Preliminaries

Aims and objectives

Aims

The aims of the TOK course are to:

• develop a fascination with the richness of knowledge as a human endeavour, and an understanding of the empowerment that follows from reflecting upon it

• develop an awareness of how knowledge is constructed, critically examined, evaluated and renewed, by communities and individuals

• encourage students to reflect on their experiences as learners, in everyday life and in the Diploma Programme, and to make connections between academic disciplines and between thoughts, feelings and actions

• encourage an interest in the diversity of ways of thinking and ways of living of individuals and communities, and an awareness of personal and ideological assumptions, including participants’ own

• encourage consideration of the responsibilities originating from the relationship between knowledge, the community and the individual as citizen of the world.

Objectives

Having followed the TOK course, students should be able to:

1. analyse critically knowledge claims, their underlying assumptions and their implications

2. generate questions, explanations, conjectures, hypotheses, alternative ideas and possible solutions in response to knowledge issues concerning areas of knowledge, ways of knowing and students’ own experience as learners

3. demonstrate an understanding of different perspectives on knowledge issues

4. draw links and make effective comparisons between different approaches to knowledge issues that derive from areas of knowledge, ways of knowing, theoretical positions and cultural values

5. demonstrate an ability to give a personal, self-aware response to a knowledge issue

6. formulate and communicate ideas clearly with due regard for accuracy and academic honesty.