ToK Exhibition Skills Builder Part 2
Today's post is the second half of a series of lessons designed to build the skills for the ToK Exhibition (thus it's a "ToK Exhibition Skills Builder")
The first lesson is linked here, if you’re yet to read that you can pop back, download the free resources etc.
FREE Lesson Resources !
The Presentation (showing the students what to do) is available at this link
All slides (student forms) as lessons resources are available for free from this link.
Lesson Aims - Building skills.
This lesson is specifically designed to help students to get higher marks on their Exhibition, it does that by developing the skills of:
Revisiting the Identification of the Personal Link to the Object
Constructing Perspectives on the prompt, and then
Linking objects to the prompt.
There is a slightly controversial alteration that we identified last year to IB’s recommendations. Rather than identify objects and then develop perspectives the ToK team that I worked with found it easier for students to develop perspectives on the prompt, and then to identify objects which exemplify those perspectives.
I have also built into the process the use of ToK Concepts (as recommended in the May 2022 Subject Report.
The Lesson Process
I have written my own prompt, the same prompt as used in the last lesson - Why does pre-existing knowledge change ? You, of course, can write your own prompt, or use one of the IB Prompts (obviously in the real Exhibition the students must use one of the prompts given by IB).
In the last lesson students linked objects to the prompt, and explained those links. In this lesson I want them to develop a Perspective (or argument) relating to the prompt - think of it as one of the ways to answer the prompt, our first aim is to get them to write 3 perspectives on the prompt.
So, here I have come up with two perspectives as examples for modelling. The first being
the pre-existing knowledge may change because the predictions made according to that knowledge have become less certain. The ToK concept here being Certainty.
The second being that
pre-existing knowledge may change because it was created at an earlier date, and is no longer justifiable in modern culture. The ToK Concepts here being Culture & Justification.
I then gave students time to write their 3 perspectives on the prompt, in groups, each perspective to include at least one ToK Concept.
Identifying Objects
We then moved on to identifying an object that demonstrated the perspective. Note again we are writing the perspective, and then identifying the object. This reversal of the orthodox order came about after my first experience of the teaching the Exhibition. In that process we identified objects, and then tried to explain the link between the object and the prompt. Doing it in that order we found that there was a lot of similarity in the links described for the 3 objects. This made it far harder for students to score in the higher mark bands for the criteria of justifying the contribution that each individual object makes to the Exhibition.The students had to go back, write unique perspectives, and then select new objects. We soon realised that we needed to reverse that process - hence the Perspectives to object order.
Linking Objects to Perspectives
Then we ask the students to explain the link between the object and the perspective. Note - at this stage we are not linking the Object to the Prompt. We're linking the object to the perspective in order to ensure that the student explains the unique contribution of that object to the Exhibition.
Personalisation of the object.
Now I re-introduce the personalisation of the object. Again, this may at first seem to be the wrong way round, common sense tells us that it would be easier to start with the personal, and work to the general. However, my experience is that it is harder to move good knowledge arguments if we start with the personal. Students find it easier to move between themselves as knowers and the knowledge world if they’ve initially spent time considering objects in the abstract, it just reduces the incidence of anecdotal description - of course, your mileage may vary.
Explanation of the object's link to the perspective back to the prompt !
The final step is to link the explanation of the object’s link to the perspective back to the prompt. Lots of links, I know, but these steps are the operationalisation of the criteria that reads “justification of the particular contribution of that individual object to the Exhibition”. It is this criteria that students need to fulfil to be scoring 7-10 marks in the Exhibition.
The whole process took about 1 hr. If we repeat this process a few times, changing the prompt each time, students will be well prepared for the ToK Exhibition.
I hope that you found this useful.
Have a great day, and stay TokTastic!
Daniel,
Lisbon, November 2022
ToK Essay Tips
The most frequent ToK Essay Tips that I have to give to my students is to get them to change their writing from describing the real world to discussing knowledge. Today's post is just a little aide memoire that ToK Teachers can give to their students to remind them to write about knowledge. It may save you a conversation or two !
The image can also be downloaded as a PDF here.
Have a Tok-tastic day!
Daniel.
Writing Knowledge Statements: ToK Lesson
So how does knowledge manifest itself in the real world? And how do we develop different perspectives about how it manifests itself in the real world? These are key questions in understanding ToK, and knowledge construction as a whole.
I'm interested in creating ToK resources that make the subject accessible for students who find ToK more challenging or, to be honest, may not be particularly interested in ToK.
There's a video guide to the lesson below.
Writing Knowledge Statements.
Today's lesson is designed to help students build the skill of developing alternative perspectives for things they see in the real world. And start looking at how knowledge manifests itself in that real world. Both skills are central to ToK Exhibition & ToK Essay
Lesson Resources!
The lesson resource can be downloaded from this link.
We start by looking at a few real world scenarios and I ask the students to jot down as many possible reasons for the construction of that real world phenomenon. Give limited time, the focus here is on a soft element of competition to get as many reasons written down as possible. I've put a few real-world scenarios in the lesson, obviously you can change these up for things which are more appropriate for your context or your students.
Then I do a bit of up front teaching to explain how we move from The Real World to the knowledge world showing them an example from each of the real world scenarios used earlier. This is developing the skill of writing Knowledge Statements.
Then I ask them to do the same themselves, changing the reasons that they gave earlier into "ToK World statements", or knowledge statements. And I start to introduce the Pillars of Knowledge - that is how knowledge is constructed, why knowledge is constructed, how it changes over time and the evaluation of that knowledge. I introduce this to try to extend thinking at the end of this lesson.
Purpose
The purpose of the lesson is to get your students used to identifying the knowledge characteristics of real world phenomena and the idea of using knowledge statements to explain those real world phenomena. Essential skills that we're just creating at a nascent stage at this point in the course.
This lesson also links with
This post on how to write Claims & Counterclaims.
This lesson on building skills for ToK Exhibition.
If this lesson is useful for your ToK teaching, or you just enjoyed this video, then a Like, Subscribe, Comment to Share or subscribe are greatly appreciated
Have a great day!
Daniel,
Lisbon, Nov 22
Introduction: AoK The Arts
This lesson is designed to introduce AoK The Arts, it's skills based and participatory. The lesson is designed to be given early in the ToK course, in the first term of DP1. At this stage in the course I believe that we should be focussing on student's emotional orientation to ToK. We should be designing lessons so that they experience ToK as low stakes, low threat, easily accessible and fun. In my experience this means that we need to emphasis active participation, a gentle element of competition, and very little reading / writing. It also means that we should steer clear of watching videos, I find that students who are not excited by ToK become even less excited when we give them ToK-type videos to watch.
"Where's the rigour ?"
The participatory - fun approach of the lesson doesn't mean that it's not 'rigourous' (whatever that word means). It is based on sound and solid skills identification and skills development, but it tries to do this in a light-touch way which builds on student's pre-existing knowledge and skills.
The ToK Skills Map (developed in conjunction with Thailand ToK Teacher's Network). - we've tried to identify the specific skills that students need to enjoy success in ToK. This lesson has been developed from this map.
The skills specifically identified for development in this lesson may seem abstract when written in this form, but when operationalised as individual & group learning tasks they become far more accessible.
The Lesson.
The lesson is well described in the video linked below. I will just give brief details here.
