Theory of Knowledge (ToK)

"Theory of Knowledge, a core segment of the IB that strips your knowledge down to the bone and rearranges your thinking." (Alex Hides)

What is Theory of Knowledge?

The ToK course encourages critical thinking about knowledge itself, to try to help young people make sense of what they encounter. Its core content asks: 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?

ToK will allow you to:

• Understand that every way of establishing knowledge has it uses and its limitations. That there is no set infallible method that works in every case or in every subject.
• Gain the ability to reason critically.
• Understand the Ways of Knowing which are reason, emotion, language and sense perception.
• Understand that the Areas of Knowledge, The Arts, History, Human Sciences, Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Ethics are not entirely independent of each other.
• Understand the ways in which Ways of Knowing and Areas of Knowledge are evident in your everyday life, not just in your academic life, but everywhere, all around you and all the time.
• Understand the ways in which personal views, beliefs and judgements influence knowledge claims.
• Have the skills necessary to formulate and communicate your ideas clearly both orally and in writing.

"At the end of 9 or 10 nights he realised, with certain bitterness, that he could expect nothing from those students who accepted his teaching passively, but he could of those who sometimes risked a reasonable contradiction." (Jorge Luis Borges)

ToK is taught over 2 lessons per week in Years 12 and 13. The vast majority of ToK lessons are discussion and activity based rather than large amounts of written material.

What will I study?

In Year 12 we study:

• What is knowledge?
• Ways of Knowing - Emotion, Reason, Language and Sense Perception
• Areas of Knowledge - History and Maths

In Year 13 we study:

• Areas of Knowledge - Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, the Arts and Ethics.

How will I be assessed?

ToK has no exam. It is assessed by an externally assessed essay on a prescribed title (released by the IBO in September - October of Year 12) and an internally assessed presentation. The essay is marked out of 40 and should be 1,200 - 1,600 words while the presentation is marked out of 20 and should be approximately 10 minutes long. During both years of the course, time will be spent working on the essay and the presentation.