The optional themes allow for a more in-depth look at two themes that are of particular interest to the TOK teacher and students.
Teachers must select two optional themes from the following five options.
Knowledge and technology
Knowledge and language
Knowledge and politics
Knowledge and religion
Knowledge and indigenous societies
These five themes have been selected because of their contemporary real-world relevance and their rich potential to stimulate interesting and engaging TOK discussions around key areas, such as the justification of, and evidence for, claims.
It is intended that all five of these optional themes will have strong links to, and extend from, the core theme—Knowledge and the knower. Whereas the core theme focuses on the student and the particular communities of knowers that they belong to, the optional themes broaden the focus to five factors that have a huge impact on the world today and that play a particularly key role in shaping people’s perspectives and identities. They raise issues that students are likely to encounter in their lives both within and, importantly, beyond their school experiences.