Resources needed:
Paper, colouring pens / pencils, somewhere to display drawings (eg a whiteboard), some way to attach the drawings to the display (eg Blu-Tack).
Google link to the lesson presentation / instructions here.
PDF Version of the Lesson Is shown at the end of this post.
The content areas introduced in the lesson.
Anyway, I think that the lesson is fairly self explanatory. I hope that it shows that we can teach ToK without a heavy reliance on content, and that a focus on skills development can be fun.
If you have any questions or suggestions please don't hesitate to contact me at Daniel@TokToday.com
have a great weekend!
Daniel,
Lisbon November 22.
PDF version of the Intro to AoK The Arts Lesson.
Critically applying ToK Concepts to RLS
Today I have a quick mid-week ToK activity for you on the ToK Concepts which could be used as a starter, or could be a whole lesson.
The Lesson Resource is available here as a Google Slides presentation.
It’s free, ready to download here as a Powerpoint
This a development of a starter activity that I posted a couple of months ago designed to introduce students to ToK Concepts.
This activity is designed to:
Further familiarise students with The ToK Concepts, and help them to develop their skills in using those concepts in Areas of Knowledge,
It’s designed to help them to move from real world examples to make knowledge statements, to develop their skills in moving from their lived world to the knowledge world.
And finally it’s designed to develop their ability to apply the ToK Concepts in a critical (or evaluative) way. For those of you who remember legacy syllabi of ToK - this is the current version of developing knowledge issues.
The Lesson process:
We start by presenting the students with the ToK Concepts, and we ask them to apply 3 of the concepts to a real life situation arising from each of the Areas of Knowledge.
I start by modelling an example from AoK Natural Sciences for the students.
My real world example is Duck Billed Platypus. The issue with the platypus is that it didn’t neatly fit into the taxonomy of life used by European scientists in the 19th C taxonomy (when they sent the first Platypus specimen from Australia to the Natural History Museum the esteemed scientists thought it must be a hoax). And I have applied the Concepts of Evidence, Interpretation and Objectivity to that example.
I then give real world examples from each of the AoKs for students to work on on their own. Now, some of these examples may need a little explaining to the students, or you could ask the students to do their own research on the examples, or you could replace the examples with ones that you or your students readily understand. I’ve used these examples purely because they work for me in my classroom.
And so, we have Forecasting from AoK Maths, some misrepresented knowledge from AoK History. Fairly well known examples from AoK Natural Sciences. The examples from AoK Human Sciences are two personal favourites of mine. I may explain them in a future blog post if readers are interested. Finally examples from AoK The Arts, which are fairly self explanatory.
It's a fast, free, easy, accessible & effective ToK Resource that you can use today, or tomorrow.
have a great day!
Daniel,
Lisbon, Nov 22
ToK Exhibition Skills Builder (part 1)
Building skills is the key to success in the ToK Exhibition.
If you're only going to read one document about the ToK Exhibition then the Subject Report May 22 is the document to read. It's the most definitive explanation of what the ToK examiners are looking for. I look at the contents of the subject report in this post, I mention it here because it informs this post.
This post is about building skills for the ToK exhibition. There is some mystique, chatter and a little confusion about the ToK exhibition. My starting point with any ToK assessment is that it's about skills so we need to identify and teach the skills required for the exhibition.
I'll just take this opportunity to plug the ToK skills map (linked here). Please have a look at that and feel free to suggest any skills that are yet to be added or developed on the map. I will also take this opportunity to beg for a like, subscribe, comment or share if you find these materials useful.
ToK Exhibition Skills.
So what are the TOK exhibition skills? I have developed the following map of the specific exhibition skills which we can use to guide us in our teaching.
At the top are the two meta-skills, these are the overriding skills needed to do about an exhibition I think these are developing an argument for the objects and justifying their argument. However these are fairly abstract skills you need to break them down into tangible things that students can do, practise and develop to do well in the exhibition.I have called these the foundational skills
Foundational ToK Exhibition Skills
The foundational skills are: identifying an appropriate subject, constructing a knowledge link of the object to self, constructing a knowledge link of the object to the prompt, identifying the unique contribution of the objects to the exhibition, and identifying evidence for the objects contribution to the exhibition.
Now that we've identified the discrete foundational skills required for the exhibition we can start to design learning tasks for each of these skills, and we can build these learning tasks into ToK teaching from early in the course.
Teaching the foundational skills.
I created a lesson to help students to develop these skills, the Student Skills Builder proforma can be downloaded here:
ToK-Exhibition-Skills-Builder_-Pt-1-1
The lesson is designed to be given in the first few weeks of the ToK course in DP1, so we can shortcut some of the gaps in knowledge that students will have at this stage of the course. This is done by devising my own prompt, and giving it to the students. In this case the prompt was why do we change pre-existing knowledge ? The main reason for giving them a prompt was that I could then guide the choice of objects in order to build the first skill: identifying an appropriate object. it also gets around any problems of academic honesty of reusing prompts later on etc.
I asked the students to bring an object which had either wowed them, or had changed the way they think about the world. by directing them I was helping them to develop the skill identifying an appropriate object.
We spent considerable time discussing the objects they chose, and why they chose those objects. I then went on to show them how to develop their personal link to the object into a knowledge link to the object. This is the gap of understanding for students at this stage in the ToK Course, That is moving from The Experienced world to the ToK world, their ability to do this will develop through modelling and familiarity with the contents of the course.
Moving from the 'real world' to the ToK World is the key understanding for ToK.
Modelling
Before we got onto to the contribution of the object to the exhibition (what I call the argument )I shared with the students the Exemplar that I have written which is also linked in the web post on this lesson.
The Exemplar Lesson:
ToK-Exhibition-Skills-Builder_-Pt-1_Daniel
At the end of the Exemplar there are a set of questions and annotation tasks which are designed to help the students to identify where in the Exemplar I have linked my own experiences to the knowledge world and the knowledge prompt. So I'm just trying to model that skill for them before asking them to do it themselves.
Now, at this stage we are taking things very slowly - I am modelling how to make the links, and then asking them to do it with their own objects. I am giving them a lot of verbal & written feedback on what they’re doing. This is really the process of creating the ToK Mindset - if you don’t know what that is I made an earlier video on it (linked here) - this is the heart of ToK, and once students have developed The ToK Mindset they have ‘cracked’ ToK.
The last skill that I build in this lesson is the identification & use of Evidence for the claim arising from the object. The Subject Report really clarifies what IB Examiners want as ‘evidence’ for the claim, and this is required to get into the top 3 marking bands.
I hope that you found this post & these resources helpful. If you have any requests for content or resources please don't hesitate to contact me (Daniel@TokToday.com).
Have a great week,
Daniel,
Lisbon, Nov. 22
What are the examiners thinking ? (ToK Exhibition)
Experienced teachers of ToK well know that the Subject Report is one of the most important documents for guiding students to do well in ToK.
The Subject Report is written by the Chief Examiner after each Exam Session, it is an aggregation of the main points arising from the individual reports that each examiner has to write after they have marked the ToK Essays & Exhibitions. Therefore it gives you great information on:
Common Mistakes made.
Strong or effective approaches to questions,
And most crucially - the examiners operationalise the assessment criteria, in other words - they tell us what they’re looking for, or what they mean, by some of the more vague descriptors in the assessment criteria.
