What is the most important factor in ToK Exhibition ?

A video version of this blog post is available at this link.

The latest ToK Exhibition Exemplars have been published by IB, and we have scrutinised and analysed them to work out what it is they’re looking for so that you can get a great grade in your ToK Exhibition. Today we’re going to tell you what is the most important factor in the ToK Exhibition.

The difference between a good mark and a mediocre mark in the ToK Exhibition mainly rests on one factor, and that one factor is specificity !

Yep, we’ve analysed the IB exemplars, and the examiner’s report, and found that the key factor which moves your marks above 5/10 is specificity.

Let’s look in more detail about what we mean by specificity, we’ll identify 2 main areas of the ToK Exhibition which require specificity.:

Area number 1: Specificity of the object.

Let’s just start with an example: A dictionary is a generic object, however the dictionary that was used to agree a peace treaty between countries A & B in a particular year is a specific object.

The purpose of the ToK Exhibition is for you to explain how ToK is manifested in the world around you, using physical objects. Therefore you need to be able to identify individual objects and say what it is about that object that answers the prompt.

Another example – A Biology textbook is just a generic object, but your IB Biology textbook which made you question the relationship between mind and matter is a specific object.

A pea plant is a generic object, but the first pea plant that Mendel cross pollinated to test a genetic law is a specific object.

I don’t need to go on, you get the idea.

The need for a specific object is why some people think that you have to have a personal link to the objects used. This is a misunderstanding. The objects have to be specific, but you do not have to have a personal link to the object. It’s just that if you do have a personal link you are more likely to choose a specific object. However, a specific object is not sufficient to get a good mark, which conveniently takes us onto our second area of specificity.

Specificity of an is defined by IB as “particular context in time and space is identified” (pg 10 Subject Report, May 2022).

Area number 2: Specificity in what the object contributes to the exhibition.

You have to show how each specific object specifically contributes to the exhibition. Let’s look at an example. If I were answering Prompt #1 “What Counts as knowledge ?”, and I identified 3 specific books, and I argued that each book counts as knowledge because they contain facts, I would not be showing specificity in each object’s contribution to the exhibition. However, if my first object was a historical record going back to 1750 of daily air pressure recorded at the Royal Observatory in Greenwich UK, and I argued that this counts as knowledge because sometimes knowledge is recorded but not observed, and my second object was Darwin’s notes from the Beagle, and I argued that this counts as knowledge because knowledge is sometimes observed but not yet labelled, then I would be showing specificity in the object’s contribution to the exhibition.

This is why I believe that it is best if you identify 3 distinct arguments relating to the prompt, 1 argument for each object. You can see this in this Exhibition commentary I gave last year. In this commentary the objects are not specific enough, but the 3 arguments are clear.

The prompt is “Who owns knowledge ?”, my 3 arguments are:

1. Knowledge Producers own knowledge.

2. Knowers own knowledge.

3. Intention (or context) owns knowledge.

Another example is seen in this recent commentary that I gave.

The prompt is “What counts as knowledge ?”. My 3 arguments are:

1. Knowledge is that which has meaning for a restricted community of knowers.

2. Knowledge is that which has meaning for everyone and anyone.

3. Knowledge is that which only has meaning for the individual.

Ensuring that you clearly explain the knowledge link between that specific object and the prompt is important. That link should be different for each individual object, and it should be a knowledge link, if you want to get a high mark. There are 2 points to bear in mind here:

Firstly, don’t repeat the same link for all 3 objects. The link needs to be different for each individual object.

Secondly, and more importantly, the link needs to be a knowledge link, not a real world context link. Let’s look at another example. If you were answering the prompt “What is the relationship between knowledge and culture?”. Your object may be an auto-rickshaw used in a UK advert promoting tourism to India. The link should not be limited to the observation that the auto-rickshaw is characteristic of transport in India. It needs to go on to make a more generalised knowledge point. Such as individual objects can represent wider bodies of knowledge or meaning particularly when those meanings are associated into a system like a culture.