TOK (112 total posts)

Shared knowledge: 2 stories of significance

September 1, 2014
Behind the stark issue of climate change — like the other challenges of our times — looms a concept essential to explore in Theory of Knowledge: shared knowledge. How does knowledge reach people? Through what process of sharing does the public gain...

“The eye sees only….”

August 30, 2014
Ongoing research on the eye gives fresh meaning to an idea that runs right through TOK – literally most relevant to sense perception, but metaphorically to confirmation bias (WOK intuition) of all kinds. This 3-minute video on the way the brain anticipates changes in...

Education for Tomorrow

August 27, 2014
One reads a lot about robots these days, and also about “21st century education”, “learning for tomorrow”, etc. (If you doubt me, do a search on these terms).  But how far away is “tomorrow” –  a “time that is to...

Cupcakes and sushi: fads, trends, and questions of knowledge

August 19, 2014
What’s the difference between a fad and a trend? How is the passing craze for cupcakes relevant to knowledge in the human sciences? A light story on food fads raises some general knowledge questions. My friend and co-author Mimi Bick has sent me a link to a podcast...

TOK and The User’s Guide to Economics

August 13, 2014
Interviewed in the TOK Course Companion, economist Susan McDade (working with the United Nations) comments that “most economic theories” used in the West are based on “assumptions [that] can be pointed out to be weak or not always true” and argues...