TOK II (Class of 2022)

Aims & Objectives to encourage students to make connections between academic disciplines by exploring underlying concepts and by identifying similarities and differences in the methods of inquiry used in different areas of knowledge to encourage students to be more aware of their own perspectives and to reflect critically on their own beliefs and assumptions identify and explore links between knowledge questions and the world around us Key Questions Is it possible to eliminate the effect of the observer in the pursuit of knowledge in the human sciences? (Perspectives) What values determine what counts as legitimate inquiry in the human sciences? Can knowledge be divorced from the values embedded in the process of creating it? (Ethics) Agenda: Read "Body Ritual Among the Nacerima" Assignment: Multimodal Ethnography Project Homework:  Multimodal Ethnography Prewrite Due 9/15 EE:  Revised 3000-word draft PAST DUE Schedule your 2nd Formal Reflection Session! End-of-Unit Blog ...

  Please use this day to complete work that needs to be done! For me: EE 3000-word revised draft (past due) Human Sciences End-of-Unit Blog (due next Friday, 9/10) CAS (next CAS reflection due 9/12) For other classes: Literature Essay? Bio Review etc. I will be meeting with you to talk about TOK Exhibition.

  Sorry I can't be here today.  Please start working on your Human Sciences End-of-Unit Blog Response.  (Instructions on GClassroom.)  See you Thursday!

  Please welcome UWG Sociologist and friend of the show, Dr. Neema Noori. Ongoing Concerns: EE: Revised 3000-word draft DUE 8/30 TOK Exhibition: Submit your Objects & Claims draft to Google Classroom Work toward drafting your Exhibit Justifications CAS: Blog Due 8/29

  Aims & Objectives to encourage students to reflect on the central question, “How do we know that?”, and to recognize the value of asking that question demonstrate TOK thinking through the critical examination of knowledge questions identify and explore links between knowledge questions and the world around us Key Questions: How do empathy and imagination help us to understand other perspectives? How do the patterns of thought developed in TOK shape our understanding of the world around us? Agenda: Mindful Monday Calendar Time Mindfulness Options: Guided meditation Highs & Lows TOK Exhibition Peer Discussion: Questions & Objects 1-on-1s with Brewer (for those who need it) Next Step: Objects and Claims (See Google Classroom) Ongoing Concerns: EE: Revised 3000-word draft DUE 8/30 TOK Exhibition: Submit your Objects & Claims draft to Google Classroom Work toward drafting your Exhibit Justifications CAS: Blog Due 8/29

  Aims & Objectives to encourage students to reflect on the central question, “How do we know that?”, and to recognize the value of asking that question. to prompt students to consider the importance of values, responsibilities and ethical concerns relating to the production, acquisition, application and communication of knowledge. Key Questions To what extent are the methods used in the human sciences limited by the ethical considerations involved in studying human beings? (Ethics) Should key events in the historical development of the human sciences always be judged by the standards of their time? (Ethics) How might the language used in polls and questionnaires influence the conclusions that are reached? (methods and tools) What forms of protection against research error and bias are available to human scientists? (Perspectives) Agenda Finish "Wolf Pack" Discussion Case Study: Milgram's Obedience Study https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBDkJ-Nc3Ig Activity: designing ...

Key Questions What are the main difficulties that human scientists encounter when trying to provide explanations of human behavior? (Scope) Is it possible to eliminate the effect of the observer in the pursuit of knowledge in the human sciences? (Perspectives) What assumptions underlie the methods used in the human sciences? (Methods/Tools) Agenda Soft and Hard Sciences Jared Diamond Discussion Determining Dominance in a Wolf Pack Ongoing Concerns: Revised 3000-word EE Draft DUE 8/30 Blog Conversion Debacle Looks like Wordpress might be our best bet. Exporting your blog from Google Blogger Setting up a Wordpress Blog Importing your old blog content into Wordpress

  Meet in the Media Center for CAS!

