UK debates the method for Teaching History in Schools

Christmas Truce

A Civil Action: In Pursuit of Justice

Education for a better world: IB Diploma Programme

UK Muslim society wants forced sex segregation in UK universities 10Dec13

Fascinating knowledge issue. Is it human rights for religious views or discrimination against female students?

BBC - History of Indian Mathematics Part-2 of 2

Mr. C.'s IB English Blog - BD Somani Int School - Mumbai: America: different perspectives and different narratives in history and literature and 'self-image'

CLICK HERE      Mr. C.'s IB English Blog - America : reflections on the American Dream, power constructs, feminism, racism, dominant narratives, colonialism and postcolonialism

Can one person make a difference in our workld?

Growing up just a few yards from the Mississippi River and working as a commercial shell diver, Chad Pregracke grew outraged as he encountered countless abandoned barrels, cars, appliances, and other discarded items along the river. When he was just 17 he decided to do something about it and began cleaning up the river—at first, single-handedly, and a short while later with a growing crew and fleet of barges and equipment. Fifteen years and 550 community river cleanups later, Pregracke, his crew, and more than 70,000 volunteers across the country have removed over eight million pounds of garbage from the Mississippi and 16 other major rivers in the United States.
Pregracke has delivered more than 300 presentations to corporate, public, and student audiences worldwide, emerging as a strong, articulate, and passionate voice for making a difference, one person at a time.

CNN Heroes: Top 10 revealed

Testing the atomic bomb and destroying lives in Japan - BBC - was it the lesser of two evils or a war crime?

The Economist on India's Mars Mission (MANGALYAAN) - Pride or Science?

Emotion and Reason as Ways of Knowing. Does nationalism influence major decisions in countries and does it influence how we construct our knowledge (our point of view of knowledge too) about different events?

Here is a video on Pearl Harbour and Hiromshima and Nagasaki - did national pride influence these decisions?

BBC - History of Indian Mathematics Part-1 of 2

Read the comments section for an example of emotion as a way of knowing.

BBC - GOLDEN RATIO - A Night of Numbers - Phi's The Limit

Fibonacci - The Fibonacci Explained Simply

Modern Black Death - The Next Pandemic - BBC Horizon

The world's most dangerous Virus (full documentary)

BBC THE TRUTH ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE PART 1

H. Tracy Hall, Diamond Pioneer - Industrial diamonds invention

H. Tracy Hall, Diamond Pioneer

Shashi Tharoor: Why nations should pursue "soft" power (+playlist)

All Grade X1 Students - TOK Homework on History as Area of Knowledge

Theory of Knowledge Grade X1 Special Assessment:  All students..

ESSAY TITLE : What is history as an Area of Knowledge? /- Short Essay 450 -600 words. Due Date: Monday December 9^th TOK CLASS.

This written assignment will include your references to and reflections on:

1.    Mr Gardner’s presentation on Monday December 2^nd.

What is history and why is history important in everyone’s life?

2.    The documentary “Lost in Flanders” December 9^th.

Here is a list of suggestions

You may also use other examples based on your knowledge:

3.    Are there examples from Indian history where there are problems of knowledge? Different versions of the same narrative?

4.    Problems of knowledge and knowledge questions can include:

 the problems of bias and the selective use of history for propaganda, mixing history and politics in school textbooks, a one-sided narrative of events, problems of authority and scholarship regarding historians themselves.  

5.    How important are sources in history especially when examining conspiracy theories? (JFK, Princess Diana, New York Twin Towers terrorist attacks)

6.    Do talk to your parents and grandparents. Ask them what they think is important in history!

NOTE: You are not expected to cover all the above points, they are there to help guide you find your own voice on this topic.

 Mr Andrew, Ms Meenakshy, Mr Declan, Mr Aneesh, Mr Navros.

First World War - enthusiasm, mobilisation, technology, trenches.