The May 22 ToK Subject Report is available from the Programme Resource Centre. I have summarised the May 22 ToK Subject Report - The section on The ToK Exhibition is linked here, and the section on the ToK Essay is linked here.
My summaries are useful as an aide memoir, or a teaching resource to be used with students. However, I encourage you to read the full report. There are a lot more details in the full report than I can fit into a one page summary.
Why focus on the May 22 Subject Report?
The May 22 ToK Subject Report is particularly interesting because it is the first time we have feedback from the Examiners on the ToK Exhibition, and it really clarifies some of the things that we were not sure about going into the May 22 exam session. If you are currently preparing students for the ToK Exhibition the May 22 Subject Report is required reading.
This post focusses on what the Subject report tells us about the ToK Exhibition, there is a section in the report on The Essay, but that will have to wait for another video:
Key points in M22 Subject on The ToK Exhibition.
1. Object Specificity.
Specific objects are far better than generic objects. Many of the subsequent marks awarded for the Exhibition partly rely on the specificity of the object - so this point is important. Further, it is easier for students if the object has some personal link to their own lived experience - this is more in fitting with the Exhibition which is supposed to be a reflection on how ToK Manifests itself in the real world. The subject report goes into some detail about what is meant by a specific object -it really is worth reading, personally I think that the examiners have made it very clear for us.
2. Knowledge Links.
The explanation of the link between object & the prompt needs to be about knowledge - not about the the object, or any wider real world issues - it has to be about knowledge. This may seem obvious, however I recently saw an Exhibition commentary which the teacher thought had been undermarked by the Examiners. On reading the commentary it was immediately clear that the student had written very little about knowledge, they had written a lot about the real world context of the object, but very little about knowledge. A simple if crude test of this is to simply count the number of times the student has used the word “knowledge” - if they’re not using the word they’re probably not writing about knowledge.
3. Specific Contributions.
The contribution of the object to unpacking the prompt needs to be specific & distinct to that individual object. This means that the objects probably need to be varied / different types of object. Further, This is why I ask my students to construct 3 arguments relating to the prompt BEFORE picking 3 objects. This makes it much easier to score highly on this criteria.
4. Evidence.
The report clarifies what is meant by evidence, it could include a study, documentary evidence, a news item, a thoughtful or expert opinion.
Final Thoughts
Finally there is an interesting paragraph in the subject report that explains that the Exhibition is meant to be a reflection on how ToK manifests itself in the real world, it says that
“candidates are not expected to answer the prompt but to show how their objects are interesting to help reflection about the prompt and explore it. It needs to be a TOK discussion so candidates should be encouraged to use TOK concepts…,”
May 22 ToK Subject Report, IB
In this we paragraph have a couple of insights which were not previously clear to me , and I think will be of great help in the future:
1. We should try to bring the ToK Concepts out in the Exhibition - I’m going to ask my students to focus on 2 or 3 concepts in their Exhibition.
2. More importantly - it’s a reflection which can be left unanswered, this invites a wider ToK discussion, which can link back the student’s role as a knower with the prompt - oh happy days !
You can find more thoughts on the ToK Exhibition here, including a useful structure planner.
If you are a student who wants help with your ToK Exhibition please check out our student support pages here.
If you have any thoughts or requests I'd love to hear from you: Daniel@TokToday.com,
Have a Tok-tastic day!
Daniel,
Lisbon Nov 2022
ToK Essay #6 May 23
The video guide to ToK Essay #6 May 23 has gone up on YouTube today, and is linked below. That wraps it up for ToK Essay guides for May 23 season, I saved my favourite Essay for last ! If you find the videos useful then a like, subscribe, comment or share would be greatly appreciated.
ToK Essay #6 - My favourite.
I love Essay #6 - it's core ToK - it can be written at so many different levels by students. It can be approached as an discussion of knowledge construction problems, or it can be approached at a far more analytical level looking at whether we construct a world, or merely 'sense' an external physical world. I could write about, and discuss, this essay all day long !
Brevity for Levity.
I wanted to keep these video guides to less than 10 minutes in length, and I succeeded with 5/6 of them. I found the time limit particularly constraining with Essay #6 because there's just so much to say about issues of knowledge construction. In parts of the video I am only able to list a few of the topic headings which I go into in the Essay notes (linked). However, as this video was the last one made I think that I was able to keep the pace up.
Detailed Essay Notes
Super detailed notes for all of the ToK Essays in May 23 are available from this link.
The Essay Notes are very detailed (ranging from 4,500-8,000 words per essay). They include:
Main concepts.
Main arguments.
Evaluation Points.
Suggestions for different approaches to answering the questions.
Suggestions for real life examples, including sources & references.
There's far more in the notes than you will need to write a great ToK Essay - so you can pick & choose various sections of the notes to use in your essay.
Other guides:
You can find the video guide for Essay #1 linked here.
You can find the video guide for Essay #2 linked here.
You can find the video guide for Essay #3 linked here.
You can find the video guide for Essay #4 linked here.
You can find the video guide for Essay #5 linked here.
Tell me what you think !
I welcome feedback on the guide for ToK Essay #6 M23, or any of the other videos, notes, or ebooks. My mission is to produce accessible ToK Resources so please let me know what you need and what I could improve.
In the meantime, have a great week !
Daniel,
Lisbon, Portugal
ToK Essay #4 M23: Astonishing !
The video guide for ToK Essay #4 May23 is published on Youtube today (and linked below). There are so many assumptions in this title that it was a challenge to work out where to start. In the end I went with a scaffolded approach. I started with the traditional, straightforward, approach, and then developed more sophisticated ideas into the latter stages of the essay.
Astonishment.
As I wrote the Essay Notes for ToK Essay #4 M23 (linked) I became increasingly aware that the response of astonishment could be the central idea in the essay rather than the debate between little knowledge and lots of power. As such the essay notes ran to over 6,900 words - they contain at least 4 main ways to approach the essay (and probably many more). Consequently the video is also far longer than I would have hoped for. Most people watch a video for about 25% of its duration, I find that trying to keep it snappy & on point is a real challenge - but the juicy bits of this video are in the last 5 minutes.
A few of the characters who join us in the video for Essay Guide #4 - trying to keep it light & accessible!
Other guides:
You can find the video guide for Essay #1 linked here.
You can find the video guide for Essay #2 linked here.
You can find the video guide for Essay #3 linked here.
You can find the video guide for Essay #5 linked here.
Tell me what you think!
I welcome feedback on the guide for ToK Essay #4 M23, or any of the other videos, notes, or ebooks. My mission is to produce accessible ToK Resources so please let me know what you need and what I could improve.
In the meantime, have a great weekend!
Daniel,
Lisbon, Portugal
ToK Essay #5 May 23: Visual Representations
The video guide to ToK Essay #5 May 23: Visual Representations has been posted on YouTube today (and is linked below). This essay was a real challenge for me to summarise in a short video. When I wrote the Essay Guide Notes (linked) I found it to be a very wide ranging subject, and the notes ran to over 6,300 words !
Visual Representations.
The focus on visual representations seems fairly straightforward, they're tangible things such as maps and graphs. However, the knowledge links are a little more obscure in this essay than in the others. The essay question specifies that we look at visual representation in terms of the communication of knowledge. This lends itself to the purpose, and maybe, context of knowledge. I also played around with ideas such as the simplification of knowledge (harking back to a PT a few years ago), but this seemed to be a potential diversion.
