Science and theory of knowledge

The theory of knowledge (TOK) course (first assessment 2015) engages students in reflection on the nature

of knowledge and on how we know what we claim to know. The course identifies eight ways of knowing:

reason, emotion, language, sense perception, intuition, imagination, faith and memory. Students explore

these means of producing knowledge within the context of various areas of knowledge: the natural sciences,

the social sciences, the arts, ethics, history, mathematics, religious knowledge systems and indigenous

knowledge systems. The course also requires students to make comparisons between the different areas of

knowledge, reflecting on how knowledge is arrived at in the various disciplines, what the disciplines have in

common, and the differences between them.

TOK lessons can support students in their study of science, just as the study of science can support

students in their TOK course. TOK provides a space for students to engage in stimulating wider discussions

about questions such as what it means for a discipline to be a science, or whether there should be ethical

constraints on the pursuit of scientific knowledge. It also provides an opportunity for students to reflect on

the methodologies of science, and how these compare to the methodologies of other areas of knowledge.

It is now widely accepted that there is no one scientific method, in the strict Popperian sense. Instead, the

sciences utilize a variety of approaches in order to produce explanations for the behaviour of the natural

world. The different scientific disciplines share a common focus on utilizing inductive and deductive

reasoning, on the importance of evidence, and so on. Students are encouraged to compare and contrast

these methods with the methods found in, for example, the arts or in history.

In this way there are rich opportunities for students to make links between their science and TOK courses.

One way in which science teachers can help students to make these links to TOK is by drawing students’

attention to knowledge questions which arise from their subject content. Knowledge questions are openended

questions about knowledge, and include questions such as:

• How do we distinguish science from pseudoscience?

• When performing experiments, what is the relationship between a scientist’s expectation and their

perception?

• How does scientific knowledge progress?

• What is the role of imagination and intuition in the sciences?

• What are the similarities and differences in methods in the natural sciences and the human sciences?

IB Biology Guide First Assessment 2016