TOK— THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
Theory of Knowledge is an interdisciplinary critical thinking class designed for students in their last two years of high school. The course is a “flagship element” of the International Baccalaureate Diploma program.
You shall no longer take things at second or third hand, nor look through the eyes of the dead, nor feed on the spectres in books,
You shall not look through my eyes either, nor take things from me,
You shall listen to all sides and filter them from your self…
Not I, not any one else can travel that road for you,
You must travel it for yourself.
It is not far, it is within reach,
Perhaps you have been on it since you were born and did not
know…
Walt Whitman: From Song of Myself (1855)
We live in an increasingly interconnected, behemoth, global information economy. The various academic disciplines are evolving rapidly and entirely new disciplines emerge every year. The number of academic publications is measured in terms of kilometers of library shelf. Many disciplines have become highly specialized and esoteric.
The magnitude of information easily accessible online is a blessing and a curse. The quality of sources varies considerably. Valuable nuggets are surrounded by dross. Tantalizing distractions abound. For a young adult navigating the fragmented edifice of knowledge can be overwhelming.
TOK can be viewed as a partial answer the slippery question: “What would an education for young adults relevant to 21st century exigencies look like?” The IB curriculum in general and TOK in particular, have pioneered the kind of 21st Century education that now seems urgent.
A habit of curiosity and rigorous inquiry should be nurtured together with nimble thinking. The ability to ask the right questions and to recognize worthwhile avenues for further exploration must be a major emphasis. Incrementally, and age-appropriately, young people should be allowed the opportunity to obtain a meta-view of their own learning within the greater context of human knowing and human knowledge as a whole.
TOK refers to this last idea as “the coherence of learning.” The Subject Guide for 2008 announces that the “interdisciplinary” TOK course:
is designed to develop a coherent approach to learning that transcends and unifies the academic areas and encourages appreciation of other cultural perspectives.
WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS IN A TOK CLASSROOM?
The TOK curriculum consists almost entirely of questions. Classes consist of activities, seminar discussion, presentations and reflective writing. The TOK experience does not begin with a futile quest for a foundational point for knowledge. The students (and the teachers) are recognized as works in progress—in medias res. The TOK Subject Guide is explicit about this:
TOK students typically have 16 years of life experience and more than 10 years of formal education behind them. They have accumulated a vast amount of knowledge, beliefs and opinions from academic disciplines and their lives outside the classroom. In TOK they have the opportunity to step back from this relentless acquisition of new knowledge, in order to consider knowledge issues.
TOK teaching is nothing if not generative. Knowledge acquisition, both as individual quest and as dynamic social activity, are strongly emphasized. The Subject Guide states that students are encouraged to:
to discover and express their views... [and] ...to share ideas with others and to listen to and learn from what others think. In this process students’ thinking and their understanding of knowledge as a human construction are shaped, enriched and deepened.
TOK, or even something approaching it, is a very rare educational experience around the world at the high school level. For now it is exceptional, but it should be mainstream.
They said, "You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are."
The man replied, "Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar."
And they said then, "But play, you must,
A tune beyond us, yet ourselves,
A tune upon the blue guitar
Of things exactly as they are."
Wallace Stevens: From The Man With The Blue Guitar (1937)
HOW DOES THE HOMO DISCENS PROJECT RELATE TO TOK?
Nick Alchin (2006)Theory of Knowledge: Student's Book and Theory of Knowledge: Teacher's Book. Hodder Murray, London.
Richard van de Lagemaat (2005)Theory of Knowledge for the IB Diploma. Cambridge University Press.
Eileen Dombrowski, Lena Rotenberg and Mimi Bick (2007) IB Diploma Programme: Theory of Knowledge Course Companion. Oxford University Press.
By far the strongest resource for teaching TOK is the Subject Guide itself consisting almost entirely of elegantly formulated questions.
TOK related online sources abound. Richard van de Lagemaat’s Inthinking site represents an excellent starting point.