There's such a wide range of visual representations that students can look at, in some ways it's a possible diversionary danger. It's important that students stay focussed on whether those representations are 'helpful' in communication. I have tried to think of 'helpful' in terms of the purpose and context of knowledge.
The Knower & Knowledge.
The focus on visual representations in the communication of knowledge seems to link well with the core theme of The Knower & Knowledge, and that's mainly where I ended up. It gives us good links to the ToK Concepts of Interpretation, Explanation and Evidence. The (re)introduction of The Knower into the ToK course gives students a lot more scope in their ToK Essays to go beyond the production of knowledge that they were largely constrained to in the last syllabus.
You can find the video guide for Essay #1 linked here.
You can find the video guide for Essay #2 linked here.
You can find the video guide for Essay #3 linked here.
If you want more detailed notes on the Knowledge Questions and arguments raised in the video then please check out the detailed notes available here.
If you want help with your ToK Essay or Exhibition then please check out the Student Support page linked here.
You can always contact me at Daniel@ToKToday.com,
stay Tok-tastic!,
Daniel
ToK Essay #3 Bubbles video guide posted
The video guide to ToK Essay #3 May 23 (the essay about 'bubbles') has been posted to YouTube today (and is linked below).
I like this essay, I think that it comes at an appropriate time, and gives the students an opportunity to reflect on echo chambers (bubbles) in both academic and wider life. I chose to focus on the academic sphere, as I think this is a safer area for discussion than venturing into social media. I assume that some students will discuss social media, but that feels a bit risky to me.
I had lots of 'old person' jokes running through my head when I saw the concept of 'bubbles' in the essay. Fans of West Ham Utd will be delighted to see their club song has made it to the ToK Essay arena. Some people may have thought of references to Michael Jackson (again I thought it safer to steer clear of that reference). However, I did put a gentle joke in the video (an "Easter Egg") - see if you can spot it. People from London, UK will have an advantage !
You can find the video guide for Essay #1 linked here.
You can find the video guide for Essay #2 linked here.
If you want more detailed notes on the Knowledge Questions and arguments raised in the video then please check out the detailed notes available here.
If you want help with your ToK Essay or Exhibition then please check out the Student Support page linked here.
You can always contact me at Daniel@ToKToday.com,
stay Tok-tastic!
Daniel
ToK Essay 2 May 23: Can or cannot explain
A brief video guide overview for Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Essay 2 May 23: Can or cannot be explained (with pictures!).
The overview video for ToK Essay 2 May 23 can or cannot explain is posted today (and linked below).
I'm trying to be a good IB Learner by improving my skills and knowledge as I produce these videos. I have listened to feedback on the first video, and lowered the volume of the music on this video.
These overview videos are only intended to give students a flavour of a few of the debates which could be explored in these essays. There are, of course, many more arguments and perspectives which could be included.
Just 4 of the characters used in the video guide for essay #2, we've got to have fun with this !
The video guide for Essay #1 is linked here.
If you want more detailed notes on the Knowledge Questions and arguments raised in the video then please check out the detailed notes available here.
If you want help with your ToK Essay or Exhibition then please check out the Student Support page linked here.
You can always contact me at Daniel@ToKToday.com,
stay Tok-tastic!
Daniel
Replicability: Essay 1 May 23
The first student guide video for Essay 1 May 23 on Replicability has been posted today. It's also linked below. It's going up far later than I had hoped for as I was unexpectedly taken away from TokToday for a few weeks. However, I'm now back, and producing Essay Guide Videos.
I'm trying a different approach for the ToK Essay Guide videos by using a 'Doodle Whiteboard' format. I hope that this will present the ideas in a more digestible format than my usual talking head type video. I'd be most grateful for some feedback on whether you prefer the doodle whiteboard or the talking head format.
We start with Essay 1 on Replicability not just for ordinal purposes, but because I think it's a pretty straightforward essay. There are a lot of ideas available for development in the essay, and students will be able to link it to any parts of the course. I like this essay ! It's an essay that students who specialise in natural sciences will find a lot of resonance with.
If you want more detailed notes on the Knowledge Questions and arguments raised in the video then please check out the detailed notes available here.
If you want help with your ToK Essay or Exhibition then please check out the Student Support page linked here.
You can always contact me at Daniel@ToKToday.com,
wishing you a great weekend,
Daniel
ToK Subject Report "at glance".
My aim was to distill the May 22 ToK subject report down to only one page. I wanted to create the "Subject Report at a glance".
My aim was to distill the May 22 ToK subject report down to only one page. I wanted to create the "Subject Report at a glance". I then realised that it made more sense to have one page for The Essay, and one page for The Exhibition.
In the May 22 ToK Subject Report the section on the Essay is rather succinct. Earlier Subject Reports contain most of what needs to be said about the ToK Essay. The analysis of the Prescribed Titles gives us an interesting insight into how the examiners interpret the questions, but it is fairly question specific.
The section on The Exhibition is the really interesting part of the May 22 ToK Subject Report. Obviously, this is the first report with details about The Exhibition. It helps us to start to firm up many of the questions that we had earlier.
We get much clearer guidance on issues such as the appropriateness of objects, what constitutes justification, and what is evidence. The point that I made earlier about students having 3 different arguments (1 per object) seems to have been agreed in the report.
To be honest, it's very difficult to distill into one page.
I would strongly recommend that every ToK Teacher read the section on The Exhibition in the original form.
However, I completed my 'at a glance' versions as aide memoir. They could be useful to share with your students.
Get your ToK Subject Report infogram (PDF Version) at this link (it's free).
If you have any questions, or thoughts, about the May 22 ToK Subject Report please leave them in the comments below, or email me at Daniel@TokToday.com.
Check out the pre-subject report video that I made on The ToK Exhibition here, a post-subject report video will be coming out soon.
Have a great day!
Daniel,
Lisbon, October 22
How do I Write Claims & Counterclaims in ToK Essay?
There is no explicit requirement in the marking criteria for the ToK Essay to structure it using claims and counterclaims. The only instruction is that you use "arguments". There is no clear definition of what is meant by an "argument", however I have found over many years that using a claim-counterclaim structure is a successful way for students to fulfil the requirement for 'arguments'.
The Sports Metaphor of the ToK Essay
Sports metaphor for the essay.
At the outset the ToK Essay can be thought of like any competitive sport (eg Tennis, Basketball, Football etc), there are two sides competing for a single aim, deploying various tactics & strategies to achieve that aim.
In terms of the ToK Essay the two sides are the sides of the debate arising from the Prescribed Title (perspectives or "Claim" and "Counterclaim"), these two perspectives are competing to 'prove' or confirm the answer to the Prescribed Title. The tactics and strategies of sports teams are like the sub-arguments in the ToK Essay.
OK, enough of the sports metaphor - I hope you get the idea that the essay is a competition of ideas. The implication of this is that your essay can't be descriptive, it must be analytical and evaluative.
Claims & Counterclaims.
The Claim-Counterclaim structure has been used by many students over the years to introduce an argument structure into the essay. This structure allows you to focus on the knowledge issues arising from the PT, and to easily meet the requirement to introduce evidence supporting the arguments (claims & counterclaims). Before I go further into this debate let me highlight a few riders:
There is no prescription for the perfect number of claims / counterclaims to be included in the Essay - you will just have to choose the appropriate number for the essay that you are writing.
