TOK (112 total posts)

Fashion, symbolism and perspectives

April 1, 2014
In the student lobe of these blogs, I’ve just posted on a recent controversy that could engage students in TOK discussions on symbolic representation and cultural perspectives.  What are they “saying” as they wear certain symbols, such as the tee-shirt design that...

Fashion statements and what they “mean”

It’s a weekend morning.  You’re going shopping. You will be seen. You look at various T shirts in your cupboard.  Which one should you choose?. Be careful. After all, you are making a “fashion statement.”  We’re all familiar with the...

Shared knowledge: selection

March 28, 2014
The National, CBC News, March 27, 2014  In TOK, we deal with “shared knowledge”, the knowledge (or at least knowledge claims) that we pass from person to person in a family, a community, a world.  In some spectacular cases, an event in one part of the...

Skepticism – a million dollar challenge

March 15, 2014
Many a TOK teacher has added spice to a discussion on the scientific method by tossing in, for critique, pseudoscientific knowledge claims made by astrologists, psychics, ghost hunters and the like.  Guaranteed to ratchet up interest even further is the fact that a...

Bellyflops and knowledge: “risk-taking”

March 4, 2014
In my last post, I was connecting wipe-outs (even if not of Olympic proportions) with the whole process of gaining know-how, and with much of its energy.  I’ve been mulling further….  Isn’t it valuable in a TOK class to encourage students to take their own bellyflops...