On Wed. April 3, seniors in the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program presented one of the three objects that they connected to their Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course during the 2024 TOK Exhibition in the Blue Dungeon. This all-day event focused on discussing objects that correlated to one of the three core themes of TOK: Knowledge and the Knower, Knowledge and Religion, or Knowledge and Technology.
“TOK tries to bring all the other classes in the IB Program together. We explore every subject, and in TOK we explore all of the subjects at once instead of doing one class, one subject,” TOK teacher Joshua Reich said.
The exhibition was a chance for students to take any object and talk about it in the context of the TOK themes to better understand the world. The reasoning behind the exhibition, according to Reich, was for students to dig deep into a unique understanding of the world. Many students researched the acquisition of knowledge and how it is affected by bias, perspective, and one’s interaction with others. Other students pondered what counts as knowledge, who owns knowledge, or even the ethical obligations imposed by the possession of knowledge.
Throughout the day, students, faculty and administration gathered in the gym to listen to IB seniors present their exhibitions.
“I learned a lot from the presentations. I liked learning about different students’ experiences through their objects. I really like the theory of knowledge class because we get to talk about really philosophical things like how the universe works,” junior Gaelle Timmer said.
Objects could be anything from a rosary to a skateboard, which were two examples of objects featured in this year’s exhibition.
“I chose my track and field spikes that I’ve had since 7th grade, and my prompt was about the relationship between personal experience and knowledge. This exhibition for me was honestly such a good way to reflect on simple things, and turn them into something bigger,” senior Valeria Castillo said.