There are other ways to build arguments into your essay eg Hypothesis-Antithesis, Single strand development etc. I use claim-counterclaim as I find it the most accessible for students, and it has proven to be successful.
What is a claim ?
A claim is a position developed from the Prescribed Title. It could be the PT itself, or it could be a knowledge issue arising from the PT. Generally, a claim argues in the same direction of the PT. The claim allows you to start to unpack one (or more) of the strands of the arguments underlying the PT.
Let's look at some examples taken from (slightly altered*) PTs of recent years:
*these are slightly altered because IB retains the copyright of the PTs.
1. The Claim is the PT itself.
PT: Observation is the most effective form of knowledge production.
Discuss this approach with reference to two Areas of Knowledge.
Claim:Observation is the most effective form of knowledge production in AoK History.
This PT is very straightforward, the PT is in itself a single clear knowledge claim. As such it doesn't require unpacking any further to form a claim. There are a number of assumptions underlying the PT, and implicit claims that could be developed from the PT. However, I think that (for most students) to further develop the claim would run the risk of altering the PT itself (see 3 Easy Wins on the ToK Essay). In this case using the unaltered PT as the opening Claim would best give you the opportunity to write a very high scoring essay.
2. The Claim is a strand developed from the PT.
PT: If each Knower creates a unique and individual interpretation of knowledge it is impossible to create universal standardised meanings.
Discuss the challenges this presents in two Areas of Knowledge.
Claim: Individual interpretation of knowledge does not prevent standardised meaning in AoK Natural Sciences.
This PT starts with a proposition ("If....,"), and therefore invites the student to engage with that proposal. In order to engage with it you will need to find a starting point for your exploration, that starting point is the claim (obviously you don't need to agree with the either the claim nor the counterclaim, they are merely tools for exploration).
In this example you have to extract the starting point (claim) from the proposal (in the PT), the claim is a strand developed from the wider PT. There are many other claims which could have been developed from this PT. The claim that the student chooses will depend upon the AoKs chosen to consider, and the arguments the student wishes to put forward. The success of the essay will depend far more on the exploration of the claim rather than the claim itself.
In this example my argument would be that language determines interpretation (yes, I do like Wittgenstein), and therefore if a universal language is used (as it is in the methodologies of AoK Nat Sci and AoK Hum Sci) then universal meanings are created regardless of the interpretation and application of that meaning. I would be careful to define meaning as externally derived knowledge and interpretation as internally derived knowledge.
3. The Claim is a possible implicit argument underpinning the PT.
PT: Is there a trade-off between disbelief and the successful production of knowledge?
Discuss with reference to two Areas of Knowledge.
Claim: Disbelief is an essential component of the successful production of knowledge in AoK The Human Sciences.
This PT is a straight up binary question, it could be taken as a closed ended question but if you responded to it with a simple yes/no answer you wouldn't get many (if any) marks. The PT requires that the student identify at least two arguments that could underpin this question, and set these up as the claim-counterclaim. There are many possible arguments underpinning this question which could well serve as the claim-counterclaim.
This type of claim is not very different to #2, the main difference being that in #2 the claim is likely to be more evident in the PT, whilst in #3 the claim is implicit (not stated) in the PT. I include it here to show students that the claim (& counterclaim) may very well have to be a less obvious sub-strand of the PT, obviously depending on the PT itself.
What is a Counterclaim ?
The Counterclaim is generally the rebuttal of the claim, ie arguing the opposing point of view from the claim. However, the counterclaim can sometimes be a variation of the claim, depending on how you have structured your essay. Further, the counterclaim needs to make sense in terms of your overall essay argument. I will take the (somewhat altered*) PT's from above, and develop possible counterclaims to the claims already stated.
* The PT's are somewhat altered because IB retain the copyright to PTs used in exam sessions.
1. The Straightforward Counterclaim.
PT: Observation is the most effective form of knowledge production.
Discuss this approach with reference to two Areas of Knowledge.
Claim: Observation is the most effective form of knowledge production in AoK History
Counterclaim: Other forms of knowledge production are the most effective forms of knowledge production in AoK Mathematics.
In this case the Counterclaim is made in the second Area of Knowledge under consideration (AoK Maths). The direct rebuttal of the claim would simply be "Observation is not the most effective form of knowledge production in AoK Mathematics", this would be a perfectly reasonable counterclaim that a student could develop a good answer from. However, I chose a slight variation on the claim in order to not neglect the effectiveness of observation as a means for producing knowledge. Further, the counterclaim chosen allows me to open the discussion up to other forms of knowledge construction.
2. Counterclaim as a development of the Claim.
PT: If each Knower creates a unique and individual interpretation of knowledge it is impossible to create universal standardised meanings.
Discuss the challenges this presents in two Areas of Knowledge.
Claim: Individual interpretation of knowledge does not prevent standardised meaning in AoK Natural Sciences and AoK Human Sciences.
Counterclaim: The methodology of knowledge production has little influence over meaning and interpretation in AoK Natural Sciences and AoK Human Sciences.
In this instance the counterclaim is a development from the claim rather than a direct rebuttal of the claim. This is easier done because I have made the claim in both of the AoKs under consideration. The counterclaim follows on from the argument developed in the claim (about the scientific methodology used in Nat Sci & Hum Sci, and the difference between interpretation and meaning).
In many instances this development of the claim into a counterclaim can allow for a more nuanced essay response, however it is important to ensure that the arguments presented in the claim are evaluated in the counterclaim.
3. Counterclaim as a variation of the Claim.
PT: Is there a trade-off between disbelief and the successful production of knowledge?
Discuss with reference to two Areas of Knowledge.
Claim: Disbelief is an essential component of the successful production of knowledge in AoK The Human Sciences.
Counterclaim: Disbelief can both promote and hinder the successful production of knowledge in AoK The Arts
In this example the Counterclaim is neither a direct rebuttal, nor a development from the claim. Here the counterclaim is a variation of the claim. I am able to do this as my overall argument on the PT is "it depends on which AoK we're looking at", and as such I am able to present slightly different arguments for each of the AoKs under consideration. As long as I fulfil the overriding requirement of the ToK Essay Assessment rubric (to provide a full and critical exploration of the PT), I should still be able to attain a high score on this essay.
Of course I could have chosen a counterclaim which is a direct rebuttal of the claim (eg Counterclaim: Disbelief is an obstacle to the successful production of knowledge in AoK The Arts). This would be equally valid, and if well written could also attain a high score. However, I chose this variation solely to show you the different types of counterclaim that could be developed.
There are more good tips on how to improve your ToK Essay on IB Mastery (linked)
If you want further help on planning, structuring or writing the ToK Essay then consider buying the Ebook How to write your ToK Essay in 6 Easy Steps. If you would prefer personal help please feel free to contact me (Daniel@ToKToday.com), or check the Student Support Pages to see how to make an appointment.
Daniel,
Lisbon, Portugal.
September 2022
ToK Essay Guidance Notes & Mind Maps
Guidance Notes and Mind Maps for the May 2023 ToK Essays are now available from The Store.
Guidance Notes and Mind Maps for the May 2023 ToK Essays are now available from The Store.
