Year 1 & 2  

Theory of Knowledge

Overview of the TOK Course Journey

I. Course Description:

The fundamental aims of TOK are:

1. Encourage students to be knowledgeable and inquiring through the exploration of knowledge claims and knowledge questions.

2. Encourage students to develop intercultural understanding, open-mindedness, and attitudes necessary to respect and evaluate a range of points of views.

3. Emphasize comparisons and connections between Areas of Knowledge and encourage students to be more aware of their own perspectives and the perspectives of others.

4. Develop independent thinking skills.

II. TOK Curriculum (three interconnected parts):

1. The core theme: Knowledge and the Knower

   • Encourages students to reflect on themselves as knowers and thinkers and to consider the different communities of knowers to which we belong.

2. Optional themes (2)

   • Knowledge and Technology*

   • Knowledge and Language*

   • Knowledge and Politics

   • Knowledge and Religion

   • Knowledge and Indigenous Societies

3. Areas of Knowledge

   • History*

   • Human Sciences*

   • Natural Sciences

   • Mathematics

   • Arts

*In order to explore the three parts of the TOK curriculum, we will use the TOK framework:

• Scope: what knowledge fits into certain areas of knowledge

• Perspectives: different views of different disciplines and areas of knowledge on knowledge itself

• Methods and Tools: differences in the approaches of different areas of knowledge to produce knowledge

• Approaches to Learning: communication, research, self-management, social skills, thinking 

• Ethics: not just right or wrong, but the impacts of ethics on knowledge gathering