TOK Presentation

What is the presentation all about?

The TOK presentation tests your ability to apply TOK concepts to the real world. You will present this either on your own, or with one or two other students. Each student should talk for about 10 minutes. You have to start from a real life situation, which can be many things such as an article you have read, a discussion you have had or something you came across in your IB DP studies. You then have to think of a knowledge question based on this real life situation. You should explain and explore this knowledge question in the context of your real life situation and also other real life situations. It is very important that you choose a substantial real life situation, which triggers you to think about knowledge. Be careful when you chose a real life situation. If you have chosen an article, for example, ask yourself the question if the article really makes you think about knowledge. Perhaps it simply grabbed your attention because you found it interesting or ethically shocking. If this is the case, be careful, as you may wander off into non-TOK territory during your presentation. Does your real life situation allow you to talk for 10 minutes about TOK concepts and terminology (rather than ethics or politics as such)? Finally, applying TOK terminology to knowledge questions and real life situations is not simply mentioning a way of knowing without explaining how this way of knowing works.

The importance of the official presentation form, which is used for moderation:

Your presentation is marked by your teacher, but moderated externally. It is very important to complete the form called 'PPD' with care, as this form will be used for the moderation of your presentations. Note that presentation marks will be marked down if the form is not completed properly. It's not just a planning form for yourself, it is also used as evidence for the moderator. If you do a group presentation, make sure that you have a form for each student, as you need to put your name and personal code on the form.

How to prepare for the presentation?

The first step will be to find a good real life situation, which you can then develop into a knowledge question. For more information about knowledge questions, see the documents below on this page. Once you have developed the knowledge question, you should look at planning your ideas. The embedded document below (planning the TOK presentation) offers you some guidance as to what kind of ideas you should put into the presentation. Once you have the main ideas ready, try to think of how you will present the work. You should prepare a PowerPoint or Prezi (or something similar). You should illustrate your arguments with real life (not hypothetical) examples. It's always a good idea to include some pictures and visual 'evidence' when you make a point. If you mention a newspaper article, for example, include a snapshot of this article. If you talk about an expert in the field, include a picture etc. Remember that you are not reading off a script. You will have to give a mini lecture to the class on your topic, but you should know what you are talking about. You should engage your audience and be prepared to answer follow up questions at the end. You can include short videos to explain your point, but your presentation has to be a live presentation. Some students like to do a mini role-play embedded within the presentation to enable the inclusion of different perspectives. You can be creative, as long as you fulfil the assessment requirements of the presentation.