FROM CONTENT TO CONTESTABLE QUESTIONS

Make the familiar
questionable.

Begin with something your class is already studying. The lab helps uncover the assumptions, perspectives, and knowledge problems inside it.

Start an inquiry ↓

01 / QUESTION BUILDER

What are you thinking about?

A strong TOK question does not ask for a fact. It makes the process of knowing itself available for examination.

THREE WAYS IN · POWER & PERSPECTIVESelect the question worth pursuing

QUESTION IN FOCUSHow does the power to define “International courts are more effective against weak states than powerful ones” affect what counts as knowledge?

02 / QUESTION EXPLORER

Find a way into the course.

A starter collection for teachers and students. Filter by classroom subject or by the knowledge concept you want to foreground.

⌕9 QUESTIONS

Q01

When does a simplification become a distortion?

Natural Sciencesexplanation

Q02

Are some historical interpretations more responsible than others?

Historyinterpretation

Q03

Can political knowledge ever be separated from political power?

Global Politicspower

Q04

What is lost when human behavior is represented by a model?

Economicsmodels

Q05

Does mathematical certainty depend on accepting uncertainty elsewhere?

Mathematicscertainty

Q06

Who should decide whether an interpretation of a text is reasonable?

Language & Literatureinterpretation

Q07

Can art give us knowledge that cannot be stated as a claim?

Artscreativity

Q08

Does more evidence always make a claim more trustworthy?

Open inquiryevidence

Q09

How does belonging to a community influence what we are prepared to doubt?

Open inquiryculture

03 / RESPONSE STUDIO

Think, test, revise.

This is a scaffold for thinking—not a formula for writing. Short notes are enough. The aim is to make a change in your thinking visible.

QUESTION IN FOCUS

01Your first positionWhat do you currently think? Make a claim you could defend.02A concrete exampleUse a specific event, object, study, text, or experience—not a hypothetical.03A serious challengeWhat would a thoughtful person who disagrees say?04Your revised positionWhat qualification, distinction, or uncertainty would you now add?

04 / CLASSROOM DISPLAY

Give the room
one thing to think about.

Choose a question

DISCUSSION TIMER05:00

QUESTION FOR THE ROOM

How does the power to define “International courts are more effective against weak states than powerful ones” affect what counts as knowledge?

BEGIN What is your instinctive answer?TEST What example might complicate it?REVISE What would change your mind?