Sixth Form Subject Guide 2019-2021 REDRAFTED Sixth Form Choices Guide | Page 39

Theory of Knowledge (ToK) HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: Mr S Gates ([email protected]) Entry Requirements None. Where next? ToK is a multi-disciplinary subject and prepares all students for any future higher education course or career. It teaches students to explore knowledge and think critically in a range of ways, developing the skills of evaluation, analysis, self-presentation, cogent argument and confident reasoning that are highly prized by any University department or any prospective employer. WHAT WILL I STUDY? The Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course is an integral part of the core of the IB Diploma Programme intended to develop independent, critical thinkers. Students study a wide variety of different approaches to knowledge and information with the emphasis on exploring knowledge questions such as ‘How do I know this?’, ‘To what extent is this source of information reliable?’, ‘What gives someone or something authority?’ and ‘What is the relationship between my personal knowledge and the shared knowledge of the community?’ The course is structured around considering a series of Ways of Knowing including sense perception, reason, language, emotion, imagination and intuition, followed by exploring the collective Areas of Knowledge such as natural & human science, ethics, maths, history and the arts. Students engage in a variety of classroom exercises, hear speakers from a range of subject areas and explore different knowledge questions through contemporary issues. HOW IS THE COURSE ASSESSED? All candidates have to deliver a 10 minute presentation to the class which draws a knowledge question from a contemporary real life situation. They are also required to write an essay on one of a choice of six titles set by the IBO which should be between 1400-1600 words and which explores knowledge questions with reference to examples drawn from the candidates own studies. Each of these assessed elements is marked out of 10 with the presentation worth 33% and the essay worth 67% of the total. The grade A-E, along with the grade from a candidates Extended Essay, determines how many of the 3 ‘core points’ they receive as part of their Diploma total. 38