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Creating Knowledge Questions (Support for our PT)

For your consideration: Below you will find the following elements to help support you in your task of creating a successful Prescribed Title. The details offered are merely suggestions; please use your own personal knowledge to fuel to composition of these essays.

3. “There is no reason why we cannot link facts and theories across disciplines and create a common groundwork of explanation.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

 

a. What are the key words & terms that need pinning down?

 

It would be easy to mistake the command terms of this prescribed title, and assess how ‘facts’ and ‘theories’ can (or cannot) be linked. However, the wording of the question suggests that ‘facts and theories’ should be considered together (their combined meaning equating to ‘evidence’), with your essay focusing on ‘across disciplines’ and ‘common groundwork of explanation’. The first of these implies the different areas of knowledge, and the second means the principles and rules behind them.

 

We can therefore distil the essential meaning of this prescribed title to: ‘Can evidence from one area of knowledge be used to understand the principles of another?’, or, even more pithily, ‘Do areas of knowledge overlap?’

 

b. What are the difficulties and challenges of the question?

 

In common with others from the exam session, this prescribed title does not define any clear parameters for the essay. Examining the extent to which areas of knowledge (and ways of knowing) overlap could take a lifetime and more to assess, so you should have several focus points in mind before you start.

 

Essays answering this question may also end up example-driven (partly because of above), with knowledge question discussion fitted in around real life situations, rather than real life situations used to support the discussion. Be clear about the relationship that should exist between your ideas and the way you should justify them if you are going to take on this title.

 

c. What knowledge issues & associated WOKs/AOKs could be explored?

d. What sort of real life situations could be drawn on?

e. Which perspectives and implications could be considered?

 

 

4. With reference to two areas of knowledge discuss the way in which shared knowledge can shape personal knowledge.

 

a. What are the key words & terms that need pinning down?

 

This prescribed title focuses on the two main knowledge categories of ‘shared’ and ‘personal’ knowledge, about which the IB is quite helpful in the subject guide to TOK.

 

The IB identifies two types of shared knowledge: first, the areas of knowledge themselves, produced by collaboration between many people, and subject to change over time; second, the different groups (national, ethnic, gender, age, etc.) to which we belong.

 

Personal knowledge, in contrast, is gained by our own experiences, education, backgrounds, and so on. The big difference between the two is that personal knowledge is harder to share, and because it is possessed by us alone, does not rely so heavily on linguistic forms of description.

 

b. What are the difficulties and challenges of the question?

 

Although this does specify two areas of knowledge, shared knowledge and personal knowledge means essentially all knowledge, so again, the boundaries of this essay are wide-ranging. In addition, what it wants you to do with that knowledge (‘shape’) can mean many different things. So whilst there is undoubted potential to run with this question and do something quite creative, there is also the danger that your essay will end up being very unfocused, and lacking in both depth and detail.

 

The wording of the title mean that you write a fairly descriptive essay, talking about how you personally have been influenced by different areas of knowledge, and you should be careful not to fall into this trap. Connected to this, it may be hard to identify and develop clear counterclaims, given that its fairly clear that shared knowledge does play a huge role in shaping our personal knowledge.

 

Lastly, TOK essays need a good balance of real life examples, so just drawing on your own experiences and personal knowledge won’t take you as far as you need to go to properly answer the question.

 

c. What knowledge issues & associated WOKs/AOKs could be explored?

d. What sort of real life situations could be drawn on?

e. Which perspectives and implications could be considered?

 

 

6. “The whole point of knowledge is to produce both meaning and purpose in our personal lives.” To what extent do you agree with this statement?

 

a. What are the key words & terms that need pinning down?

There are quite a few command terms to contend with in this prescribed title. First of all, it’s interesting that the title really emphasizes ‘whole point’; this leaves you in no doubt that there is (according to the quote) no other reason for the acquisition of knowledge than the one suggested, not just ‘the most important’ point.

 

Second, you need to pin down both ‘meaning’ and ‘purpose’, two words that mean different things. ‘Meaning’ suggests something worthwhile, enriching, and fulfilling; purpose suggests a path or calling that you should follow.

 

Finally, the title uses the term ‘personal lives’, which implies that you should not be investigating professional or career-related achievement.

 

b. What are the difficulties and challenges of the question?

 

The potential scope of this essay is huge. Assessing what constitutes ‘meaning’ and ‘purpose’ will be very challenging indeed in a 1600-word essay. There are also issues with the wording of the title. First, you can’t really agree or disagree to a certain extent about ‘the whole point’ of something – either you agree, or you disagree. This might cause a little confusion, but perhaps shouldn’t be dwelt on. Second, the use of the word ‘personal’ is interesting, and could also lead to problems. We’re used to dealing with the areas of knowledge in terms of the experts and professionals associated with them, so when we talk about knowledge in the natural sciences, we’re usually concerned with scientists; when we talk about knowledge in the arts, we’re usually concerned with artists, and so on.

 

This question prompts you to consider your personal life, and how knowledge from the different AOKs adds meaning and purpose to it. This may tempt you to approach this as a first order knowledge question – in other words, explain how historical knowledge or scientific knowledge provides you with meaning and purpose (for history, perhaps you might consider saying that learning about the past helps you avoid making mistakes in the future; and how in science, medicine has helped cure you of a particular ailment). But in TOK, we’re more interested in second order knowledge questions – in other words, how we acquire and process knowledge related to the AOKs. This is definitely harder to link to the idea of ‘meaning’ and ‘purpose’ in our personal lives.

 

c. What knowledge issues & associated WOKs/AOKs could be explored?

d. What sort of real life situations could be drawn on?

e. Which perspectives and implications could be considered?

Composing Strong Knowledge Questions

The Prescribed Titles are statements when really you need to respond to a question. The way you do this is by taking the PT statement and turning it into a Knowledge Question. From this Knowledge Question, you can then incorporate Real-Life Situations, Areas of Knowledge, and Ways of Knowing. Here is the class template we use to help guide you:

|( |( |( |( |( |

|To what extent… |Can |(WOK) |Affect |(WOK) |

|To what degree… |Does |(AOK) |Influence |(AOK) |

|In what way(s)… |Should |(Idea) |Be used to |(Idea) |

|How can we be certain… |Are |(Argument) |Dictate |(Argument) |

| |Will | |Inform | |

| |Could | |Suggest | |

**YOU MUST TURN YOUR CHOSEN PRESCRIBED TITLE INTO A KNOWLEDGE QUESTION**

This could be as simple as taking a sentence starter and formatting the statement into a question, or you may approach the question in a way that uses the exact same information and/ or words, and make it as approachable as possible (see KQ from the “Unpacking the Prescribed Title” document)

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