Preparing for my TOK presentation

My group and I have been preparing for our TOK presentation. We have fortified our Knowledge Question for 5 times in order to make it a 'good TOK question'. It is very hard to do, however, as the question has to be open ended but straight forward giving a brief idea about our areas of knowledge and ways of knowing.

Another challenge we have faced was choosing the appropriate real-life situations. The rls we can choose is very limited as it has to be contemporary (~5 years). Also, the 3 real-life situations required had to be not so vague and has to imply to different areas of knowledge, while at the end, every real life situations had to tie up with our knowledge question. 

Despite these challenges our group is doing great so far, and I believe we can start making our claims more clearly.

TOK analysis in "Sorry, David Cameron, But Your British History Is Not Mine"

1st order claim
Bristish values are taught in the British educational system
"Magna Carta" is going to be the centrepiece for the British values campaign

2nd order claim
Only one aspect of British values are emposed in their education
adopting only one part
Claiming anti-nationalism is a strategy used to dismiss dissidents

Knowledge Question

1. To what extent is emotion manipulate truth in history?
2. How reliable are "values" based on a nation's history?
3. --> To what extent does a nation's history shape its values?

Natural Sciences and Human Sciences

Are the findings of the human sciences as reliable as those of the natural sciences ?

• I believe that human sciences are not as reliable as of those of the natural sciences. Natural sciences such as chemistry, physics of biology is approved through hundreds of experiments to reduce the uncertainties. Also, natural sciences can ALWAYS be justified through real life experiences. For example, inertia (natural sciences) can be proved inside a car; when the car stops suddenly, the person move forward as the body wants to continue the movement. However, when human sciences are explored, they are usually done in a certain condition to achieve the conclusions that the researcher wants. This is the reason why there is contrasting views on certain subjects in human sciences. For example, the marshmallow experiment says kids want to get the treat as soon as possible. On the other hand, it might be just because the kids were hungry as they were left in a room for approximately 2 hours without any water or food or toys to play with. If they were given something else to gain their attention, the results might have changed.

To what extent can information in the human sciences be quantified? 

• Even though human sciences are not so reliable compared to natural sciences, information in the human science is a good resource to refer to. For example, the study of belief healing shows that when people believe in something - such as God(s), the doctor etc - the brain thinks that it will actually cure their illness. This might not be true to everyone, but we can still refer to this. For instance, few years a go, there was a news given that a person with terminal cancer cured himself as his daughters 'lied' to him that his cancer is curing!

To what extent do the knowledge claims of the social sciences apply across different historical periods and cultures?

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Unpacking TOK essay prompt

"Facts are needed to establish theories but theories are needed to make sense of facts.” Discuss this statement with reference to two areas of knowledge. 

1-Identify (give definition) for key terms.

Facts: something that truly exists or happens : something that has actual existence

Theory: an idea or set of ideas that is intended to explain facts or events

2-Brainstorm specific examples in two AOKs you would use to answer the prompt.

Math: when finding volume using calculus- we don't have specific way of proving it but, by using areas of graph, we can calculate the volume. Furthermore, induction is all about assuming it is true when n=1 and n=k+1.

• WOK: My own knowledge - I have learnt this in class

Science: It is a known fact that the dinosaurs existed. However, the extinction of dinosaurs have to be explained in order to show it is fact. In order to do this, people came out with theories on how they are extincted.

• WOK: My own interest on the topic made me research about this

3- What are the assumptions of the claim?

Math: For proving areas of graph, we assume that dx is equal to a constant length that is 'un-measurable'. This is a knowledge I gained from studying maths in class. Additionally, induction makes an assumption that if a statement is true for n=1, n=k and n=k+1, any number will be true. This assumption might be wrong since some numbers might be an 'exception'. Furthermore, some people claim that 1+1 is not equal to 2, and is equal to 1.999999999... just because 8/9=0.888888 so 9/9 should equal to 0.99999... This might sound dumb, but some people believe in it!

Science: when considering dinosaurs, we have to assume in the first place, that the bones discovered are the bones of the dinosaurs. Since no one survived the era of dinosaurs, we can only assume that the bones found are REALLY the bones of the dinosaurs, not just bones of random animals put together.

Pseudoscience

What constitutes a scientific claim and can such claims be differentiated from other sorts of claims?


Ways of distorting evidence

• Names one's 'authority' - their PhDs, certificates... etc
• They manipulate the results - we have to verify the source of information
• 'Ethos'
• Trials are shown
• However, these are 'predicted', 'controlled' to get the result they want
• Industry funded trials are 4 times more likely to produce more flattering effects
• Trials are 'hiding' the results - companies hides the trials that does not show the result they wanted
• Plasibo effect
• Believe that a medicine will help me
• Psychological effect that causes your body to cure oneself
• Side effects
• when someone gives more doses of their competitor's drug, it will cause more side effects- makes their product look great

Examples

• During the first seven days after birth, it is dangerous to expose a child to outdoors or to strangers - pseudoscience : in culture supersitions happens
• When a man and a woman both have sickle-cell anemia, it is dangerous for them to have children - science
• Singing while bathing is dangerous - pseudoscience : singing and bathing are very different things and in some cultures they believe that singing in shower can call the devil
• Bringing bundles of firewood from the farm into the village is dangerous - pseudoscience
• Smoking cigarettes is dangerous - 

Scientific Law, Theory, and Hypothesis

There are three terms in science that defines knowledge. In today's TOK class, we discussed about differences of law, theory, and hypothesis.

Law:

The term law is given to knowledge that are always true. Law cannot ever be proven wrong. However, in any cases, if a 'law' is proven wrong, every theories that were based on the law will be wrong like domino effect. It is accepted universally and all of the theories are based on a law. 

Ex) The law of gravity

Theory

A scientific theory consists of one or more hypotheses that have been supported with repeated testing. Theories are one of the pinnacles of science and are widely accepted in the scientific community as being true. To remain a theory, it must never be shown to be wrong; if it is, the theory is disproven. Theories can also evolve to become more 'complete', accurate theory.
Ex) The Big Bang Theorem

Hypothesis

A hypothesis is a reasonable guess based on what you know or observe. It is always  proven wrong or true. In scientific discovery, hypothesis plays a big role as theory is based on hypothesis and further laws are discovered due to simple hypotheses. 
Ex) If a prisoner learns a work skill while in jail, then he is less likely to commit a crime when he is released.