ToK Exhibition: What do we know in Oct 23?
Questions that frequently arise about the ToK Exhibition include:
Is it better for our objects to be personal?
How do we justify the inclusion of the object in the exhibition ?
and what's actually meant by evidence?
The best place to find definitive answers to these questions is in the TOK Subject Report. This is a report written by the TOK examiners after each exam session. It's great, it gives you the inside track on what you're actually supposed to do in the TOK exhibition (and essay). If you haven't seen it, ask your teacher for a copy. They can share it with you. The latest subject report has just come out, reporting on the May 23 exam session. What can it tell us about the ToK Exhibition ?
Q1: Do my objects have to personal to me ?
Well, let's look at what the subject report says. It says, "Examiners noted that when students choose objects that they are familiar with and interested in, they are more successful in exploring the aspects of knowledge that these objects reveal."
So the objects don't have to be personal to you, but they should be familiar to you. You should be familiar with them. Now, I read a great exhibition from Hong Kong last year. The student had used the bus that she took to school every day as one of her objects. Obviously, a bus is not personal to her. It's used by many people, but she's familiar with it. It has significance to her. It has TOK significance. And she can draw those TOK arguments out from it.
The subject report goes on to say (about the May 23 session) "Objects that were used ranged from personal to more general, and there was an interesting variety of objects. However, generic objects that were not specifically situated in time or place were challenging for students to explore successfully, as they led to generalised or sweeping assertions."
ToK Subject Report May 2023
So, we see that it's the significance of the TOK knowledge arguments that can be drawn from the object, which is more important, rather than its personal relevance to you.
Q2: "Does my exhibition have to be connected to a theme?"
Your Exhibition does not have to be connected to a them. However, it can be helpful, but it can also be harmful. This is what the subject report says about connecting your TOK exhibition to a theme:
"The guide strongly recommends that students select a theme to focus their exhibition. It was pleasing to see more students using the optional or core themes to guide their choices of objects, and this supported their links to and interpretation of the prompt.
Even so, examiners noted that some instances where the use of a theme narrowed the discussion or resulted in the repetition of the same idea across the commentaries will come back to this, and this was most evident when the themes of knowledge and religion or knowledge and technology were used."
ToK Subject Report May 2023
This is really interesting for us. They don't like it if you use the same knowledge arguments or the same knowledge point across all three objects. You've got to have different knowledge points for each object, and that will give you the higher marks. If you want to know more about this, check out all of the TOK exhibition content that I have on TOK today. You need three different knowledge arguments, one argument for each object. In some ways, the objects don't really matter. It's the knowledge arguments that you draw out for them. Okay, on to the next question.
Q3: How do I justify the inclusion of the object in the exhibition?
The subject report makes it really clear that this is the most important part of the exhibition. The chief examiner says:
"As the core of the task, justifying the contribution that the specific object makes to the exhibition requires the most attention." The subject report explains that the justification comes after linking the object to the prompt, and that the justification is, and I quote, "It's the next step in the exploration after the link. It is the stronger and more detailed explanation of the link between the object and the prompt." For that, the specific context that the object is needed. A generic object will not give any TOK arguments to talk about. The justification will discuss what it is about that that specific object in its time and place that is so interesting for the prompt."
ToK Subject Report May 2023
So here again, we've got a key thing that the specificity of the object, or whether it's personal to you or whether you're familiar with it, leads to the knowledge argument. So you can't just say, you know, "This is a football shirt." But if you say, "This is the football shirt that I was wearing when I realized that knowledge is made in collaboration with other people," then you're going to get some marks.
Q4: "What constitutes evidence?"
Okay, well, the subject report makes clear that evidence is required to support arguments and claims. It says, and I quote again,
"They," that's you students, "must not make unsupported claims. Evidence may take many forms. It may, for instance, come from external sources in their studies or beyond."
ToK Subject Report May 2023
Now, I actually think that the November 22 subject report is far clearer on what constitutes evidence. The November 22 subject report says,
"Evidence needs to be factual and not made up to suit the point." And there are many different ways to provide evidence, such as the details pulled from the objects themselves, connections between the object and something else, such as a study, a research study, documentary evidence, a news item, or an informed or expert opinion. How the evidence relates to the prompt must be clearly expressed and must be characterized as a genuine, ToK exploration".
ToK Subject Report Nov 2022
So generally, I advise students that a simple reference for a significant claim relating to their knowledge argument will suffice for evidence. Just cite a reference.
For more help, check out our free video series on how to do the TOK exhibition linked here
And for even more help, check out our full explanations of every ToK Exhibition Prompt.
Daniel, Lisbon, Oct 23