Wilfred Owen's poetry comes in the latter stages of the war when bitterness at the incompetence of leaders, the horrific waste of young lives.
Another important point here was  the realization that the optimism of MODERNISM, the Industrial Revolution, the spread of literacy and education, the advances in Science and Technology were not serving to improve humanity but to kill our fellow man more brutally, ruthlessly and efficiently. This is one of the sources of a general pessimism in twentieth century literature.

The fact that we had a second world war twenty years later with even more efficient brutality, aerial bombing of cities, the atomic bombs, the mass murders in the concentration camps helped create the literature of THE ABSURD, Existentialism, Postmodernism etc You can see this in "Waiting for Godot" and Bukowsky.

MIT: Are Mathematical Models the Cause for Financial Crisis in the Global Eco...

Areas of Knowledge: Mathematics, Human Sciences - Economics and Investing, Financial Products, Corporate Responsibility, Ethics.
Ways of Knowing, Emotion (Fear and Greed) and Reason (what is the evidence?), Language - was language recklessly to create euphemistic terms for new products?
Secondary knowledge issue: What role did the Credit Rating Agencies play in the crisis?
Quote from the presentation: 'Nobody really knew what they had or what it was worth.... the market had broken down.'

Gender: is there evidence for differences in male and female brains?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-mens-brains-are-wired-differently-than-women

How Men's Brains Are Wired Differently Than Women's Male brains have more connections within hemispheres to optimize motor skills, whereas female brains are more connected between hemispheres to combine analytical and intuitive thinking

Pranav Mistry's Sixth-Sense and Microsoft's Productivity Future Vision

ETHICS and SCIENCE : It's time to question bio-engineering - do you know what scientists are doing today? Designing new animals in the lab

I had a strong negative reaction when I watched this video the first time. It was a combination of sense perception and  emotion as ways of knowing that made me feel uncomfortable with the images and some of the ideas in the presentation. So what if some scientists start doing this with human beings?  - from Mr C

TED LECTURE - WHO IS THE PRESENTER?

Paul Root Wolpe, Ph.D.

Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Bioethics
Director, Center for Ethics
Emory University.

Publications
Paul Root Wolpe, Ph.D. is the Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Bioethics, the Raymond F. Schinazi Distinguished Research Chair in Jewish Bioethics, a Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Pediatrics, Psychiatry, and Sociology, and the Director of the Center for Ethics at Emory University.  Dr. Wolpe also serves as the first Senior Bioethicist for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where he is responsible for formulating policy on bioethical issues and safeguarding research subjects. He is Co-Editor of the American Journal of Bioethics (AJOB), the premier scholarly journal in bioethics, and Editor of AJOB Neuroscience, and sits on the editorial boards of over a dozen professional journals in medicine and ethics. Dr Wolpe is a past President of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities; a Fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the country’s oldest medical society; a Fellow of the Hastings Center, the oldest bioethics institute in America; and was the first National Bioethics Advisor to Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

World Aids Day 2013 - International SOS (+playlist)

HIV infection is still with us 30 years after the virus was first identified. It must be said that abstinence from risky behaviour is the best protection of your health. Love and sex should go together in a loving stable relationship with one partner in marriage. Risky behaviour and poor choices are not the only causes of HIV infection. In the past people have been infected by tainted blood transfusions in hospitals, which raises a host of questions for us as students of TOK.

NEWSNIGHT: Paxman shows Coca Cola boss how much sugar is in a supersize cup

The 9/11 Hotel "FULL DOCUMENTARY"

Sport Ethics? WORST FOOTBALL (Soccer) DIVERS and CHEATERS

Who defines the ethics of sport? Is there a difference between amateur sport and professional sport? Is winning at all costs ruining the idea of 'fair play' in sport? What about other forms of cheating in sport? How can we know the truth about fair play in sport?

In Pakistan, vaccinating children against polio can be a deadly job

This is sad but accurate example of EMOTION as a WOK. The gunmen hate foreigners. Their emotion of hate leads them to believe that foreign NGOs even the UN are not there to help local people. So they kill the medical workers. The victor is the disease of polio and the losers are the children. Do you think any amount of medical evidence would convince the gunmen to stop - if so why and if not then why not?

