Assessment in Theory of Knowledge (TOK) is conducted through a TOK Exhibition and a 1600-word TOK essay. The TOK exhibition is an internal assessment component that is marked by the teacher and moderated by the IB. It is an excellent opportunity for students to explore what knowledge is and what impacts how we know things. It requires students to create an exhibition of three objects, or images of objects, and an accompanying commentary on each object. Completing the TOK exhibition helps learners to improve on all the five aspects of the attitudes to learning (ATL) namely: research; communication; thinking; self-management and social skills. Many of the IB Learner Profile attributes are also brought to the fore throughout the journey from the moment the exhibition requirements are shared with the students to the post-exhibition reflection and debrief sessions.
On Friday May 24, our Year 12 students had the opportunity to display their exhibitions and explain how they used their selected objects to explore one of the 35 IA prompts that they each chose. There was a wide variety of IA prompts selected, representing the diversity of our Y13s. For the second year running, prompt No. 21- What is the relationship between knowledge and culture? emerged as the most popular. The TOK exhibition was a culmination of many months of hard work. The exhibitions showcased were of a high quality and the students were able to articulate their knowledge claims to their peers and Y10s as well as teachers who visited the Well of Knowledge. Once again, we were delighted to be able to host parents to view the exhibitions. Our students were able to explore how knowledge manifests itself tangibly in objects around us, traveling beyond the realm of abstract concepts and ideas. Feedback from the audience was positive with parents acknowledging that they had learnt valuable lessons from listening to the exhibitors.
Completing the TOK exhibition which contributes to 33% of the total for TOK assessments, puts the students in a good position to start preparing for their TOK essays. They will first complete a practice essay based on the May 2024 prescribed titles before embarking on the actual essays based on the May 2025 titles in October.
