TOK Year 12 Mini essay for internal assessment

Your TOK teacher will have given you a selection of 5 essay titles to go away and research. These essays have then to be written up in class as part of an internal assessment. The titles are:

• Are some ways of knowing more likely than others to lead to truth?
  
• How can the different ways of knowing help us to distinguish between something that is true and something that is believed to be true?
  
• “We see and understand things not as they are but as we are.” Discuss this claim in relation to at least one way of knowing.
  
• Does having a definitive answer make a question more or less important? Discuss this question in relation to at least one area of knowledge.
  
• Can a machine know?

It is a good idea to focus on the "natural sciences" as this is the area of knowledge we have covered so far.

You are free to bring notes with you into the essay writing class but cannot bring a completed essay.

I encourage you all to make use of the various TOK books in the library. Ask Ms. Wilkinson for a TOK leaflet. You should also make use of the various TOK links found on this blog (right hand side column). Make sure you take a look at this page:

http://peernet.lbpc.ca/tok/tokassessment/tokessay/02tokessaystp1.html

The school "intranet" also has a great TOK page, containing a lot of useful information that you can use.

On the right hand side of this blog you can see a download link. Click on this link to access the ESSAY CRITERA that will be used to mark your essay. These are the same criteria that will be used to mark your final essay next year.

You can also access the criteria on our school intranet. Click on the "Seniors" tab and choose CAS, TOK and EE. On the page that follows choose "TOK" and then click on "ESSAY" at the top of the page. On that page click on "Criteria" under the "Essay" heading.

Good luck and enjoy!

Mr. Jonsson

TOK essay - November 2008

•“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world” - A. Einstein

•“The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination” – A. Einstein

•“Imagination depends mainly on memory but there is a small percentage of creation of something out of nothing with it. We can invent a trifle more than can be got at by mere combination of remembered things” - S. Butler.

•“Imagination is the innate ability and process to invent partial or complete personal realms within the mind from elements derived from sense perception of the shared world” - Wikipedia.

Compare the roles played by Reason and Imagination in the natural sciences. (500 words)

Due next day 1

There are many and various texts in the library that you can look up. Ask Ms. Wilkinson for the TOK leaflet for a list of books. You could also ask your Physics/Chemistry/Biology teacher for some thoughts!

Year 13 Geography - Cultural Integration essay

Globalisation homework

Dicuss how technological change, transnational corporations (TNCs), global media networks, the Internet, tourism, migration and the actions of governments promote cultural integration.

You should start by defining “cultural integration” and then go on to discuss the ways in which the various factors listed above influence and promote this form of integration.

Word count: 750

Use the handout on “cultural integration” that you have been given.

You should also use the following internet links to research the essay question:

http://www.globalpolicy.org/globaliz/cultural/index.htm

The above website contains a huge amount of links, all focussed on cultural globalisation or cultural integration.

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/changing.media/Nordicom-2.htm

http://www.users.bigpond.com/l_arom/archives/Cultural%20Globalisation.htm

http://www.editiondesign.com/fgf/knowledge/article007.html

There is also a lot of information to be found in the numerous links in the globalisation section here on this page.

Due next lesson

Have fun!

Mr. Jonsson

IB Globalisation - Mini Essay

In case you misplaced your essay title, here it is:

"How have changes in transport (air, sea, land) in recent decades resulted in reduced travel times, cheaper costs and consequent increases in travel?".

Minimum word count is 500 words. Use the links here to the right to help you with your research. Remember to structure your work well (Before you start writing!) and to think of the ways in which you could tackle this question. Use examples as evidence to back up your statements.

Have fun and good luck! See you after half-term.

Mr. Jónsson

Important message for Geography students: Year 13, 12, 11, 10

Many of you have asked me for the PowerPoints that I have used in our lessons. I have put all relevant PowerPoints into your "Resources" folder on the St. George's Intranet. If you have any difficulty in accessing them then please do ask me for help (or your ICT teacher).

Mr. Jónsson

All geography and TOK students: Expand and strengthen your knowledge.

I recommend that all students read the following news website on a regular basis. They often present case studies of various topics that are relevant to geography and TOK. Have a read!

http://www.bbc.com

TOK Blog instead of a paper journal

Instead of having a paper journal/diary you can start up your own blog (I recommend using blogger.com). In this way we can all share our thoughts/links to other websites/blogs etc. and even comment on them. If you don't feel like sharing your thoughts then a paper version is perfectly acceptable (and sometimes feels nicer to write or draw the good old fashioned way!).

If you do start up a blog then leave me a comment on this posting with the link to your blog.

Mr. Jónsson

Resources for TOK

Use the resources link here to the right to download 5 resource packs for TOK. These resource packs come in the form of Word documents and cover the following areas:

Scepticism, Rationalism, Empiricism, Perception and Knowledge.

I recommend that you download all five and read through them. Each one contains various exercises. They should be used with the following website:

http://www.philosophyonline.co.uk/tok/tokhome.htm

Enjoy!

Year 11: Positive and negative impacts of tourism - 2 videos

I recommend that Year 11 students watch the following videos on YouTube about the positive and negative impacts that tourism can have on the country receiving tourists:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0u9s0LWxqo&eurl=http://www.google.com/reader/view/

Remember that even though the above video focuses on the positive impacts, there can also be many negative impacts (pollution, overcrowding, traffic congestion, raised food prices and more). Watch this video to get the other side of the story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9BsJNUdr7o&feature=related

Year 11 Tourism

Click on the following link and read a great resource on tourism. It covers everything you need to know for your GCSE:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/tourism/

IB Students only: email your work to Mr. Jónsson

On the right hand side of this page you can see my email address. Let's try and save paper by using this email to send your work to me :). You can also see my email here:

gudmundur.jonsson@stgeorge.school.it

Thanks!

Mr. Jónsson

Revision for Year 11 Geography

Use the links here to the right to access the various revision websites for Geography. It is very important that you start to revise the topics we have covered so far (Population, Migration, Settlements, Plate tectonics, Volcanoes, Earthquakes, Rivers, Tourism).

There is also a resource link here to the right which you should use. It will take you to a website where you can see a Year 11 Geography folder. This folder contains various revision notes which you should download and go over. DO NOT RELY ONLY ON THESE NOTES FOR YOUR REVISION. You must use your New Wider World textbook and your notebooks as your core revision material.

Mr. Jónsson.

Theory of Knowledge Journal Entries

TOK students are required to create 5 journal entries per term. Each journal entry has to be clearly linked to the topics we have studied so far in TOK (as of today we have been looking at ways of knowing and the natural sciences).

Each journal entry should be the equivalent of an A4 page. An entry can come in various forms and guises. Take a look at the following website to give you an idea of what these journal entries should be about:

http://amyscott.com/journals.htm

I will be collecting your TOK diaries before half-term to see what you have been doing.

You can also download a pdf file by using the "resources" link here on the right to see examples of journal entries. Once you have clicked on the link, click on the TOK folder and download the file.

Mr. Jónsson

P.S. Please read the post above about using a blog like this instead of a paper journal/diary.

IB Globalisation students

I encourage all my IB Globalisation students to review all of the website links here to the right. There is a lot of very useful background information to further your understanding.