The ToK Presentation

THE TOK PRESENTATION

What is the Presentation designed to do?

The ToK Presentation as a form of Assessment

How to go about doing the Presentation

How is the Presentation Assessed?

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1. What is the Presentation Designed to do?

Consider the history of teaching / learning: Oral conversation as a form of discourse is considerably

older than writing – Confucius, Buddha, Plato, Homer – bards

Some teachers and pupils “feel” more comfortable talking and listening than reading and writing things down

Why do scientists dislike writing essays so much, yet enjoy the opportunity to engage in intellectual

discussion? Why is the concept of an “academic paper” only of a

written essay that is read out loud?

1. What is the Presentation Designed to do?• The ToK Presentation is an opportunity for you to talk about a knowledge issue that is related closely to a real life situation that has personal relevance to you as the centre of your learning profile.

• The IB ToK Guide states that:The emphasis in the TOK presentation is on demonstrating an understanding of knowledge at work in the world.

This means that it is your chance to show that the sort of questions you have been asking in ToK can be asked of situations in the real world.

1. What is the Presentation Designed to do?In your Presentation, you should:

a) Link clearly a real life situation/event with a Knowledge Issueb) Outline the real life situation / event brieflyc) Explore the Knowledge Issue that comes from it in a general way and in terms of

The Ways of Knowing – Perception, Language, Reason, Emotion

The Areas of Knowledge – Arts, History, Mathematics, Human Science, Natural Science, Ethics

d) Relate back to the original real life situation/event AND other real life situations / events

A: IDENTIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE ISSUE

B: TREATMENT OF KNOWLEDGE ISSUE

10 minutes per person and 4 Criteria:

C: KNOWER’S PERSPECTIVE

2. How is the Presentation Assessed?

D: CONNECTIONS

A: IDENTIFICATION OF KNOWLEDGE ISSUE

Did the presentation identify a relevant knowledge issue involved, implicit or embedded in a real-life situation?

1. Find a real life situation that has personal relevance

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

2. How is the Presentation Assessed?Criterion A:

2. Extract from it a knowledge issue3. Show clearly how the knowledge issue and the situation are related

2. How is the Presentation Assessed?What the criteria say: Criterion A: Identifying the Knowledge Issue

B: TREATMENT OF KNOWLEDGE ISSUES

Did the Presentation show a good understanding of knowledge issues, in the context of the real-life situation?

Show that you understand the knowledge issue – and any other knowledge issues that arise during your exploration and development.


2. How is the Presentation Assessed?Criterion B:

Show clear progression in your thinking and logical approach..cont’d

B: TREATMENT OF KNOWLEDGE ISSUES

Did the Presentation show a good understanding of knowledge issues, in the context of the real-life situation?

Ideas to explore are: the influence of a knower’s

attributes on their interpretation of a situation

The role of relevant WoKs in creating knowledge about the situation

The methods used by different AoKs in handling the situation


2. How is the Presentation Assessed?Criterion B:

2. How is the Presentation Assessed?What the criteria say: Criterion B:

Treatment of the Knowledge Issues

C:KNOWER’S PERSPECTIVE

Did the Presentation, particularly in the use of arguments and examples, show an individual approach and demonstrate the significance of the topic?

Show, through your mastery of the material you present, how the topic is significant to you as a knower.


2. How is the Presentation Assessed?Criterion C:

Think ahead and demonstrate ownership of the topic...cont’d

C: KNOWER’S PERSPECTIVE

Did the Presentation, particularly in the use of arguments and examples, show an individual approach and demonstrate the significance of the topic?

Construct your arguments from your own reflections NOT those of others


2. How is the Presentation Assessed?Criterion C:

Choose examples from your own experiences wherever possibleDemonstrate why your audience should care


What the criteria say: Criterion C: Knower’s Perspective


• Did the Presentation give a balanced account of how the topic could be approached from different perspectives?

• Did the Presentation show how the positions taken on the various knowledge issues would have implications in related areas?

Use the Ways of Knowing and Areas of Knowledge to explore other perspectives.

What you need to do:

Criterion D:

Consider their wider implications and how this might lead to alternative approaches in other real life situations.

Quality not quantity.…cont’d

Connections

C: CONNECTIONS

Did the Presentation give a balanced account of how the topic could be approached from different perspectives?

Did the Presentation show how the positions taken on the various knowledge issues would have implications in related areas?

