Search Result keyword: human sciences

Extended Essay research – reading between the lines

January 5, 2016
OSC’s resident IB expert Keith Allen imparts his wisdom on writing a successful Extended Essay. As an experienced IB Biology teacher, Keith knows what it takes to succeed in the IB Diploma Programme. The IB has – very proudly – reported on three research...

Electrocution and Marriage Rates: Correlation or Cause?

December 10, 2014
The comic charts on the website Spurious Correlations are already familiar to many TOK teachers. But if you’ve missed this resource till now, you won’t want to miss it any longer. Did you know that the number of people who died by becoming tangled in their bedsheets...

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...

opinions on the child: raising knowledge questions through literature

July 28, 2014
On a day when TOK students seem hard to rouse to even a mild level of vehement engagement, they will almost certainly perk up when asked questions like the following: 1. If a parent coddles a child every time it cries will the child become manipulative, crying to get...