TOK Exhibition

Recently the TOK Exhibition was carried out and completed by Grade 11 students, with different exhibitions which had broad themes and topics. During the event each student was asked to pick a question and explore different approaches while answering it. Being the first reopened physical social event taking place after school, invited excited parents to the campus. We reached out to a few of the students, Saksham, Taara, Pranav, Mansi, Juwon and Avi to learn more about their themes, presentations and how they might potentially be related to the future.  

The Exhibition intends to create a bridge between personal knowledge and shared perspectives – Ms Moumita, HOD Geography and Global Perspectives, TOK 

During the TOK Exhibition students were all exploring the topics related to knowledge. However, they all had different topics and themes. For example, Pranav explored the topic ‘Why do we seek knowledge?’. “I chose this topic because it gave me the opportunity to explore how human psychology leads us to seek out knowledge”, explains Pranav, who along with other presenters enjoyed attending and developing their topics. Students also chose their topic to reflect on their personal behaviours. Mansi explains: “The reason I chose this theme and topic, is because it helped me reflect on my personal experiences in terms of what knowledge I use in my everyday life and how that has shaped the way I chose to live life or the way I interact with others in my life.” 

The presentations for attending visitors were charts with pictures and photos and text, objects, articles, webinars, while at the same time visitors received spoken presentations and had questions answered during their physical visit. “I used a chart to visually represent my ideas in a way that was easily understandable by the audience of a wide age group”, explains Juwon, who would like to continue meeting people and making real world connections even after the TOK Exhibition.  

All the accomplishments and passions related to sharing presentations have encouraged students to continue to reach others. “I loved presenting to different parents and teachers, and I would like to find more opportunities to communicate with different audiences on subjects that I'm passionate about”, says Taara, who grew during her passionate presentation and learnt from the event.  

The different topics and possibilities to explore topics in varying ways, has encouraged students for the future. “The fields I delved into are very interesting, and in some of my subject classes I will be learning them too, so I am looking forward to it!”, says Saksham, whose topic allowed him to learn from diverse sciences, such as astrophysics, microbiology and psychology. Avi agrees: “The TOK exhibition was an extremely rewarding experience for me, for it forced me to really think about how knowledge manifests itself in the world around us, and how we perceive it.” 

Here are the topics and titles of the students we reach out to: 

• Saksham: How new knowledge can change established values and beliefs 
• Taara: To what extent is objectivity possible in the production or acquisition of knowledge?  
• Pranav: Why do we seek knowledge? 
• Mansi: What are the implications of having, or not having, knowledge? 
• Juwon: How can we know that current knowledge is an improvement upon past knowledge? 
• Avi: How might the context in which knowledge is presented influence whether it is accepted or rejected?
• Zahrah: How important are material tools in the production or acquisition of knowledge?

Students who engaged in their research and delivered presentations found clear links between simple and complicated issues, the past and the future. Zahrah gives an example form her research: “I enjoyed studying about the Mesopotamian civilisation as I explored the ethical implications of deciphering a language and how when acquiring knowledge about the past new knowledge is essentially produced.”