Suggestions are:Look for different approaches to

the KI not to the interpretation of the real life situation


2. How is the Presentation Assessed?Criterion D:

Consider whether different WoKs and AoKs lead to different approaches

Try not to turn your presentation into a debateShow wider implications by linking to other real life situations


What the criteria say: Criterion D: Connections

Structure:3. How to go about doing the Presentation

Click icon to add picture

Your picture caption can go here. Picture from PresenterMedia.com

Real-Life SituationOther Real-Life

Situation

Other Real-LifeSituation

Knowledge Issue(recognized)

Knowledge Issue(s)(developed)

extraction

progression

application

REAL LIFE SITUATION

I watched “Les Miserables” at the theatre. In the play, Jean Valjean steals a loaf of bread to feed his family – he is pursued constantly by Javert for his crime.

KNOWLEDGE ISSUE

Example:

?



REAL LIFE SITUATIONIn “Les Miserables”, Valjean steals some

bread and is pursued by Javert for his crime

KNOWLEDGE ISSUEHow do we know

when a punishmentis appropriate?







What is the purpose of punishment?

How do differentcultures punish?

Crime = punishment ?

My friend is a lawyer and has a list of what

punishments are deemed appropriate

Can crime be justified?












The need for law and order

Ethical and humanitarian perspectives

The influence of

language

The conflict between

emotion and reason in deciding

Factors contributing to the crime













The need for law and order

Ethical and humanitarian perspectives

The influence of

language

The conflict between

emotion and reason in deciding

Other “literary” examples

The Mayor of Casterbridge

Lord of the Flies

24

Political crimes

007 USA

Internationalconcerns?

Zimbabwe UAE

Factors contributing to the crime


REAL LIFE SITUATION

The S.E. Asian Tsunami Disaster,

Christmas 2004.

?

KNOWLEDGE ISSUE

Another Example:



REAL LIFE SITUATIONThe 2004 Indian

Ocean tsunami andthe location ofits epicentre

KNOWLEDGE ISSUETo what extent doesprediction test the

validity of a scientifictheory? KEY: Extraction






validity of a scientifictheory?

General nature ofscientific theory

Predictionsgenerated

by standardtectonic theory

Geology: tectonictheory as an

explanation forcontinental drift

Explanatory power,predictions from patterns

Strengths

KEY: ExtractionDevelopment

Application back













Amenability toexperimentation,historical versus

experimental data

Application of,and responses to,these difficultiesin the context of

the tsunami

Problems of inductionand generalization

Difficulties withmeasurement, specifying

Initial conditions

Confounding variables,complexity of interactions

Observer effects

Problems

Strengths

KEY:Extraction

DevelopmentApplication

back





Biology: evolution bynatural selection:

homology, palaeontology,artificial selection, etc.









Amenability toexperimentation,historical versus

experimental data

Application of,and responses to,these difficultiesin the context of

the tsunami

Chemistry:Mendeleev and

periodicity

Economics:the Phillips

curve

Chemistry:valence shellelectron pair

repulsion theory

Problems of inductionand generalization

Difficulties withmeasurement, specifying

Initial conditions

Confounding variables,complexity of interactions

Observer effects

ProblemsStrengths

Other real-lifesituations (natural

sciences and human sciences)

KEY: ExtractionDevelopment

Application backApplication onward

…often they may take topics that were already treated in other courses.

One of the suggestions IB has…

What sort of topics have you looked at in other classes?

How do we know a person is a man or woman?

Caster SemenyaDavid J. Phillip/Associated Press

Updated Aug. 26, 2009

Caster Semenya is a world champion runner from South Africa who is at the center of an international dispute over whether she has too many male characteristics to compete as a woman.Ms. Semenya, a muscular, husky-voiced 18-year-old, won the gold medal in the women's 800 meters at the world track and field championships in Berlin in August 2009. The victory came on the same day that the

LANGUAGE A

Read the article(s). Fill out the IB Presentation graphic organizer

individually, as best you can. When you are done, compare yours to the

others sitting at your table.

Let’s look them over and discuss.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0226510832/ref=sib_dp_pt

Bonding and attachment of Australian Aboriginal children

‘Sorry’ apology to Stolen GenerationsOn February 13th, 2008, Aboriginal people across all Australia were deeply moved and in tears: The Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, had finally apologized to the Stolen Generations and said ‘sorry’.Read how the media saw the ‘Sorry’ apology, check out polls and what Aboriginal and non-Indigenous people said about how they received the apology.

Nicholas Volker is a little boy with a rare, devastating

disease. In a desperate bid to save his life, Wisconsin

doctors must decide: Is it time to push medicine's frontier?

One In A Billion: A boy's life, a medical mystery

THE TOK PRESENTATION

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The ToK Presentation