Expanded Plan for Weeks 1-3: Knowledge and Technology
| Week | Theme | Content | Activities | Homework |
| 1 | Knowledge and the Knower | Introduction to TOK and the core theme. Explore the nature of knowledge and the role of the knower. | Classroom Discussion: Use TED Talks related to perception and knowledge as a starter. Activity: Personal knowledge audit – students list what they know and how they know it. | Find and summarize a TED Talk or article that explores a way of knowing, focusing on how it contributes to knowledge. |
| 2 | Knowledge and the Knower | Dive into Ways of Knowing (WOKs) – specifically perception and reason. Discuss how these WOKs inform and shape our knowledge. | Group Activity: Perception challenge – activities to test and reflect on sensory perceptions. Debate: “Can reason always lead to truth?” | Create a presentation on either perception or reason, including real-life applications and limitations. |
| 3 | Knowledge and the Knower | Continue with Ways of Knowing – focusing on emotion and language. | Interactive Workshop: Emotional intelligence exercises. Language Analysis: Examine how language shapes reality in news media. | Journal entry reflecting on an instance where emotion influenced a personal belief or understanding. Analyze a political speech for the use of language to shape perceptions. |
We recommend searching for TED Talks or educational videos that cover themes like “The Nature of Knowledge,” “Perception vs. Reality,” “The Role of Emotion in Decision Making,” and “How Language Shapes Thought.” These subjects are widely discussed by experts across various platforms, including TED, which offers a rich repository of talks by scholars, scientists, and thinkers.
To find relevant talks, you can use keywords related to the specific areas of focus on platforms like YouTube or the official TED website. For instance, searching for “TED Talk on perception and knowledge” or “TED Talk on language shaping reality” should yield engaging and insightful presentations that can complement the lesson plans and stimulate classroom discussion.
Expanded Plan for Weeks 4-6: Knowledge and Technology
| Week | Content Focus | Activity | Extended Activity | Homework |
| 4 | Digital Revolution’s Impact | Debate: “Internet vs. Libraries” | Workshop: Creating digital timelines of technological advancements. | Research and write about a technology pioneer. |
| View: A TED Talk on digital evolution. | Discussion: How digital access shapes knowledge. | |||
| 5 | Social Media in Knowledge Dissemination | Case Study: Analyze a social movement amplified by social media. | Project: Design a digital literacy campaign. Share plans via class blog. | Keep a media diary for a week, noting all learning through social media. Reflect on credibility and learning depth. |
| View: A documentary on social media’s global impact. | Peer Review: Evaluate classmates’ digital literacy campaigns. | |||
| 6 | Technology’s Role in Education | Presentation: Compare traditional vs. tech-enhanced learning methods. | Virtual Exchange: Conduct a virtual meeting with a class from another country discussing edtech benefits. | Propose an innovative educational technology solution, considering current limitations. Include sketches or concept maps. |
| Explore: Interactive e-learning platforms. | Experiment: Try a new educational app and review its effectiveness in a class discussion. |
To enhance your course, consider integrating multimedia resources, such as educational podcasts, interactive websites, and platforms like Khan Academy or Coursera, that offer in-depth explorations of technology’s impact on society and learning. Encourage students to engage with these materials critically, fostering a classroom environment where technology’s role in shaping and distributing knowledge is actively questioned and understood.
Expanded Plan for Weeks 7-9: Knowledge and Technology
| Week | Specific Activity | Content Suggestion | Extended Activity | Content Suggestion |
| 7 | Analyze linguistic relativity through Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. | Explore articles or segments from linguistics journals that present case studies on how language influences thought in different cultural contexts. | Create a mini-documentary exploring multilingualism’s effects on perception and cognition. | Use video editing software to compile interviews, examples, and visual illustrations of multilingual individuals discussing their experiences and perceptions. |
| 8 | Explore the construction of meaning in language using poetry and advertising. | Select poems and advertisements that utilize unique linguistic features to convey messages. Analyze these in class for their use of language. | Compose a piece that plays with language to alter or challenge usual perceptions. | Provide guidelines for creative writing that encourage the use of metaphor, simile, and other figurative language to convey complex ideas in nuanced ways. |
| 9 | Debate on the impact of social media on language. | Prepare position papers or presentation slides citing studies on social media’s influence on language evolution and user perception. | Compile examples of internet slang, memes, and hashtags to analyze their communicative value. | Use platforms like Instagram, Twitter, or Reddit to gather current examples of digital language evolution, focusing on how these elements convey complex emotions or ideas succinctly. |
For weeks 9-12 focusing on AOK: Natural Sciences, here’s a detailed lesson plan designed to engage students with exciting activities and content:
| Week | Content Focus | Specific Activity | Extended Activity | Homework |
| 10 | Scientific Method | Experiment: Conduct a simple but engaging laboratory experiment demonstrating a basic scientific principle, such as creating a volcano or extracting DNA from fruit. | Science Fair: Prepare a mini science fair where students present their experiments or findings to the class. | Research the history of the scientific method and its impact on a particular field of science. |
| 11 | Evolution and Genetics | Interactive Lesson: Use online simulations to explore genetic inheritance patterns (e.g., Mendelian genetics). | Debate: Organize a debate on ethical implications of genetic editing technologies like CRISPR. | Write a reflection on how understanding genetics has changed your view on nature vs. nurture. |
| 12 | Climate Change | Group Project: Analyze global climate data to create visual representations of climate change over the last century. | Field Trip (Virtual or Physical): Visit a local environmental center or virtual tour of impacted ecosystems. | Prepare a proposal for a community project to combat climate change effects locally. |
| 13 | Physics: The Nature of Light | Demonstration: Explore the dual nature of light through diffraction and refraction experiments. | Photography Project: Use cameras or smartphones to capture light phenomena (e.g., rainbows, reflections) in creative ways. | Research and present on a significant discovery in physics that has changed our understanding of the universe. |
An alternative approach could be taken here as not all students will be from Natural science background.
Here are few other details that can be helpful in planning the content for Natural science weeks:
To structure the PowerPoint presentation on the scientific method into a week-by-week lesson plan format, focusing on specific content for each point, here’s a tabular overview:
| Week | Topic | Content to Include | Activities | Homework |
| 9 | Introduction to the Scientific Method | Overview of scientific method steps; its importance in scientific inquiry. | Presentation on the scientific method’s steps. Interactive quiz on identifying steps in scenarios. | Write a reflection on how the scientific method is applied in a personal decision-making process. |
| 9 | Historical Milestones | Key figures like Galileo and Newton; their contributions to the scientific method. | Group project researching and presenting on historical figures in science. | Prepare a report on an unsung hero of scientific discovery, focusing on their methodology. |
| 10 | Application in Natural Sciences | Groundbreaking experiments in physics, chemistry, biology. | Conduct virtual lab simulations. Discuss the impact of these experiments on modern science. | Analyze a recent scientific study and evaluate its use of the scientific method. |
| 10 | Beyond Natural Sciences | Application of the scientific method in social sciences, ethics, arts. | Debate on the use of the scientific method outside of natural sciences. | Creative project: Design an experiment in a non-science field applying the scientific method. |
| 11 | Everyday Reasoning | How the scientific method influences daily decision-making and problem-solving. | Role-play activity: Apply the scientific method to solve everyday problems. | Journal entry on a week-long observation of decision-making processes using the scientific method. |
| 12 | Contemporary Challenges | Using the scientific method to address issues like climate change, public health. | Discussion on current challenges. Research and present solutions using the scientific method. | Group presentation on proposing a scientific method-based solution to a contemporary issue. |
