The Knowledge Framework

To help teachers and students explore the three parts of the TOK curriculum (core theme, optional themes, areas of knowledge), guidance and suggested knowledge questions are provided.

These suggested knowledge questions are organized into a framework of four elements:

• scope,

• perspectives,

• methods and tools, and

• ethics.

This "knowledge framework" encourages a deep exploration of each theme and AOK. Having these common elements run throughout the different parts of the curriculum also helps to unify the course and helps students to make effective connections and comparisons across the different themes and areas of knowledge.

In this sense, knowledge questions are distinct from many of the questions that students encounter in their other subjects. Knowledge questions are contestable in that there are a number of plausible answers to them. Dealing with these open contestable questions is a key feature of TOK, although some students can find the lack of a single “right” answer slightly disorienting.

In TOK discussions, it is perfectly conceivable that answers to a question may differ—what matters is that the analysis is thorough, accurate and effectively supported by examples and evidence. Knowledge questions also draw on TOK concepts and terminology, rather than using subject-specific terminology or specific examples. Knowledge questions draw on central TOK concepts such as evidence, certainty, values, and interpretation.

The 4 elements of the knowledge framework

International Baccalaureate Organisation. Theory of Knowledge First Assessment 2022. Wales, International Baccalaureate Organization, Feb. 2020, pp 12-13.