The Guidance Notes are very detailed, there are 5000-700 words of ToK analysis for each essay. They:
include suggestions on the structure of your essay
include suggestions for possible claims & counterclaims that you could use.
include 5000-7000 words of ToK analysis.
have integration of evaluation & implication points.
have integration of key ToK concepts.
The Mind Maps Pack is the mind maps that I used to write the detailed guidance notes. The pack includes the mind maps for all 6 essays.
The mindmaps show the main structures, and concepts used, in the more detailed Guidance Notes available on the site.
There is 1 x A4 sized Mindmap for each Essay Title (plus an additional essay structure for Essay #2).
The Mind Maps are available FOR FREE to all TokToday site subscribers, so if you want to save yourself $15 sign up below !
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Sample of guidance notes for Essay #4 May 2023
How to plan your ToK Essay
6 clear steps to plan & write a successful ToK Essay.
There's no single formula to best plan your ToK Essay, but it's fairly safe to say that you will need to invest time and (cognitive) energy into planning if you want to be awarded a good score.
However, this is not an overly onerous task if you start early, and spend a short period of time each week on the essay. Over a couple of months this will add up to a substantial foundation of planning, and more importantly - a good understanding of your chosen prescribed title.
So what do I actually do in the planning stage ?
I'll put forward a 6 stage process for planning your essay, I have used IDEO's Design Thinking Stages as the basic framework, within which I have fitted the ToK Essay development activities. As mentioned earlier this is just one of many possible models, you can adapt it according to your needs.
^ stages of planning ToK Essay
You can get a full size version of the diagram above at this link
This process begins after you have chosen your preferred Prescribed Title, if you need help with that process please see the blog (& videos) linked here.
Discovery Phase
During this phase you will build the foundation for planning and writing your ToK Essay. If you get things right at this stage you will save yourself time, work and potential stress later on.
You can start by putting time into your weekly schedule to work on your ToK essay, if you give yourself 2-3 months to complete the essay you will probably only need to put 30mins-1hr / week into your schedule to successfully finish the essay. You should plan backwards from the Draft Deadline (remember the Draft Deadline should always be treated as the Final Deadline). Decide what on date you will stop planning and researching, and start writing. Plan your writing sessions. How many (quality) words can you write in an hour ? Probably about 200, if so then plan 8-10 hours of writing sessions.
You should also decide where you are going to store your planning documents, and record your collaborative sessions for the ToK Essay (eg Google suite, iCloud, OneNote, etc). Obviously ensure that everything is being copied to the cloud, hard drives do sometimes fail...,
Get together the necessary documents (eg IB ToK Subject Guide, Your school's ToK Handbook etc). Ensure that you have passwords for any online databases (eg JSTOR) that you may use.
Finally, make a commitment to yourself. This is private to you, and it's a nice way to make this process valuable and personal to you. My commitment to myself at the beginning of a big project always involves the gratitude that I have to be offered the opportunity to do this, the spirit within which I will do the project, and a respect for the learning that will come from the process. That's my commitment to myself, you can make a commitment which is meaningful to you.
Interpretation Phase.
During this phase you are going to build your personal interpretation of the question. Do this before you start to take on other people's interpretations. It is important that you have created your own understanding of the question before you listen to others so that when it comes to developing and writing the essay you have a starting point which comes from your core inner understanding. When students run into problems with the essay I always ask them what they thought the question was asking (& what their answer to it was) before they started writing the answer. Often the student will not be able to answer this question because they hadn't established their personal (foundational) understanding before taking on the views of others.
You can use the ToK Essay Activators during the Interpretation Phase to help you to develop your own understanding of the Prescribed Title.
The ToK Essay Activators (above) are prompts to help you to develop your own understanding of the essay. You can use these (on your own) to guide your thinking at this early stage.
It is very useful to find a way to record your thinking at this stage. You may enjoying using the scattergram method, or visual thinking through drawing or doodling, or even making a flowchart. However you choose to do it I would strongly recommend having an easily accessible record of your thinking, which is meaningful to you, at this early stage.
Ideation Phase.
Once you've established your own understanding of the essay now is a good time to start to collaborate with your fellow ToK students, groupwork with students who are writing the same PT as you. Collaboration is a give and take relationship, you can offer your understanding of the PT, and in turn they will help you to deepen your understanding by offering their interpretation.
The aim here is to gather lots of ideas, and to develop new interpretations / perspectives. The aim is not to replace your own understanding with someone else's ideas (doing this will make it much harder for you to write a high scoring essay). Your work with other students is to help you to develop your ideas in breadth, depth and scope.
At this stage you can also start honing (refining) your arguments, research sources, and examples that you will draw upon in the essay. As noted in other blogs I recommend using examples that are drawn from your other DP subjects. Using these examples will save you time (as it's content that you've already learned), you can ask your subject teachers for help (eg if you're using an example from Chemistry then you can ask your Chemistry teacher to give you more information about the development of the theory/concept etc). Finally, using examples drawn from your other DP subjects will help you to deepen your understanding in that subject. ToK helps learning in the Hexagon, and the Hexagon helps your learning in ToK.
Your teacher will probably design collaborative group learning experiences with students who are writing the same PT. Remember to find a way of recording these collaborative sessions (eg a journal, doodles, or taking a photo of a board covered in Post-its). These records will help to stimulate ideas and thinking later when you are writing the essay.
Experimentation Phase.
Now it's time to write your essay plan.
The ToK Essay is 1600 words, so you can think of it as being 8-10 paragraphs long. It's not many words (or paragraphs) given the task handed to you by nature of the PTs. You will need to be concise and precise. There is very little room for contextualisation, scene setting and other 'flowery stuff'. You've got to get straight to the point and start executing the Assessment Instrument very early in the essay.
A Note on Structure.
There is no single 'best' ToK Essay structure. You will need to develop a structure which best serves your needs for the way that you want to answer the prescribed title. I have seen high scoring essays which have used lots of different structures (unfortunately I have also seen less successful essays which have also used the range of structures). If you want more detailed help on structure I would recommend getting my ebook "How to write the ToK Essay in 6 easy steps" which is available from the Student Support Section of this website.
During this phase you will need to finalise the arguments, real world examples, evaluation points and implication points that you will use in the essay. You will undertake the bulk of your secondary research (see note about using content from your Hexagon Subjects above).
Show your teacher your Essay Plan, and get feedback on ways to improve the plan. Feedback on the plan is crucial to helping you to write the essay with fewer obstacles later.
Once you and your teacher are happy with your Essay Plan write your Introduction and show it to your teacher. This will help you to know whether you're setting off in the right direction. It will also help to know whether you are using appropriate tone, pitch and style.
A note on The Introduction
There is no need to write 'flowery' introductions about the nature of the universe, the function of existence, the vastness of the universe etc etc. Further, don't start with a quote if it's not relevant to the PT (generally, just don't start with a quote). There are insufficient words available to write in such a descriptive and stylistic manner. You have to get straight to the point. For most students this will be defining the key terms in the essay. If you want more help on what to put into The Introduction see the ebook (How to write the Tok Essay in 6 Easy Steps) from the Student Support section of this website.
Evolution Phase.
Once you have feedback on your Introduction from your teacher it is finally time to write the rest of your essay. As you write your essay you may find that ideas & arguments develop and even change. This is a positive sign that your understanding is developing as you spend more time thinking about the Prescribed Title. If this happens you may need to go back and redraft the Introduction - this is all good, it's the process of Evolution - an adaptation of knowledge to changing circumstances. Congratulations if you experience, this you are growing !