Key Questions: How does the use of numbers, statistics, graphs and other quantitative instruments affect the way knowledge in the human sciences is valued? (Methods & Tools) Is the role of the human scientist only to describe what the case is or also to make judgements about what should be the case? (Ethics) Agenda: Our Statistical Exile Activity The Normal Curve:  99% Invisible : "On Average" Further Resources: 99% Invisible : "Invisible Women"  - explores the bias in data science and design that has resulted from the exclusion of women from many studies and statistical data sets. Aubrey Clayton "How Eugenics Shaped Statistics" - explores the history of statistics as a science, the racist ideas of its founders, and the ways that these ideas may be 'baked in' to the science itself Daniel Cleather, "Is Statistics Racist?" - more about the historical link between statistics and eugenics Radiolab Presents: G - This limited series from ...

Agenda:  Mindful Monday Calendar Check-in Box Breathing Exhibition Review the Requirements for the Exhibition, as well as the assessment instrument Read and discuss some released items Return to questions, make a final decision, and consider a THEME: Knowledge and the Knower Knowledge and Language Knowledge and Technology Review deadlines Homework: Consider the relationship between Natural and Human Sciences, the two experiments presented last class, and your own experiences.  Then, respond to ONE of the questions in GClassroom in a thoughful 1-2 paragraph response. TOK Exhibition: Identify Objects

 Key Questions: How do we decide whether a particular discipline should be regarded as a human science? (Scope) Is it possible to discover laws of human behavior in the same way that the natural sciences discover laws of nature? (Scope) Agenda: Finish Object Practice Quick Talk: Natural Sciences vs. Human Sciences Atmospheric vs. Group Pressure Homework: We will return to Exhibition discussions on Monday! Spend some time thinking about your in-process exhibition this weekend.  Look over the Exhibition guide and the assessment instrument.

Part 1: Article Groups For the first 20-25 minutes of class, you will come together with others who have read the same article as you.  During this time, you should work to deepen your understanding of the text, compare your impressions, and consider its implications for your understanding of Science as an Area of Knowledge.   Using the Knowledge Framework for Natural Sciences , consider how your articles address questions of Scope, Perspective, Methods & Tools, and Ethics.  Don't attempt to answer ALL the questions from any of these sections. Instead, consider WHICH of the questions seem to resonate most with the arguments and ideas in your article. As you talk, create a set of collaborative notes , with questions and tentative answers, using a template like the one below, that you can take with you to Part II of this activity. Part II: Jigsaw Discussion Next, you will be placed into a group with students who have become experts on a different one of the as...

 CAS DAY!

Warm up: Journal Response: What makes knowledge scientific? What distinguishes scientific knowledge from other sorts of knowledge? Agenda: Time Travel with Brewer https://youtu.be/yuD34tEpRFw Reading & Discussion: Russell Berg, "Evaluating Scientific Theories" Activity: How Scientific Is It? Ongoing Concerns: CAS moved to Monday, prolly. Science Articles Assignment: Read all articles at a high-level Read your assigned article more closely and compose a response blog (before Wednesday) On Wednesday, we will use your knowledge of these articles for an in-class structured discussion  

  Aims & Objectives: make connections between a critical approach to the construction of knowledge, the academic disciplines and the wider world examine how academic disciplines/areas of knowledge generate and shape knowledge understand that knowledge brings responsibility which leads to commitment and action. Essential Question: What methods, assumptions, and approaches distinguish the natural sciences as an area of knowledge? Agenda: Journal: Does measurement help us create knowledge? Discussion: Natural Sciences Pop Quiz Talk through  this Prezi on the Natural Sciences Ongoing & Upcoming: Thursday: our FIRST EVER CORE THURSDAY.  Come prepared to work on Extended Essay: Continue research & writing Contact EE Supervisor to arrange first formal reflection session 2000-word draft (with 10 sources cited) due Sunday, 4/4 Remember, this is a process checkpoint--if you are DOING the work, it should SHOW in this draft Begin moving some of your thinking around to giv...

"What's in the box?!" -Brad Pitt   Let's begin our discussion of science with a quick POP QUIZ!!! After you are done, put your quiz someplace safe.  We'll come back to it soon to check your initial understanding. Now, we will try some hands on science with my favorite TOK activity: THE  BLACK BOX  PROBLEM I will put you in teams of 3-4 students.  Together, you will work together to discover the nature of the universe. Please follow along on  these instructions  as I explain.