Free, ready-to-teach IB DP Theory of Knowledge lessons.
Each one opens as a full lesson you can project and work through with a class, built around a knowledge question.
Lessons by theme52 lessons, from the knower to the areas of knowledge.Listen and readTOK podcasts, and news stories that raise knowledge questions.Guess the RuleA whole-class game that shows confirmation bias in action.
Lessons by theme
Every lesson opens on its own page. The line under each title is its knowledge question.
Pre-DP
Knowledge and the Knower
- Getting Started with TOKkk.1Why are the criteria for what counts as knowledge not obvious?
- The Map Metaphorkk.2Can a representation that leaves things out still be true?
- Knowledge Claimskk.3How do we distinguish claims that are contestable from claims that are not?
- Perspectiveskk.4If every knower has a perspective, can any perspective be wrong?
- TOK Conceptskk.5What constitutes a "good reason" for us to accept a claim?
- The Knowledge Frameworkkk.6Can the same four questions be asked of any kind of knowledge?
- Truth and Evidencekk.7Is the truth what the majority of people accept?
- Cognitive Biaseskk.8As knowers, do we have a moral duty to examine our own assumptions and biases?
- Objects and Other Knowers: Planningkk.10Does our knowledge depend on our interactions with other knowers?
- Assessment: Objects and Other Knowerskk.11Does our knowledge depend on our interactions with other knowers?
An Introduction to Ethics
- The Gut: The Trolley, the Bridge and the Hospitalkk.13Are intuition, evidence, reasoning, consensus and authority all equally convincing methods of justification?
- Write the Rule: The Knock at the Doorkk.14How can we construct reliable ethical knowledge when different rational systems lead to conflicting moral truths?
- Can We Mark It? The Drawbridgekk.15In what ways do ethical judgments differ from other kinds of judgments?
- Just Your Opinion? The Moral Thermometerkk.16If moral claims conflict, does it follow that all views are equally acceptable?
- Would You Tell?kk.17Are there responsibilities that necessarily come with knowing something or knowing how to do something?
- Forbidden Knowledgekk.18Is there knowledge that a person or society has a responsibility to acquire or not to acquire?
Knowledge and Language
- Chairs and Hot Dogslanguage.1If we can't agree on something as simple as "sandwich", what does this mean for more complex knowledge claims?
- What counts as a sport?language.2To what extent can we have certain knowledge when our basic categories are made by people?
- The Slipperiness of Meaninglanguage.3If language is inherently slippery, how can we ever be certain that we have understood what someone else knows?
- Language Evolution: From Shakespeare to Textinglanguage.4How can we know that current knowledge is an improvement on past knowledge?
- Why do we lie?language.5To what extent does the language we use to describe deception determine what counts as a lie?
- Gatekeepers and the Power to Define Knowledgelanguage.6How do gatekeepers use language to determine what counts as legitimate knowledge?
- How do we come to know what we are permitted to say?language.7How do we come to know what we are permitted to say?
- The Politics of Naming and Mappinglanguage.8To what extent do naming practices construct political reality?
- Does language reveal or construct the meaning of an image?language.9Does language reveal or construct the meaning of an image?
Knowledge and Technology
- What Counts as Technology?technology.1
- A Timeline of Knowledge Revolutionstechnology.2Have technological developments had the greatest impact on what we know, how we know, how we store knowledge, or how we share knowledge?
- AI and the Knower: Who Is Thinking?technology.3In what sense, if any, can a machine be said to know something?
- Perspectives, Algorithms and Echo Chamberstechnology.4Do social networks and AI algorithms reinforce our existing perspectives rather than broadening them?
- Technology, Ethics and Responsibilitytechnology.5What responsibilities come with the knowledge that technology and AI give us?
- Synthesis: Drawing It All Togethertechnology.6Has technology, and especially AI, changed the nature of knowledge itself, or only our access to it?
The Arts
- Vivian Maierarts.1
- What Makes Something Art?arts.2How can we distinguish what is art and what is not?
- Defining the Undefinablearts.3If no single feature is true of every work of art, what are we doing when we call something art?
- The Camera as a Way of Seeingarts.4How does the camera change what it is possible to see, and to show?
- Martin Parr: Comfortable Discomfortarts.5If a photograph is constructed through the photographer's choices, what exactly does it tell us about the world?
- Writing the Labelarts.6How does the way we describe a work of art shape what we can know from it?
The TOK Exhibition
History
- Captain Smithhistory.1What counts as a fact in history?
- Captain Stanley Lordhistory.2On what criteria can a historian evaluate the reliability of their sources?
- Bruce Ismayhistory.3If it is difficult to establish proof in history, does that mean that all versions are equally acceptable?
- Jack Thayer and Robert Ballardhistory.4If our senses are sometimes unreliable, does this mean that eyewitness testimony is an unreliable source of evidence?
Natural Sciences
- A claim with no evidencenatural_science.1Can a claim be scientific before there is any evidence for it?
- The number that could not be rightnatural_science.2Can an instrument show us something we do not expect to find?
- The story about the storynatural_science.3When should an unexpected result be treated as a discovery rather than an error?
- Signing before you knownatural_science.4Is science, or should it be, value-free?
- Was it typical?natural_science.5Is there a single “scientific method”?
Human Sciences
- Run it againhuman_science.1To what extent are the methods used to gain knowledge in the human sciences “scientific”?
- The person in the modelhuman_science.2What assumptions underlie the methods used in the human sciences?
- Stopped at 150human_science.3To what extent are the methods used in the human sciences limited by the ethical considerations involved in studying human beings?
Listen and read
A curated list of TOK podcasts
This week’s reading
News articles and videos linked to TOK
The countries' borders that are visible from space - Vivid Mapsvividmaps.com
OpenHistoricalMapopenhistoricalmap.org
How maps in the media make us more negative about migrantsthecorrespondent.com
Heatwave Britain hits 40.3°C – here’s how scientists know when a temperature record has been brokenblog.geographydirections.com
Have we vastly underestimated the total number of people on Earth?newscientist.com
Why is North up?youtube.com