"Magnolia" - Sydney Barringer's unsuccessful suicide

Freshwater Conservation in Haizishan Region - Conservation International...

Tibet clean up and conservation through education.

What is Sustainability? (CIPS and EFMD business education video)

Knowledge Question: What is the evidence that we can balance the need for development with the need to protect the environment through conservation and sustainable development. For a Real Life Situation one could take Singapore which has many new initiatives in this area.

JFK -The Kennedy Assassination - Beyond Conspiracy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi14A20MJbE


The President Kennedy Assassination - Beyond Conspiracy - an excellent BBC Documentary but there are disturbing images of the president being shot. This video is not suitable for children or people of a sensitive disposition. A lot of discussion is about the shots and the angle of the wounds.
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6446   

COUNTER - CLAIMS :You can read a critical counter claim to the documentary here:

http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=6446    

Prof. Amy Cuddy Harvard Business School- Topic - Power and Body Language

PHYSICS - Michio Kaku: The Universe in a Nutshell

Parallels and Paradoxes: Explorations in Music and Society Prof Edward Said and Daniel Barenboim

Not an easy book but a very rewarding book for those interested in music and society. These free-wheeling, often exhilarating dialogues—which grew out of the acclaimed Carnegie Hall Talks—are an exchange between two of the most prominent figures in contemporary culture: Daniel Barenboim, internationally renowned conductor and pianist, and the laet Edward W. Said, eminent literary critic and impassioned commentator on the Middle East. Barenboim is an Argentinian-Israeli and Said a Palestinian-American; they are also close friends.

Prof Karen Armstrong and Salman Rushide diverse and interesting views on religion

                     

What is Holocaust Denial? What are the knowledge issues surrounding the holocaust of World War 2?

Many crimes are committed in wartime. Few countries are exempt from blame.
But the Holocaust is different because it was organised by a leader who had been originally elected and by the whole state apparatus. Civil servants, police, army, engineers and the corporate world were involved in slave labour and finally extermination. The other appalling aspect of the genocide, is that the Nazis embraced modern technology to document, transport, rob and then murder the Jewish families of Europe.
Many in the nineteenth century had optimistically believed that improvements in literacy rates and improvements in medicine and technology would usher in a new era of human development and decency.
World War 1 dashed those hopes and it bred the heartlessness that is clear in Hitler's speeches and writings.
This did not happen during the era of Caesar or Genghis Khan, this happened in living memory in the land of Goethe and Beethoven in the heart of 'civilized and cultured' Europe. It was also carried out by a nation that celebrated Christmas by a people who largely considered themselves Christian (though not Hitler or Martin Bormann who despised Christ in private but not in public.)
How can we know the truth about the Holocaust and about Holocaust Denial?
David Irving once a respected writer on World War 2 destroyed his credibility and his career through Holocaust Denial. A British citizen who is fluent in German, he was a master at tracing primary sources in the West German archives. At some point while studying Hitler he seems to have lost his objectivity and become 'seduced' by the object of his studies, Hitler and his Third Reich.
Here are some sources for you to investigate the holocaust and its denial as a Knowledge Issue:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/709203.stm

http://www.nizkor.org/hweb/orgs/american/skeptic-magazine/skeptic-9.html




 
Click on this link for excellent page on Holocaust Denial :  http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Holocaust_denial                                                                                                                                             

Even to enter into the arena of debate on whether the Nazis carried out such atrocities is already to lose one's humanity.

—Noam Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent

Holocaust denial is assertion that the Holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany, other Axis powers, and their collaborators in occupied Europe during the Second World War never happened or - in true conspiracy theory fashion - the denial that it happened according to the "official" story. Like most conspiracy theories, it takes many forms, from the fairly light claims of "exaggeration" to the extreme views of outright fraud, fakery and Zionist conspiracy. Generally, the claims include:

• That the Final Solution was in fact not the genocide of the Jewish people, but rather the expulsion of Jews from Germany
• That 6,000,000 is a gross exaggeration of the Jewish death count
• That the Nuremberg testimonies from Germans were extracted by torture
• That the Jews just made everything up to gain the world's sympathy
• That the gas chambers used by the Nazis were actually delousing stations.
• That death counts for other groups (such as gypsies or homosexuals) are exaggerated, that they were not included in the Holocaust, or that they were among those who carried it out.

