TOK ORAL PRESENTATION TIPS

SAMPLE TOK ORAL PRESENTATIONS. 

In many of my earlier posts I have stated beside the video that these topics are suitable for TOK oral presentations, eg I have written a lot on the BBC Conspiracy Files on 911,Princess Diana's death, you will have to go back and look at the blog, sorry there is no list, only a list of posts in the margin here.

However, in order to be helpful, I have again summarised one possible approach, a step by step way forward. 

Here is a simple way to devise a TOK Oral Topic:

Step 1- Which area of knowledge do you want to talk about? History? Ethics? Maths? Art? 
NOW FIND A REAL LIFE SITUATION LINKED TO THAT AREA OF KNOWLEDGE

Step 2 - Create a question which allows you to examine a claim and counter-claim eg

Did the Americans land on the moon in 1969 or was it faked by NASA? USING THE PHRASE HOW CAN WE KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CLAIMS AND COUNTERCLAIMS REGARDING THE AMERICAN MOON LANDING?


THE KNOWLEDGE ISSUE HERE IS WHETHER THE NASA ACCOUNT IS TRUE OR THE CONSPIRACY THEORY IS TRUE.
AOK - HISTORY, ETHICS, HUMAN SCIENCES and NATURAL SCIENCES 
You do not have to use so many or go into great detail on more than two of them...


WOK - EMOTION - FOR AMERICANS - PATRIOTIC PRIDE COULD INTERFERE WITH THEIR ANALYSIS OF THE DATA
EMOTION AGAIN - IT WAS FAKE BECAUSE I DON'T LIKE AMERICA AND MY BIAS LEADS ME TO ACCEPT THE CONSPIRACY THEORY.
SENSE PERCEPTION - IS THE FLAG FLUTTERING - NO WIND ON THE MOON -

Step 3 - Either alone or with a partner, draft a set of knowledge claims and counter-claims? State which ways of knowing (WOK) are involved in your way of engaging with the topic - eg Jon is part-Polish so when he talks about World War 2, one of his ways of knowing will be emotion, but he is an IB Learner so he is aware of the danger of bias, especially confirmation bias and will attempt to factor that into his thinking.

STEP 4 CONNECTIONS - CAN WE FIND LINKS TO OTHER CONSPIRACY THEROIES - WHAT DOES THIS TEACH US ABOUT THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE ITSELF?
(PRINCESS DIANA, JFK, SEPTEMBER 2011)

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Here is a list of possible topics and there has been a list on the TOK NOTICEBOARD OUTSIDE ROOM 9 for some weeks now. Sone of these topics are too broad and need to be narrowed.

1. What does international mindedness mean in the context of a school where most or even all students and teachers are from the host country, unlike a typical international school catering to expats and their families?

2.  How can we know the truth about the ethics of stem cell research?

3. How can we know if the IB Diploma programme improves the critical thinking skills of students?

4. How can we know the truth about human rights? Is the UN Declaration of Human Rights truly universal or is it a ‘western construct’?

5. How can we know the truth about life after death from the case of Harry Houdini?

6. How can we know the truth about the use of drugs in sport to boost performance?

7. How can we know the truth about global warming?

8. How can we know the truth about the age of the earth and if knowledge claims for fossils are real or false?

9. How can we know the truth about the ethics of the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

10.  Are modern advanced capitalism and ethics compatible?

11. Is the ‘fair trade’ movement helping the poor of the world?