Does TOK as a subject have its own content?

Alexey PopovAreas of Knowledge, Curriculum, Knowledge Questions, Teaching Ideas

I heard many times how someone claimed that TOK as a subject has no content of its own. TOK, they said, uses the content knowledge students already have from all their other subjects, and the purpose of TOK is to reflect on that knowledge. I understand where they are coming from, but I disagree. I think that perhaps the biggest …

Themantic Education’s menu of lessons

Alexey PopovAreas of Knowledge, Curriculum, Knowledge Questions, Teaching Ideas, TOK Concepts, TOK Essay

We believe in the powerful combination of structure and flexibility. That’s how Themantic TOK materials are designed. On the one hand, you can take our materials and use it as a ready-made, fully developed course. Follow our sequence of lessons, use our lesson plans, activities and workbooks, and take your students through this whole pre-designed learning experience. On the other …

Themes as an opportunity: Teaching areas of knowledge through themes

Alexey PopovAreas of Knowledge, Optional Themes, The Core Theme

This blog post belongs to a series entitled “Traps and loopholes in the new TOK syllabus.” You can access the full list of blog posts in the series here. In two of my earlier posts I explored some “traps” in the new TOK syllabus associated with the new “themes”. IB TOK has been split into Themes and Areas of knowledge. …

Themes as a trap: TOK essay is based on areas of knowledge

Alexey PopovAreas of Knowledge, Assessment, Curriculum

This is the forth in a series of blog posts entitled “Traps and loopholes in the new TOK syllabus”. You can access the full list of blog posts in the series here.  Earlier I explored traps and opportunities linked to the “compulsory” knowledge framework in the new TOK spec. Now it’s time to switch over to another key addition in …