Women in STEM: Core Theme Knowledge & The Knower

This could be used as Starter or as a whole lesson. This activity is written for students in the first few weeks of the ToK Course. It is based in the Core Theme Knowledge & The Knower, and it starts to explore the difference between that which is known to the knower in comparison with that which is known to the knowledge community (previously 'the difference between personal & shared knowledge'). It could also be used to introduce the idea that knowledge is created for a purpose.

Knowledge Questions:

• Can other people know us better than we know ourselves?

• Is the truth what the majority of people accept?

• Are there types of knowledge that are specifically linked to particular  communities of knowers?

ToK Skills:

• Identifying Knowledge Issues

• Interpretation & Analysis

• Evaluation

The Scenario:

You are a reporter for a news outlet. You have been given a 30 second time slot to report on the under-recruitment of women to STEM subjects in university. In your research you have interviewed 4 different groups, however you only have time to show 1 interview in your news report.

What to do:

Read the Interview summaries below and then discuss the questions as a group, and jot down your group answers.

Interview Summaries (NB - these are all fictional !).

1. DP Students who are applying to university.
   This group (both male and female) felt that women were encouraged to apply for STEM subjects. The young women felt empowered in their choices, and supported if they wanted to apply for STEM.
   

2. Vice Chancellor at an 'elite' STEM university.
   The Vice Chancellor said that she wanted to make more offers of places to women applying to study STEM, but her university did not receive enough applications from women. In response they are spending money on encouraging more female school leavers to apply, and running a girls only summer school with STEM admissions tutors for G10 and G11 students.
   

3. CEO of Pharmaceutical Company
   The CEO doesn't care whether his company recruited male or female graduates, he just wants the best graduates. However, he felt that the elite STEM university should not be spending money on trying to get women to apply, they should be using that money to improve research at their university.
   

4. Government Statistician.
   The statistician has analysed a lot of data, and has found that women are less likely to apply to study STEM than men. However, they have found that women who do apply for STEM are more likely to be offered places at more competitive universities than men with the same grades.

ToK Questions for your group to consider:

a). Which interview provides you with the most valid knowledge relating to female applications to study STEM at university ?

b). Which interview provides you with the most reliable knowledge relating to female applications to study STEM at university ?

c). Comparing interviews 1 and 4, they are contradictory, is one wrong ?

d) What are the wider knowledge implications raised by your answer to c) ?

e) Which interviews are more representative of the views of the knower, and which are more representative of the knowledge community ? (place them on a continuum)