How wolves change rivers: variables and causation

February 22, 2014

This four and a half minute video, with splendid filming of animals in Yellowstone National Park in the USA, could be effective in a TOK class on the topic of the search for cause in the natural and human sciences: http://youtu.be/ysa5OBhXz-Q  It could be used to stir...

Memory as a way of knowing: some resources

February 7, 2014

In TOK, we’re always on the lookout for fresh resources as we prepare topics and plan to stimulate class discussion.  Sometimes the best sources of ideas turn out to be….our colleagues.  This is no surprise for anyone teaching a subject that, in effect, talks about...

Belief and bombs

February 3, 2014

Hardly a day goes by in the approach to the Sochi Winter Olympics without yet another news story about terrorist threat. The assumption underlying these stories seems to be that the terrorists in question are so strong in their unshakeable beliefs that they are...

“When will we ever learn?”: the arts and shared knowledge

January 28, 2014

“The establishment has always been concerned about music,” folk singer Pete Seeger said about his peace and protest songs.  “I’ve quoted Plato for years, who wrote, ‘It’s very important that the wrong kind of music not be allowed in the Republic.’ And I’ve also heard...

diversity of indigenous knowledge

In TOK, “indigenous knowledge” has been added to the spectrum of areas of knowledge we treat in the course. Yet what is the basis of this category “indigenous knowledge”?  The map above is of aboriginal languages before colonialism, and what a...

international school kids ha ha

January 16, 2014

Do you share an experience with writer Autumn Jones?  You’ll recognize it pretty quickly if you do!  I urge you to take a minute (you’ll be glad you did) to scroll through “An International School Kid (‘Your accent is so strange, you must be...