Formulating & Developing Knowledge Question (KQ) Theory of Knowledge

Real life situation (RLS) A RLS can be any specific situation that has made you think about knowing or knowledge. The situation can be relevant to your local community or your school or relevant nationally or internationally. It can also be based on a subject-specific issue.

 Wiki Leaks and the publication of secret information  Attempted assassination of Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai for promoting girls’ education.  Renaming of cities in India  Whistle-blower Edward Snowden and NSA’s obtaining of American telephone records  A move to make history a compulsory school subject up to age 16  The use of a personality test to assess students in the class  The connection between being a smoker and one‘s parents being smokers

As individuals reflect on an idea, various types of the questions come to mind Knowledge questions then emerge as individuals move, in their thinking, from specific, subject-centered questions to more general questions about knowledge itself and how it is acquired

RLS – Student representation in school # Is there a school or college committee that represents your voice? # What are the issues? # Whose voices are heard? # Are the discussion based mainly on reason or emotion? # What is the basis of authority? KQ – To what extent do rules and conventions in different areas of knowledge determine what we know?

RLS - Your IB curriculum # What value does it embody? # What assumptions are made? # Is there flexibility? # How might other educational models and approaches compare? # In what ways does the curriculum affect what you know KQ – To what extent is what we know in two areas of knowledge shaped by our culture and education?

1. Knowledge questions are rigorous inquiry questions about knowledge. Instead of focusing on specific content, they focus on how knowledge is constructed and evaluated. 2. Knowledge questions are open in the sense that there are a number of plausible answers to them. The questions are contestable. A good quality Knowledge Question will always merit discussion and evaluation rather than a single, definitive response.

3. Knowledge questions are general in the sense that they should not be making subject specific claims.

A good KQ will -Start with -“to what extent…..”, -“ How far…..” -“How…..” -“What role does….” -“Under what circumstance…….” -Open -General -Couched in terms of relations between concepts from AOK, WOK and belief, certainty, culture, evidence, experience, explanation, interpretation, intuition, justification, truth, values etc

Good KQ An open question, explicitly about Knowledge. Couched in terms of relations between concepts from AoK, WoK and belief, certainty, culture, evidence, experience, explanation, interpretation, intuition, justification, truth, values etc. OK KQAn open question, explicitly about Knowledge. Poor KQA closed question, implicitly about Knowledge Not a KQ A statement or a closed question, about a subject specific issue rather than about Knowledge in itself RLS Newspaper article/book review/ specific situation internationally or local or school To what extent can human sciences use mathematical techniques to make accurate predictions? How can we use models to predict crime waves? Will police crime predictions turn out to be correct? How can we prevent crime? Crime against women

Real Life Situation The simulation of a Big Bang at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.

RLS Truman’s decision to use the atomic bomb during WWII Poor Military Strategy Weak Was using the bomb the only option available to Truman? Medium How can we determine if wartime decisions are right? Good How, if at all, can truth in history be established?

Group Task

Good KQ An open question, explicitly about Knowledge. Couched in terms of relations between concepts from AoK, WoK and belief, certainty, culture, evidence, experience, explanation, interpretation, intuition, justification, truth, values etc. OK KQAn open question, explicitly about Knowledge. Poor KQA closed question, implicitly about Knowledge Not a KQ A statement or a closed question, about a subject specific issue rather than about Knowledge in itself RLS Newspaper article/book review/ specific situation internationally or local or school What it is about a scientific explanation that makes it convincing or unconvincing? How can we decide if acupuncture works or not? Does acupuncture work? Traditional medicine My uncle went to an acupuncturist

Good KQ An open question, explicitly about Knowledge. Couched in terms of relations between concepts from AoK, WoK and belief, certainty, culture, evidence, experience, explanation, interpretation, intuition, justification, truth, values etc. OK KQAn open question, explicitly about Knowledge. Poor KQA closed question, implicitly about Knowledge Not a KQ A statement or a closed question, about a subject specific issue rather than about Knowledge in itself RLS Newspaper article/book review/ specific situation internationally or local or school To what extent can the human sciences use mathematical techniques to make accurate predictions? How can we use models to predict crime waves? Will prediction on teenage smoking turn out to be correct? Stopping teenagers smoking A new government policy

Good KQ An open question, explicitly about Knowledge. Couched in terms of relations between concepts from AoK, WoK and belief, certainty, culture, evidence, experience, explanation, interpretation, intuition, justification, truth, values etc. OK KQAn open question, explicitly about Knowledge. Poor KQA closed question, implicitly about Knowledge Not a KQ A statement or a closed question, about a subject specific issue rather than about Knowledge in itself RLS Newspaper article/book review/ specific situation internationally or local or school How can reason be used to justify religious belief? Are religious beliefs reasonable? How do religious people come to their beliefs? Physics and God Article on science and religion

Good KQ An open question, explicitly about Knowledge. Couched in terms of relations between concepts from AoK, WoK and belief, certainty, culture, evidence, experience, explanation, interpretation, intuition, justification, truth, values etc. OK KQAn open question, explicitly about Knowledge. Poor KQA closed question, implicitly about Knowledge Not a KQ A statement or a closed question, about a subject specific issue rather than about Knowledge in itself RLS Newspaper article/book review/ specific situation internationally or local or school What, if anything, do optical illusions tell us about sense perception and truth? What can we learn from optical illusions? Why do optical illusions happen? Optical illusions An optical illusion

Good KQ An open question, explicitly about Knowledge. Couched in terms of relations between concepts from AoK, WoK and belief, certainty, culture, evidence, experience, explanation, interpretation, intuition, justification, truth, values etc. OK KQAn open question, explicitly about Knowledge. Poor KQA closed question, implicitly about Knowledge Not a KQ A statement or a closed question, about a subject specific issue rather than about Knowledge in itself RLS Newspaper article/book review/ specific situation internationally or local or school What role should intuition play in justifying capital punishment? How can we know if capital punishment Is right or wrong? Capital punishment: why should or shouldn’t we adopt it ? The execution of Saddam Hussein A book: The Execution of Saddam Hussein

Individual