Andrew Brown evoking the TOK Exhibition—standing with Gao Qipei’s Zhong Kui, the Demon Queller at BAMPFA, the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive.

350 THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE class activities
SHARED in a spirit of collegiality

Welcome to TOKresource.org

Beginning and experienced IB Theory of Knowledge teachers are invited to appropriate, borrow directly, or adapt freely any of this tried and trusted TOK content. The various class activities evolve. They are tweaked each time they are tested in the classroom. Activities that fell flat or proved otherwise unsuccessful with my own students have been dropped from the site.

TOKresource.org is a non-commercial resource for TOK teachers around the world. There are no subscriptions, ads, or clickbait. Nor does the site provide quick-fix assessment help for students. Instead, the focus is on the essential recurring challenge for every TOK teacher—when it’s time for class, what are my students actually going to do?*

Andrew Brown

Young Bonobo—a very smart ape!
Photo credit: Anup Shah via Getty Images.

SITE MENU

TOK Curriculum
Knowledge Questions
Starting TOK
Core Theme—Knowledge and the Knower
Optional Themes
Areas of Knowledge
12 TOK Concepts
TOK Exhibition and Essay
Who wants to know?
350 linked class activities on one enormous page
Updates and new content
Contact and newsletter


Critical limitations of the site

This website does one thing well. It shares lesson plans and ideas from the perspective of an experienced, individual classroom teacher. TOKresource.org aligns with copyrighted IBO materials—but stops short of addressing specific Essay titles. Strategies proposed for both the Exhibition and the TOK Essay serve any prompt.

The official IB Diploma Programme Resource Centre is the one and only foundational reference point for all TOK teachers. The Theory of Knowledge Guide (first assessment 2022) together with teacher support and assessment materials are downloadable after login. IB approved workshops (offered at three levels according to experience) should be the very next priority for both novice and veteran TOK teachers. 


Inviting feedback from TOK teacher colleagues around the world

Although the ostensible vibe of this site tends towards author as auteur; behind the curtain, the reality is far more interesting. The truth is that TOK teaching is optimal when collaborative. Throughout the decades, I have benefited from working in a large, internationally-minded TOK teams. In this collegial spirit I welcome suggestions—via the contact page—for tweaking class activities and adding new content. Unless you say otherwise you will be given full credit.

“*Yes, that’s all good... but what are your students actually going to do? ”
— the recurring generative question, always delivered with a wry smile, of my friend and most gifted colleague, Alioune Kone.

Human infant spoon fed by an AI drone in Plato’s Cave (2024)—Oil painting by the author.