Perspective, Power & Responsibility
This is a lesson designed to teach students the ToK Concepts of Perspective, Power and Responsibility. You can watch the video of this blog at this link, or below.
The lesson materials are linked here, reading the blog below will help ToK Teachers to tailor the materials so that they work for your students, and context.
We can think of these 3 concepts (perspective, power and responsibility) as being mutually inclusive, a change in any one of the concepts leads to changes in the other 2.
These three concepts are central to many areas of the course. They provide a good framework for knowledge & the knower, they underpin all five optional themes, and are super useful concepts for linking the systemic & structured nature of AoKs with the more individual and contextual characteristics of knowledge producers and knowers.
Polysemous Concepts
These 3 concepts not only provide a bridge between the knower & Areas of Knowledge, but they are also polysemous - they have more than one meaning:
Power can be both individual and systemic, or structural at the same time. Power can be explored in the production, acquisition or pursuit of knowledge. It could also be looked at in terms of access to, and application of, knowledge.
Responsibility often comes up in ToK Essay Prescribed Titles. Responsibility can apply to both the knowledge producer and the knower in different ways. It obviously provides us with an excellent route to the ethical section of the knowledge framework.
And last, but certainly not least, perspective could arguably be the most important concept in the ToK course. The challenge for ToK teachers is to help students to develop an appreciation of perspective without them sinking into the morass of relativism.
"This lesson's too basic !"
I know that some ToK teachers are concerned that the materials shared here are "too basic". My aim is to produce resources that are accessible and effective for all ToK learners. Therefore, the lesson has to be accessible to the student that finds ToK highly challenging. The tasks are purposefully very open ended, therefore the complexity and challenge can be increased by the teacher depending upon the needs of the students.
The aims of the lesson:
Students have the opportunity to explore the interconnectedness of the 3 concepts, and begin to understand that change in one of the concepts is likely to change in the other 2.
Students have the opportunity to see that not only are the concepts polysemous, but they can also have different meanings in different contexts at the same time.
The structure of the lesson:
The lesson presents 6 case studies, and students are asked 2 questions about each case study. The questions are firstly To whom, or to what, does this knowledge have power ?, and secondly to whom, or what, is the knowledge producer responsible?
By asking the questions in this way the students will have to form their own definitions of “power” and “responsibility”, just as they have to in the ToK Exhibition and Essay. The differing definitions that students develop, and the different consequences that flow from these various definitions, are the opportunity for the teacher to develop the concept of ‘perspective’ in the subsequent discussions.
As a teacher you know how best to structure the lesson for your students and classroom. Personally I would put students in groups, have each group look at 2 of the case studies, have each group lead feedback on 1 case study, and then ask students to write a reflection piece after the lesson.
The lesson comes out of the work that I have been doing on developing a skills framework for ToK, if you want to know more, or are interested in contributing to the ToK Skills Framework - click here.
Stay ToKtastic my friends.
Daniel, Lisbon May 2024