Theory of KnowledgeProject-Based Learning for Year 11

What is the course teaching?

Theory of Knowledge (TOK) is a core IBDP course that asks students to reflect on how they know what they know. It is a metacognitive kind of critical thinking class that examines things like the value and limitations of different kinds of knowledge, the way our knowledge is constructed, and how personal and shared knowledge interact.

Current Teaching Unit

TOK divides the examination of knowledge into ways of knowing (WOK) and areas of knowledge (AOK).

We are now examining AOK: Human Sciences

Student Profile

● 16-17 years old, in grade 11● 100% mainland Chinese, most from

Shanghai originally● 100% ELLs. This group of 16 students has

elected to take the TOK course in English while their peers take it in Chinese

● Products of an educational system that values unquestioned acceptance of teacher-delivered instruction

● 100% plan to attend university abroad

A bit of coincidence...

As I’m leading students to consider the difficulties of measuring complex human phenomenon, I must also think about how to measure their understanding and learning of these concepts!

Learning Objectives: No Content

Students do not learn “content” in TOK but are rather introduced to different aspects that affect HOW they might think about what they already know and to the new things they learn.

*There are no “right” answers in TOK, but there are stronger and weaker answers based on how well they can be justified.

Learning Objectives: Thinking & Application

After examining the features of knowledge creation in the human sciences, students should be able to explain: A. inside and outside methodsB. the challenges human scientists face in getting reliable data

about humans (1) dishonest self-reporting, 2) loaded questions, 3) the observer effect, 4) the prediction effect)

They should be able to demonstrate:C. how quantifiable measurement systems of complex human

creations can be createdD. how methodology design affects the quantified outcome in

ranking systems

How can Project-Based Learning help?

PBL helps students build competency and critical thinking skills by investigating an inquiry question in-depth. Students receive new content and research information on a just-in-time model in order for them to continue their investigation and arrive at an outcome which can be communicated creatively to a wider audience (BIE, n.d.).

PBL Human Sciences Inquiry Question

“What is the easiest IBDP course?”

(Most of our students are motivated primarily by what classes they will get the highest overall marks in. This inquiry question therefore has

real-life application for them as they elect which IB subjects to study and which to study at Higher Level or Standard Level.)

Students form teams of 3 to brainstorm ideas about this question

and how they could go about answering it.

Project Set-Up Considerations

Class is held 3 times/weekClass periods are 40 minutes longStudents do not have internet access in the classroomsStudents have mandatory study times in the evening and are only allowed to be on their laptops during the first half of that period Students cannot access materials on YouTube or other censored websites, but teacher’s PC has a VPN to show some of those materials on the overhead during class timeOfficial school data on achievement in different subjects is not disclosed to students or subject teachers

In order to answer the question...True Project-Based Learning is “unscripted….the destination is always unknown, as is the path taken to get there. It truly is an exploration” (Project Foundry, 2012).

○ Students will be able to come up with an answer to the inquiry question without lessons on different ways of thinking about the issue, but will it demonstrate the complexity necessary in TOK?

○ These students often feel uncomfortable with vague instructions. They want concrete tasks to help them structure their inquiry, as they have spent most of their educational lives being told what to do, what to think, and that there is only one correct answer.

→ Therefore, I will guide them through ways of thinking about the question with 7 lessons.

Lesson 1: Inside and Outside MethodsStudents must consider the process of knowledge creation in human sciences and how it differs from the last AOK we studied (natural sciences).→ Class discussion will be facilitated on these 2 questions: ● How are humans different from other animals? ● Geese are migrating to Canada. The Wang family is migrating

to Canada. What are the similarities and differences in the explanations we would give and the ways we would investigate goose behavior with the Wang family’s behavior? (Learning Objective A: inside and outside methods explored)

Further Reading

Students are directed to resources about inside and outside methods and the problems of self-reporting and the observer effect. Students must read these in preparation for the discussion next class and must think about which parts of their inquiry question can be investigated with outside methods and which with inside methods.

Lesson 2. Students can identify bad design of inside methods(Objective 2 - Students must understand the challenges of using “inside methods”)

The class will take a (very bad) questionnaire and be asked to analyze the reliability and effectiveness of the questionnaire outcomes based on:● representation of population● sample size● a fit between what has been asked and what’s being measured● the precision of language● the possibility for dishonest answers● the inclusiveness of multiple choice answer options● the reliability of the inferences made

Lesson 3: Challenges of Inside Methods (cont’d)

Students will watch a short video clip where Bill Cosby gets kids who hate vegetables to talk about how much they love vegetables. Students must identify loaded questions and dishonest self-reporting in the video.

Students read resource with examples of leading and loaded questions and how to correct them to be more objective.

In their groups, students devise an 8-question unbiased questionnaire that can be used in their inquiry into the easiest IBDP subject.

