be one Internal Oral Assessment following International Baccalaureate protocol at the end of the second six weeks and one External Assessment TOK Essay due during the fourth six weeks for submission.