Hi All,

For TOK this morning, your task is to go to the following link:

https://bthstok.pbworks.com/w/page/46755035/Museum%20Project

At this link, you will find TOK Arts assignments completed by another TOK class in America.  Read the assignment details and visit at least two “museums” in “B Day” groups.  Once you have viewed a museum, click on

TOK Museum Guestbook

(Welcome to YIS TOK Classes!!!)

and offer feedback to the creators of the museum in question.  Remember to engage with the exchange using the same academic tone and coherent justification as you did (or should have done) in your essays.  Remember, a group of students has taken considerable time to create these assignments, so be positive and also offer constructive feedback.

You should aim to view at least 2 museums today and comment on both of them.

Hi Grade 12 students,

For your missed P0 class today, you were going to be given this time to work on the outline of your essays which are due next week.  Please make sure you are getting on with this.  As we do not have TOK again this week, please email or come to see me if you ahve any questions about this task.

Mr. Redlich

Thanks for a solid start to the year this morning in the auditorium. We really appreciated how you took to the task of re-evaluating the ToK diagram and looking for different ways of structuring the ideas of the course.

During the opening of the class one of the areas mentioned that could be explored further was human sciences beyond psychology. You might want to explore further and clarify your understanding of the differences between psychology, sociology, and anthropology. This class post from Mr. Clark (click) from May of last year may help jar your memory of some of the discussions from year 1.

Ideas introduced by student groups from today’s model review

• Ways of knowing are the “How” of knowledge
• Areas of knowledge are the “What” of knowledge.
• No definite answers and no hierarchy – can go anywhere via the “elevator”
• Distinction between world knowledge and personal knowledge.
• Knower is more closed and thinking is more open
• New AoK of “Instinct” and “Culture”
• Expanded Ways of Knowing  - “Conviction”, “Authority”, and “Rationalism”
• Emphasized the Connections and non-linear nature of the “cycle” of understanding new knowledge.
• Worked away from the implicit independence/isolation of the current model – moved into a Venn Diagram of WOK
• Moved the knower to the outside because the group felt the knower was in control of “understanding”.
• Added color to make the diagram less intimidating
• Introduced the idea of universal knowledge that we all hold from experience.
• Heart used to represent the personal knowledge held by each individual.
• Emphasized the freedom to move “visit” each area of knowledge
• Introduced the idea/potential of new knowledge – “alien knowledge”
• Social Functions introduced as a new domain to emphasize human created knowledge
• Areas of Knowledge repositioned to be knowledge that would exist without human invention.
• Knower an active agent in developing/”growing” the tree of knowledge.
• Combined ethics and human science because of the subjectivity of both.
• Positioned the ways of knowing as they relate to the body
• Emphasized the influence of the WoK on each other.
• Knowledge completes the human/skeleton

At the end of the lesson, the new ToK Diagram was shared and discussed briefly. The ideas represent a shift in the thinking away from complete relativism (click) to justified individual knowledge and collective (inter-subjective) knowledge. The new model also shifts the emphasis away from distinct/independent treatment of WoK and AoK and seeks to consider them as more integrated in the formation of knowledge. We will explore these ideas further this year, but remember to keep them in mind as you move forward into your essays.

Blog Post Assignment #1 – Post an image of your new model on your TOK blog and explain/justify it’s design and what it offers as an improvement over the current diagram.