Continue to communicate with your teacher, and show them your writing when it's appropriate to do so. Write to schedule, and submit a fully finished Draft Essay before the Draft Deadline. Fully finished means that the language has been refined (and proof-read if necessary), the bibliography & references are completed, and there is a word count on the essay.
If you have planned your schedule properly you should comfortably finish writing your Draft well before the submission deadline, and you won't have to 'pull an all nighter', or other such stressful experiences !
Once you have submitted the Draft let out a big sigh of relief, and have a small celebration - the difficult bit of the essay is now over.
Well done !
Growth
If you've followed the plan so far you will have submitted a good Draft Essay. The written feedback from your teacher will help you to turn a good Draft into an excellent final essay. When you receive the written feedback act on it as soon as possible as the ideas will still be fresh in both you and your teacher's minds. Don't leave the written feedback until the last day before the final submission deadline as this will not leave time for any further clarification that you need from your teacher. I usually give my students a month between receiving written feedback and submitting the final essay, I urged them to work on the written feedback at the beginning of that month rather than towards the end.
After dealing with the written feedback you can submit your essay, and you're done for this component of your IB Diploma. However, you're not actually "done".
The ToK Essay is probably most academic, esoteric and conceptually challenging piece of writing that most students have undertaken at this stage of their education, and as such it can profoundly change you. The skills that you have learned during the essay will serve you well for the upcoming DP exams, and well into your time in Higher Education, and subsequently into your career. Many students have told me that their first year of university entailed a lot more "ToK-like" thinking than they had anticipated (regardless of the subject they study at uni). One student who was studying Film at uni wrote to me after the second term to tell me that he was loving his course because "it's just like doing ToK with a camera.".
If you need help with any aspect of your ToK Essay or Exhibtion please feel free to contact me at Daniel@TokToday.com.
Stay ToK-tastic!
Daniel,
Lisbon, Portugal,
September 2022.
3 easiest wins on ToK Essay
3 simple things that IB ToK students can do to save time & improve their ToK Students.
Today's post details 3 easy ways in which students could have "less stress and more success" when writing their ToK Essay. These 3 'easy wins' are things done by some students, but missed by many. Without further ado, let's get into them:
1. Actually answer the question that's actually been set.
Yes, this first 'easy win' is very actual, and may seem very obvious, but it points to a mistake made by many students. Ensure that you are answering the question that has been set by the examiners (in the words of IB 'responding to the Prescribed Title as set by the Chief Examiner'), rather than a rewriting of the title.
When writing your essay ensure that you directly address the question, be careful not to re-interpret the question in such a way that you change the nature, or objective, of the question. This is easier said than done as all of the ToK questions require a degree of interpretation.
Let's take an adapted example* from the May 2022 Essay Titles:
Title 4: Do historians and knowledge producers in one other AoK tell stories to give knowledge meaning ? Discuss with reference to history and one other Area of Knowledge.
A typical mistake that a student could make with this question is to write an essay discussing the various ways in which History, and knowledge in one other AoK, was biased by the telling of stories. The student could have defined 'stories' in terms of a narrative interpretation of evidence, and could make a valid set of arguments as to how such 'story-telling' could introduce bias into the interpretation of knowledge. However, the question doesn't ask about bias, it asks about meaning.
As such the student needs to address both the definition of 'tell[ing] stories' and 'give[ing] knowledge meaning'. Both ideas will need extensive unpacking and application in AoK History and the chosen alternative AoK. If the student were to introduce the concept of bias it would need to be included as part of the definition of 'meaning', as the essay title asks about meaning this needs to be the central focus of the essay.
I have often seen students change the central focus of the question when unpacking the title, and striving to define the key concepts in the question. The over-riding requirement of the ToK Essay assessment rubric is that the student gives a "clear, coherent and critical exploration of the title.". This requires that they don't change the title.
2. Don't waste time & words on quotes.
I often see students include quotes in their essays, very rarely do these quotes add to the overall mark awarded to the essay. It must be pointed out that such quotes rarely detract from the mark awarded for the essay, but they are using valuable words which could possibly be put to better use in trying to meet the requirements of the assessment rubric (I know it's officially called an "Assessment Instrument", but that sounds even more clinical than "assessment rubric").
The use of quotes that I see can be split into 3 broad categories:
a) The "Meme-like Quote".
This is the grandiose quote on the nature of the universe, human beings, time or some other 'eternal question of philosophy'. This quote is virtually never directly related to the prescribed title, and rarely anything to do with the prescribed title. I call it "The Meme-like Quote" because it's the sort of thing that you find if you google "quote about the nature of life".
The "Meme-like Quote" is the sort of quote that you get if you Google an image on "the nature of life" or some other such vague & grandiose idea.
I assume that this quote is included either as scene setting (or maybe to give the examiner the impression that the student is wide-read). Maybe, students who use this type of quote have previously taken courses where they are credited for narrative style, or soft long introductions. The ToK essay does not award 'style' nor wider scene setting. The 1600 word limit is actually very few words within which to answer the question, therefore students need to go to directly to the question at the beginning of the answer. The opening sentence of the essay could be a definition of a key term, there's no need to tell the examiner that you have been pondering the nature of existence, or some such thoughts.
b) The 'related but unnecessary' quote.
This quote is citing the words of a knowledge producer who is being used as real world evidence in the answer. For example, a student who is discussing the Heliocentric Theory of the Universe may quote Ptolemy. Whilst there is nothing inherently wrong with this type of quote as it at least relates to the real world example being used we need to ask ourselves is it necessary. Does the quote actually help to answer the question ? , Did the student need to include the quote to answer the question ? Could the point still be made without the use of the quote ? Very rarely is the quote necessary to the point being made.
The "related but unnecessary quote" is a quote which is linked to the real life example being discussed, but generally unnecessary to making the point. For example, if a student was using Darwin's Theory of adaptation to explain how knowledge develops overtime the quote on the right but would be unnecessary. It would not add to the overall score of the essay, even though it comes from the knowledge constructor under discussion.
3. The possibly relevant and useful quote.
The possibly relevant and useful quote is the one instance when a quote may be useful, it is both very rarely seen, and very rarely required. This is the occasion when a quote does add to the argument being used to answer the question. This quote, by purpose of its necessity, is probably decisive evidence in the argument being made. As such, this quote may take the reader beyond that which is commonly known about the knowledge producer, this quote may offer a new perspective on the knowledge producer. A note of caution must be made about the file-drawer problem, or confirmation bias - ie using a quote which is not typically representative of that knowledge producers overall body of work, or using a quote out of context, in order to consolidate an argument.
The 'possibly relevant and useful quote' is the rare occasion when a quote does add to the perspective, or argument, being put forward. For example if a student was discussing how knowledge could be categorised as both scientific and religious by the knower (as such it can be complementary and integrated) they could be using Ptolemy as an example. It may not be well known that Ptolemy developed both a scientific and religious understanding, in which case the quote on the left may be useful for consolidating the argument. It could constitute the "effective support" of a "specific example".
