The Map as Metaphor – Part 1
Guest author Daryl Hitchcock, TOK Department Chair at Leysin American School, provides us with a detailed account on how a map can be used as a helpful metaphor for examining knowledge in TOK.
Tag: IB
Money & Science
Renowned scientist and author Freeman Dyson’s insightful reflections on how underlying economic motivations often drive scientific inquiry provide lots of great ideas for a great extended essay in economics, geography, ESS, and more.
Back To The Future
Ideas Roadshow’s first live online TOK event focuses on the upcoming changes to the TOK curriculum and the origins of TOK.
Porous Boundaries
Integrating TOK in history featuring Prof. David Cannadine, Princeton University. In what ways does historical knowledge progress?
Linguistic Diversity
UC San Diego linguist Carol Padden reflects on the impact our modern technological era is having on linguistic diversity around the world.
TOK Title Tips, Part 2 – The Power of Persuasion
Three more key points that students should take into account in the construction of their TOK essay – no matter which title they have chosen.
Missionary Boomerang
How does contact with other cultures change our own? TOK integration in World Religions featuring the enlightening research done by Prof. David Hollinger, UC Berkeley.
Greening the Grid
Research ideas related to Prof. Andy Hoffman’s description of concrete measures needed to reinvent our current power grids to make them more efficient and environmentally-friendly.
Fundamental or Accidental?
TOK integration in physics featuring astrophysicist Scott Tremaine, Institute for Advanced Study: To what extent can we determine if what we observe is an inevitable consequence of a fundamental law or simply happenstance?
Crystallographic Conundrums
Research ideas related to Prof. Paul Steinhardt’s Indiana Jones-style discovery of quasicrystals, solids whose atomic arrangements violate centuries-old laws of physics and crystallography.
Exploring PT 6 – A Wholly Necessary Discussion
Exploring the key notion of necessary and sufficient conditions and the difference between “depending” and “wholly depending”.
Undue Influence
TOK integration in psychology: Prof. Matthew Walker on the nature of appropriate evidence for a scientific theory. Under what circumstances do authority figures inhibit the development of knowledge?
Computational Complexity
Pioneering quantum cryptographer Prof. Artur Ekert and the notion of computational complexity, a way of objectively distinguishing between “easy” and “hard” mathematical problems.
The Lower Ground
TOK Integration across the DP curriculum featuring Prof. Elyn Saks, University of Southern California: How do we know when common societal stereotypes are false?
The Anthropic Principle
Great research ideas related to The Anthropic Principle featuring Noble Laureate Tony Leggett with several areas of investigation highlighted.
Exploring PT 4 – Plunging In
Tackling prescribed title 4 while exploring the difference between an analytic approach and plunging into the world of analogies.
Fake “Fake News”?
Integrating TOK in history, global politics and philosophy featuring UC Berkeley intellectual historian Martin Jay: How do we know when our collective moral standards are slipping?
Exploring PT 3 – Leading With Our Gut
Highlighting different ways of looking at PT 3 with specific suggestions for students while exploring how we can be sure that we think that something matters.
Historical Illumination
The real-world connection between TOK and physics featuring Prof. Justin Khoury, University of Pennsylvania: Under what circumstances can examining the past help guide future discoveries?
Phantom Limb Pain
Research ideas: investigating the phenomenon of “phantom limb pain” which can be used to probe a wealth of issues related to the structure of our brains.