Ways of Knowing - Bringing It All Together

Since September we've considered what it means to "know", not facts as such, but knowledge on which we can navigate our way through life. We examined our empirical knowledge and the sources from which we readily accept knowledge. We looked at the ToK model of four Ways of Knowing: Perception, Language, Reason and Emotion.

Next week we'll be beginning the ToK rotation (please check Monday's Bulletin for details of group changes) and you will have a different teacher in front of you as you go through the Areas of Knowledge (subjects) and relate them to the Ways of Knowing as part of questioning the assumptions of knowledge and its legitimacy in each of those subject areas.

It is basically time to bring those four Ways of Knowing together in a fun group activity for teams of up to four people. The idea is that your team are detectives piecing together what happened to a poor unfortunate student found by the Police in a ditch by a remote country road. The poor victim is called Mark Pullen.

There are clues as to what he did on his final day that led to his tragic accident. However, can we agree on what exactly happened and the chain of events that brought him to this end? In this scenario, we only have access to a limited number of items but we still have to come to a considered and agreed incident report.

As you work through the Mark Pullen story your Ways of Knowing should be sparking off in the group. People will hold different opinions, you might think they are wrong, they might think you are wrong - will you get emotional? To what extent will your deductions be based on fact and to what extent on intuition?

I'd like you to:

1. Get into groups of up to four - team up with people from the opposite side of the room - give it a try.
2. Download the task and print it off in the computer room in the Annex.
3. In your groups discuss and decide on what happened to Mark (takes about 45 minutes).
4. In the remaining time report back in groups to the whole class. What reactions do you get?
5. As a group - consider the experience with this exercise and let me know in a post on this site what you gathered about the use of your Ways of Knowing!

Good luck...here are the links to the files:

The Mark Pullen Mystery

The Clue Sheet To Complete

Struer Statsgymnasium meets The English College in Prague

Our Year 5 IB students welcomed visitors from Denmark to devote a day to work together on theory of knowledge themed events whilst making new friends. The Struer Statsgymnasium, Denmark organised a theory of knowledge study week in Prague. Their teachers chose The English College in Prague as the partner school best equiped to organise an intensive day for the essential IB subject; theory of knowledge.

The tasks, organised by one of ECP’s theory of knowledge team, comprised of a morning gallery visit to the House of the Golden Ring on Tynská followed by history themed walks around Prague in the afternoon. Nearly 100 students and 12 IB teachers participated. The subject disciplines involved ranged from science through to arts and technology teachers.

The gallery show Po sametu/After Velvet is a show of inspired contemporary Czech visual art where artists responded to the effects of the Velvet Revolution upon their work. Lively discussion was heard throughout the gallery space between ECP and Struer students as they focussed on the emotional responses they experienced as part of interpreting the meaning of art. Links between memory and imagination were discussed and students were not afraid to ask daring questions: what is art and what is its purpose?
After lunch the teams met again to complete themed walks of Prague. The walks involved addresses and clues as to what to look out for at each location. The teams had to guess the connecting theme for their walk and to relate this to an area of knowledge. All teams raced to be the first to get to Letna Plinth – and the finish line.

Despite cold wintry weather everyone persevered and correctly guessed the theme for their walk and the fact that it all related to history. Walk themes were on topics such as Prague under communism, Jewish heritage and academic learning, the arts and so on. The walks ended with a plenary session in which the forces that shape history were considered and the link between memory and recorded history was made.

With new friends made the teams departed at the end of an industrious day. Many students stayed to enjoy a little more of Prague together before making their way back home. The day got everybody looking , observing and being inquisitive – all essential for getting the most out of the theory of knowledge! Talk is afoot for a week long return visit to Struer for some ECP students. Watch this space...

For those of you who would like to use the resources here are the files for download (unfortunately the upload service advertisement will appear as well when you download) http://www.sendspace.com/file/nutnh8http://www.sendspace.com/file/nutnh8