In summary - a quote should only be used if it is necessary for making the argument, as such the quote adds to the argument. In the vast majority of cases a quote is not necessary, and does not add to the answer. The vast majority (98%+) of answers scoring 8-10 points will not have any quotes in them. As a rule of thumb- just don't include any quotes, and "if in doubt, leave it out".
3. Draw on examples from your Diploma Studies.
The essay requires that you use examples to demonstrate your arguments. I sometimes find that students undertake detailed research on examples that are new to them. Whilst this may sometimes be necessary it's often an unproductive use of time and energy. The easy win here is that all of the examples that you need to draw upon are readily available in the hexagon subjects of your Diploma. If you are taking a 'normal' Diploma then you are taking at least one subject which is largely based in at least one of the Areas of Knowledge (the Hexagon subjects are often based in more than one AoK). Even if you don't take a Group 6 subject everyone takes Language A which provides you with examples for AoK The Arts. Even if you don't take DP History you will be taking a Group 3 subject which will have aspects of The Scope, Methodology, Ethics and Perspective of AoK History inherent to it. You will also have elements of AoK History in Grps 1, 4, 6 and even arguably in Grp 5 (Maths).
There many benefits to drawing upon your hexagon subjects for your examples:
It will save you a lot of time as rather than researching and learning new content you are using content that you already know and understand.
You can ask your hexagon teacher for help. For example if you're looking for examples of how knowledge evolves over time, and you are learning a new theory in Chemistry you could ask your Chemistry teacher what the accepted thinking was before the development of this theory, why did the new theory come about ?, what conditions had to be fulfilled for the new theory to be accepted? etc This brings ToK into the hexagon subject, and helps the hexagon teacher to integrate ToK into their teaching.
learning more about your hexagon subject, and coming at it from a rather different perspective will probably help your understanding of the hexagon subject. It may even improve your understanding and skills in the Hexagon subject (this is definitely the case in Grps 1, 3 and 6). As such it makes time spent on hexagon subjects more productive.
That's it for 3 Easy Wins on The ToK Essay. I hope that these 3 suggestions save you time, and help you to write a better ToK Essay with less stress. If you would like to see more content like this, or you need help with your Essay (or Exhibition) please do not hesitate to contact me at Daniel@ToKToday.com.
Daniel,
Lisbon, Portugal, September 2022
*NB the IB own the copyright to the actual Prescribed Titles, and therefore I can't use them verbatim on this public website.
3 Easy wins on ToK Essay ("short" version)
May 23 ToK Essay Titles: Poll !
Good afternoon from sunny Lisbon, Portugal! Perfect to think about May 23 ToK Essay Titles.
I've spent the last two weeks writing notes for the May 23 ToK Essay Titles (you can see the titles on the page linked here), I will have these available on the site in the next week. (I'm just doing the finishing touches - proof reading, sprucing them up etc).
I will have Mind Maps for each essay title available for free to all site subscribers / members / followers - so please sign up (it's free) to the Wordpress site if you want these - I'll mail them out to all members next week. A subscription box is at the end of this post.
I will also be filming videos on each title, available for free, on the YouTube site (details will follow in the next few weeks).
In the mean-time I'd love to know your thoughts on the May 23 ToK Essays - so I have a little poll
Thank you for answering the poll - I will use the results to help guide where I focus my content. Of course I will publish the final results next week.
There are already some posts up on the site about writing the ToK Essay.
There are a couple of videos already on the YouTube Channel about the ToK Essay (many more to follow).
If you have any thoughts, or questions, about the May 2023 Essay Titles then please email me at Daniel@toktoday.com.
Don't forget to subscribe !
3 tips to less stress, & more success, on your ToK Essay
It's not too hard to write a good ToK Essay if you follow these 3 tips to less stress, & more success, on your ToK Essay.
Tip # 1: Start early.
The most common mistake that I see in the writing of the ToK Essay is not leaving yourself enough time to write the essay. The essay is deceptively short at 1600 words, most students can write 1600 words in 4-5 hours. However, can you write 1600 words of high quality ToK in 4-5 hours ? Probably not. Ideally you will start planning your essay weeks before the Draft essay deadline, giving yourself time to develop your understanding. Treat the Draft Deadline as your 'final deadline".
The ideas, concepts, knowledge claims and counterclaims in the essay take time to develop. If you spend a few weeks writing your essay you will develop deep and informative insights which are not immediately apparent at first glance. Our minds undertake 'latent learning', this is when we subconsciously process (& learn) whilst we are either doing other things, or asleep. You can make great use of latent learning to develop your understanding of your chosen ToK essay.
Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.
John Lennon
Tip #2: Read Exemplars
Approximately 12,000 students are awarded A in ToK each year, it's not implausible that an equal number of students will achieve 9-10 marks in their ToK Essay each year. The IB publish exemplar essays to the ToK teachers, ask your teacher to show you these exemplars if they are yet to do so. Further, your ToK teacher probably keeps a collection of high scoring essays from former students at your school - these can also be very useful. Read these high scoring exemplars, work with fellow ToK students, consider:
what do these high scoring essays have in common?
what structures do they use?
what language do they use?
how do they address the command terms?
how do they develop evaluation and implications in the essay?
how do they use RLS?
and many many other characteristics of the high scoring essays.
Tip #3: Thinking & Planning: 75%, Writing 25%
As we established earlier, the ToK Essay is not a great burden to write (it is far easier to write than the Extended Essay). However, the ToK essay demands a developed understanding of the concepts and relevant arguments.
Developed Understanding: a deeper understanding which recognises influences, nuance and implications.
D.Trump, ToK Teacher.
By "developed understanding" I mean:
informed by your considered and deep critical thinking.
informed by the writing of other thinkers.
appropriately applied to the chosen prescribed title set by IB.
appropriately applied to the arguments that you are using in your essay.
In order to develop this deep understanding you will need to spend a significant time thinking and planning. Thinking is not a substitute for equivocating (wasting time, dodging the work, putting off getting started). Thinking needs to be active, proactive and consolidated by research.
How much "Thinking and Planning time do I need ?"
Most teachers will give you approximately 2-3 months to write your Draft essay. The Draft deadline should be treated as the final deadline, ensure that you submit a fully complete and polished Draft by the Draft deadline, by doing so you will maximise the quality and effectiveness of the written feedback from your teacher.
If you have 3 months to complete the Draft then you could usefully spend 2 months planning (& thinking). The more time that you spend developing a strong understanding of the essay, the easier it will be to write your Draft. The essay has a 1600 word limit, you will probably need to write 1400-1600 words to get a good score. You can probably write 1600 words in about 8 hours if you have a really solid foundation of thinking and planning upon which to write.
During the thinking and planning time you should be frequently consulting with your ToK Teacher. Show them your planning documents, consult with them about the arguments that you plan to use, show them a draft of your introduction, get their advice on evaluation and implication points etc. Your ToK teacher is a fount of good suggestions, and advice. Your ToK Teacher is your best resource in this process - proactively communicate with them throughout the process - their help will reduce your stress and help you realise success!
There's also a lot of useful information (including the ToK Essay Marking rubric) on this page.
If you need help with how to plan your ToK Essay then please see the blogpost linked here.
If you need help writing your ToK Essay please see the Student Support pages on this blog, buy the e-book (How to write the ToK Essay in 6 easy steps) or email me at Daniel@TokToday.com.
Stay Tok-tastic!
Daniel,
Lisbon, September 2022