Particularly when it focuses on "how the Jews faked it all," Holocaust denial is a form of anti-Semitism often embraced by bigots who are too cowardly to admit that they wished that Hitler finished the job.

BBC DOCUMENTARY ON THE NAZI DEATH CAMP AUSCHWITZ. NOTE: THIS IS A DISTURBING VIDEO WITH DISTURBING IMAGES. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
IT IS HERE FOR IB STUDENTS AND OLDER PEOPLE - NOT FOR YOUNG CHILDREN.
         
.

NOTE : Students are advised to talk to me or their History teacher or Principal Gardner before proceeding with this topic. It requires a lot of commitment and time to research it properly and with the respect it deserves.
Final point from Mr C: If there was no organised holocaust of the Jewish people and others groups, why would the German people denounce this version of history which naturally is a shameful chapter in their past? Why is their no statue of Hitler in Germany when there is a beautiful memorial to Napoleon in Paris? May one say that Hitler was not just another conqueror like Napoleon or Caesar? At the end of World War 1, the Kaiser did not feel the need to kill himself because his crimes were on a par with other leaders in that terrible conflict. Hitler knew what awaited him and many of the top Nazis killed themselves including Himmler, Goebbels and Goering. Even Goering denied that he knew about the holocaust until his signature was found on key documents

Canada & USA - The Difference - Michael Moore investigates Canadian attiitudes to guns and life in general

Topic: American Gun Laws - Knowledge Question: Will gun control laws reduce gun homicides in the USA?

                                                                              Three videos: Video 1 seems to justify gun ownership. The second video is a British Commentator who thinks American's love their guns! (Warning some rude and vulgar language.) There is some appalling anti-British stand up comedy in the second video.                        The third video is another pro-gun video.

                              

 

Dublin Castle Reception for Indian Students 2012 - for general information

Dave Meslin: The antidote to apathy - Do many people feel powerless in the area of politics and improving society?

TOK ORAL PRESENTATION? TOPIC What are the dangers of SOCIAL MEDIA?

The speaker makes KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS on his KNOWLEDGE QUESTION based on A REAL LIFE SITUATION. In TOK we also examine COUNTER CLAIMS. We also look for connections and we use the RUBRIC to plan a brilliant presentation. Students who wish to explore this or related topics should consult their TOK teacher. Please use the PLANNING DOCUMENTS ON MR HOYE'S TOK WEBSITE and also the website of Mr Tim Woods.

Qatar treatment of Foreign Workers - World Cup hosting and ethics - Human Rights Watch

 

Is Qatar a suitable country to host the World Cup? Human Rights and Ethics, treatment of foreign workers.       

BBC - WikiLeaks: The Secret Life of a Superpower (Ep. 1)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wzY0twag2c

The California Institute for Social Business in Collaboration with Muham...

 

 How important is the Micro Credit Movement in lifting people out of poverty? Knowledge Question: How many countries have embraced this model for working to empower the poor in their own countries? 

What are the WOK and AOK in this real life situation?

Knowledge Issues or Knowledge Questions are all around us .... Human Sciences - Urban Planning for example

Mission

Bombay First is an initiative to make the city a better place to live, work and invest in. It aims to serve the city with the best that private business can offer. It will achieve this by addressing the problems of today and the opportunities of tomorrow, through partnerships with government, business and civil society. 

Possible Oral Topic: How can we know if the vision of Mumbai first can be realised given the special challenges facing the city?
Knowledge Issue: What are the models of success in modern India that can point to a resolution of this topic?
What are the obstacles to success?
What can the coming generation of young Indian graduates contribute to the mix of public and private enterprise envisoned for the future?
Connections: Look at the role of transport in Shanghai, Singapore and Mumbai and ask if the obsession with private cars can be addressed in urban planning issues.