Lesson 4: Challenges of Inside Methods (cont’d)

*Groups exchange questionnaires and conduct peer review. Teacher also circulates to provide feedback on the suitability of questions and any potential bias in the wording.

**Students are introduced to the ‘prediction effect’ and then listen to the story of Oedipus as an example of it. Students brainstorm ways that the prediction effect works in economics.

Homework: Watch the TED talk “The Power of Yet” by Carol Dweck. Write a reflection about how it relates to the prediction effect and how the prediction effect might work in your inquiry into the easiest IBDP subject.

Lesson 5: Creating Measurement Categories

Teacher introduces categories that are relatively easy to measure: population, GDP, literacy rates, and inflation. Students tell how they would measure each and then are asked to think about some of the factors that could complicate these ‘straight-forward’ measurements.

In pairs, students are asked to create a list of factors important in measuring:● progress● happiness● brand loyalty● danger● freedom● social statusand share them with the class for discussion.

Homework

Students take the ideas from the class discussion on measuring happiness or progress and write out ideas to the following:● Which factors can we use to help us measure

this abstract concept?● How will we measure those factors?● What methods will we use to get the data?

Lesson 6: Creating Measurement Systems

Teams are provided with the following focus question: Can this measurement system be used universally? How can it be strengthened to account for different cultural realities?

Students exchange their ideas for peer review and teacher circulates to provide feedback and suggestions for refinement.

In their groups, students consider what it means to be the “easiest” IBDP subject and develop factors that could be measured universally.

Lesson 7: Measuring Olympics Success Students each draw a slip of paper with a country on it (pre-selected based on big changes with the various spreadsheet categories). We hold a discussion about which country won the last summer Olympics.

● How can we find out? ● How are Olympics rankings

measured?● Why do the same countries always

seem to win?● What other factors (beside medal

count) should we consider?

Utilizing a data table from The Guardian, Olympics results are examined for: total # of medals, # of gold medals, total medals per GDP, golds per GDP, total medals per population, golds per population, total medals per GDP per capita and different teams are crowned the winner each time

Homework

Students use the ideas from the Olympics investigation to research rankings that are very close to their current lives: university rankings. Students are given links to 7 different world university ranking systems. They must choose 1 famous university and 1 they’ve never heard of before from the first ranking system and chart those universities’ positions on each of the other 6 ranking systems. Afterwards they will see which 2 systems gave them the widest divergence in results and they must read about the methodology used in each. What methodological differences caused the results to vary so widely?

Lesson 8: Measuring University Greatness

Students share their results in pairs and discuss the methodological differences they’ve found in order to create a list of ways that “university greatness” might differ based on how that is defined (i.e. which factors are measured).

Students will consider in groups some differing

definitions of ‘easy’ for their IBDP subjects ranking activity and will discuss as

a whole class the methodology that would

need to be used according to different definitions.

Final Project:Tutorials are presented on how to create a presentation using VoiceThread, where they can present slides demonstrating the factors they chose to focus on and can add audio commentary on the justifications for that methodology design, and on how to create an infographic to visually represent their factors and explain method design. Both formats will allow students to work on the bulk of their content without needing to be online, and both will allow students to share their findings with all year 11 and year 10 students, who are about to make their subject selections for the coming year. Students have already done much of the intermediate thinking. They are given one additional week to finish the project.

PBL OutcomesStudents will meet the learning objectives for the unit by the end of the project. Furthermore the project allows engagement with 21st century learner goals:

● Information and media literacy (how to sort through information to analyze and interpret its usefulness, understanding the construction of media reports)

● Global awareness (understanding cultural bias in measurements)● Economic & financial literacy (how to interpret statistics and data)● Technology literacy (using VoiceThread or infographic software)● Collaboration (group work, think-pair-share work, whole class discussion, peer

review)● Critical thinking (integrated into each lesson activity and into the final project)● Creativity and communication (students create their own systems and

communicate them via various platforms )

References

Buck Institute for Education. (n.d.). What is Project Based Learning (PBL)? Retrieved May 15, 2015 from http://bie.org/about/what_pbl

Dweck, Carol. The Power of Believing that You Can Improve [TED Talk]. Retrieved May 2, 2015 from http://www.ted.com/talks/carol_dweck_the_power_of_believing_that_you_can_improve

Project Foundry. (2012). Project-Based Learning Lesson Plans. Retrieved May 16, 2015 from http://projectfoundry.org/project-based-learning-explained/project-based-learning-lesson-plans.html

Rogers, Simon. (2012). Olympics 2012: The Alternative Medals Table. Retrieved May 13, 2015 from http://www.theguardian.com/sport/datablog/2012/jul/30/olympics-2012-alternative-medal-table

Super Survey. (2005). Response Bias. Retrieved May 7, 2015 from http://knowledge-base.supersurvey.com/response-bias.htm