Why TOK?

Sometimes we just accept the facts we are given and do not ask the question "Why?" TOK forces us to look into the areas of knowledge.* We must not be confined in believing that what we say and believe is always correct. We must also look at what others say and then ask "Why do they believe this?" while I believe that.

What Every Baby Knows

1. The inferential learning mechanism theory states that children are born with intuitive theories of the world, analogous to scientific theories, which change in ways that are similar to scientific theory change. From the very beginning of their lives, babies are able to revise, change, and rework their initial ideas about life. As they grow, they continually collect data and "overthrow" their previously-held theories.

2. Several changes occur over the first three years of a baby's life. A newborn child can map what it sees in another human's face onto its own face, even though he is far to young to recognize himself in the mirror. Babies at birth also can distinguish human faces and voices from other sights and sounds. He even learns to recognize familiar faces, voices, and smells. One-year-olds have a radically new understanding of people. They start understanding that other people's actions, emotions, and perceptions can be directed at a separate external world. They will look where other people point and know how they should feel about something by seeing how other people feel. Many three-year-olds have good memories but do not understand their own minds or the minds of those around them.

3. The statement "Babies are like little scientists continually overthrowing theories that no longer fit the evidence" assumes that all babies are learning at a rapid pace. While most babies do in fact continually discard theories, autistic children do not develop this way. Autistic children have trouble imitating facial expressions and do not point or follow people pointing in the same way as fully-functioning children. The statement also implies that only babies continually "overthrow theories that no longer fit the evidence" although we continue to change our beliefs into adulthood.

What Is TOK Anyway?

TOK is the process of digging deeper into the world. It is not accepting the facts we are told but rather figuring out why we believe these things. In TOK, we explore what is typically unexplored.

Who Am I?

I believe that language and human sciences best describe me. Communication, which overlaps between the categories, is a part of my everyday life. I enjoy writing, one form of communication, and use this skill whether writing a homework assignment or writing a story to be printed in the school paper. I also have the gift of gab, and communicating verbally is another way to share ideas. Each of us knows what we know because others express certain ideas to us.