NOTE : The IB encourages students to look at local issues, not just Hitler or Galileo, which are over-used and become cliches in some cases.
You can look at issues based on YOUR experience within the IB curriculum and in daily life. This includes CAS, subject classes, MUN, conversations with classmates, work experience, summer college camps, personal reflections in your TOK Journal.  This is the personal knowledge we experience in our own lives and is also shared in public spaces with the wider community.

KNOWLEDGE ISSUES TOK KNOWLEDGE QUESTIONS

Knowledge issues
Knowledge issues are questions that directly refer to our understanding of the world, ourselves and
others, in connection with the acquisition, search for, production, shaping and acceptance of knowledge.
These issues are intended to open to inquiry and exploration not only problems but also strengths of
knowledge. Students sometimes overlook the positive value of different kinds of knowledge, and the
discriminatory power of methods used to search for knowledge, to question it, and to establish its validity.
Knowledge issues can reveal how knowledge can be a benefit, a gift, a pleasure and a basis for further
thought and action, just as they can uncover the possible uncertainties, biases in approach, or limitations
relating to knowledge, ways of knowing, and the methods of verification and justification appropriate
in different areas of knowledge. 


Source IB TOK SUBJECT GUIDE 2008

Example of Knowledge Issue or Question: Can the Golden Ration of Mathematics be applied to our ideas of beauty in men and women?

May 2014 TOK essay titles and online resources

May 2014 TOK essay titles

Your theory of knowledge essay for examination must be submitted to your teacher for authentication. It must be written on one of the six titles (questions) provided below. You may choose any title, but are recommended to consult with your teacher. Your essay will be marked according to the assessment criteria published in the Theory of Knowledge guide. The focus of your essays should be on knowledge issues. Where appropriate, refer to other parts of your IB programme and to your experiences as a knower. Always justify your statements and provide relevant examples to illustrate your arguments. Pay attention to the implications of your arguments, and remember to consider what can be said against them. If you use external sources, cite them according to a recognized convention. Note that statements in quotations in these titles are not necessarily authentic: they present a real point of view but may not be direct quotes. It is appropriate to analyse them but it is unnecessary, even unwise, to spend time on researching a context for them.

Your essay must be between 1200 and 1600 words in length, double spaced and typed in

size 12 font. Use MLA referencing.

1. Ethical judgements limit the methods available in the production of knowledge in both the arts and the natural sciences. Discuss.

2. “When the only tool you have is a hammer, all problems begin to resemble nails” (Abraham Maslow). How might this apply to ways of knowing, as tools, in the pursuit of knowledge?

 

3. “Knowledge is nothing more than the systematic organisation of facts.” Discuss this statement in relation to two areas of knowledge.

4. “That which is accepted as knowledge today is sometimes discarded tomorrow.”   

5. “The historian’s task is to understand the past; the human scientist, by contrast, is looking to change the future.” To what extent is this true in these areas of knowledge?

6. “A skeptic is one who is willing to question any knowledge claim, asking for clarity in definition, consistency in logic and adequacy of evidence” (adapted from Paul Kurtz, 1994). Evaluate this approach in two areas of knowledge.

Fantastic Online Resources - How to ace the essay!

http://mrhoyestokwebsite.com/ 

http://www.timwoods.org/2011/11/13/how-to-structure-a-theory-of-knowledge-essay/

http://amyscott.com/theory_of_knowledge.htm 

I am indebted to the teachers who have shared these ideas generously on their blogs. I hope my blog is occasionally helpful to teachers and students across the globe in the IB Learning Community. We all share this marvellous journey in Theory of Knowledge. 

Our students in BD Somani International School have each been issued with a planning package in May and with a second planning package in October 2013.
 
Classroom focus for Grade 12 TOK November - December - Students will present their TOK Oral Presentation and finalise the title of their essay in November and first draft before December Break.