Theory of Knowledge - Course Companion for Students Marija Uzunova Dang Arvin Singh Uzunov Dang

I. Scope
is complicated by power and
Knowledge
Some knowledge, and knowledges,
authority.
be more persuasive than others. An
may
question to consider is what influences
important
we trust and have confidence in a given
whether
Is there a difference between trust and
claim.
Answers to this question reveal not
confidence?
what we know, but how we know it, and
only
we encounter new knowledge and different
how
shaping the world in the process.
perspectives,
communities and cultures across time
Different
space may privilege or give legitimacy to
and
differently. We are all shaped by
knowledge
forces.
these
may seem abstract and intangible,
Knowledge
it often has concrete origins. It is entangled
but
the instruments and tools we use to
with
it, or with a specific place or ecological
produce
While knowledge can be a set of facts,
context.
and ideas, these can produce real
theories
is important also to consider how knowledge
It
represented externally—such as in language—
is
the knowledge you acquire in the IB
Consider
Programme. Through its decisions
Diploma
curriculum, assessment and approaches
about
teaching and learning, the IB Diploma
to
like all educational programmes,
Programme,
some knowledges compared to
privileges
Let’s consider some of the decisions
others.
in this process and their potential
made
What knowledge is included and appears
1.
be valued in the IB Diploma Programme?
to
(a) How is knowledge shared and
2.
transferred?
(b) How is this different from other ways
across time and space. We should also
transferred
what happens to knowledge that is not
consider
in writing, or even expressed through
recorded
as we explore in Chapter 2.
language,
is organized in a certain way, with
Knowledge
structures and conventions. There
institutions,
disciplines and academic fields with robust
are
for what constitutes knowledge within
standards
For example, a large part of this book is
them.
to the areas of knowledge (AOKs),
dedicated
are distinct but overlapping domains of
which
To what extent are these domains
knowledge.
or contrived? Why do they exist separately
natural
one another? Beyond the realm of academia
from
are other arrangements of knowledge,
there
as the folk knowledge passed on in cultural
such
or religious knowledge shared and
groups,
through institutions and communities.
transferred
TOK course and this book invite your
The
about the forms that knowledge
curiosity
the processes through which it has been
takes,
and disseminated, the people involved
produced
these processes and their roles, as well as your
in
shifting relationship to knowledge.
own
sharing and transferring knowledge
of
you have encountered or are
that
Consider the keepers and sources of
3.
in the IB Diploma Programme.
knowledge
What is the role of teachers, textbooks
(a)
other media?
and
How are teachers and books given
(b)
legitimacy and credibility?
status,
What kinds of knowledge are
(c)
and underrepresented as
emphasized
result of this, and what implications
a
that have?
might
Your assessments are a way of
4.
knowledge. Given the
demonstrating
objectives and constraints of
structure,
consider the following.
assessment,
1
material consequences in the world.
which makes it possible for knowledge to be
For discussion
Knowledge and the IB Diploma
Programme
aware of?
consequences.
4