The TOK Exhibition is the first assessment task to be completed by students in the TOK course. Students need to choose three objects to comment on and discuss with respect to a chosen prompt out of the prescribed list of questions. Being a new assessment introduced in the current syllabus, there is still lots of confusion about what is an object, how to choose an object, and how to explain the real world context of the object in your exhibition.
In this article, I will try to answer these question and walk you through how to choose good objects and write about them effectively in your TOK Exhibition so you can answer your chosen prompt effectively.
What is an object?
Well, the TOK guide makes it quite clear in page 41-42 that a lot of things can be objects!
Some examples of objects provided by the IB include:
A tweet from the President of the United States
An image of the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso
The student’s own extended essay (EE)
A basketball used by the student during their physical education lessons
The graphic novel The Colour of Earth by Kim Dong Hwa
A painting that the student created in their DP visual arts course
A refillable water bottle provided to each student in a school as part of a sustainability initiative
A news article from the popular website Buzzfeed
A photograph of the student playing in an orchestra
As you can see, they don’t have to be physical, tangible objects. They can also be digital such as a tweet, a post or an article for example. So, almost anything you think of will likely be objects.
Choosing your objects
Narrowing it down
For the exhibition, you are only allowed one IA prompt for all three objects to be connected to. So the first step to narrowing down the objects you are considering will be choosing a prompt that speaks to you. There isn’t anything particularly hard or easy, so just choose one you feel interested to talk about. From there, I suggest doing a brainstorm of the possible objects that come to mind when you think about the IA prompt you have chosen.
The IB also recommend that you choose a theme to base your exhibition around. This can be Knowledge and the Knower core theme or one of the optional themes you studied (Language, Technology, etc.). Doing so will also help you narrow the collection of objects you have access to.
The personal touch
You should use objects which are of personal interest to you and you feel some sort of connection to. This could be the textbook that you use in your Chemistry class, a research paper you came across while researching for your Physics IA, or even just a show you’ve watched on Netflix. Literally any object could be used, as long as you didn’t find the object JUST for the purposes of the exhibition, but you have used it, interacted with it prior to this task. The IB isn’t testing you on your ability to research and ‘find’ objects out in the wild, but wants you to recognise that TOK can be applied to the things around you. To fit with this intention, choose something that is relatable to you and take the opportunity from the exhibition to find some TOK worthiness out of it. That is why one object could work for someone, but would be totally terrible for someone else.
Interconnectedness
Because all three objects are linked by your one chosen IA prompt and theme, each object should answer your prompt in a slightly different way, thus revealing three conclusions to the prompt that you can tie together at the end. Think about each object as a chance to present a different argument. You want three different arguments for your overall point so it is a really strong and convincing exhibition. If you think about the exhibition kind of like a persuasive essay, you can choose your objects with that intention in mind.
Of course, each object should link to the chosen theme for your exhibition. For knowledge and knower for example, your objects should demonstrate how communities of knowers interact with knowledge. Since this theme is so broad, there is virtually no restrictions for this theme. But for themes like language and technology, you need to make sure the objects fit within those respective themes as well. Again, the TOK guide is really helpful in showing what types of objects could be included in each respective theme so check that out.
Writing about your objects
I have a separate article on how to write the exhibition, but I will go through some tips on how to introduce your objects specifically.
In the criteria for the exhibition, the role of the objects is very significant, occupying three of the four criteria judgements. For the top band, the IB prescribes the following about the objects.
The exhibition clearly identifies three objects and their specific real world contexts. Links between each of the three objects and the selected IA prompt are clearly made and well explained. There is a strong justification of the particular contribution that each individual object makes to the exhibition.
Let’s take a look at these one by one.
Real World Contexts
What does the IB mean when they require you to talk about your object’s real world contexts? The IB literally says in the guide that it is ‘extremely important’ to the task! Here’s how the IB distinguishes between generic and specific real world contexts:
For example, a discussion and photograph of a student’s baby brother is an example of an object that has a specific real-world context, whereas a generic image of “a baby” from an internet image search is not.
If you have followed my recommendations to choose objects that you have interacted with before, outlining the specific real world contexts for them shouldn’t be a problem. Simply explain what you do with your object, and how you use it or interact with it.
Don’t give the impression that you just found your exhibition object somewhere on the internet using a random object generator! Explain where and when you have seen that object. If it is something that you have used before, explain how you used it. If not, explain how you came across it. For example, if it is your Chemistry textbook, you can talk about how you use it for your studies in class and revision. Something that you are unlikely to have used like an art installation in your local museum probably wouldn’t let you explain how you have used it, but you can explain how you came across it, and your initial thoughts that inspired you to choose this as your object. This establishes a personal connection between you and the object, which makes your exhibition yours, and your TOK journey yours.
Links between objects and prompt
This goes to the explanation of your object. Each object should reveal a conclusion or provide an answer to your prompt. It seems pretty straightforward at first, but a lot of the times, students come in with the mindset that they must use a certain object, and so they end up stretching and going on a tangent about the object just to answer the prompt. The problem is that a tangential link between your objects and the prompt is not well rewarded. You are better off with the approach of finding objects that fit your prompt and theme rather than the other way around.
Justify your object’s contribution
Imagine yourself as a curator of a museum exhibit. You need to purchase art, convince donors to donate their collections for your exhibit. They must all fit a certain theme so that your exhibit makes sense! Each piece of art must have their own value otherwise it would just be wasted space. The same goes for your objects. Why did you choose these objects?
If you followed my advice, each object should say something different about your prompt, so each object has a unique contribution to the exhibition in showing a different perspective to answer that prompt. You simply need one or two sentences that acts almost like a thesis statement to talk about the angle that you tackle the prompt from as a function of your object.
Conclusion
The TOK exhibition task actually doesn’t require much deep intellectual struggle with much of the Theory of Knowledge content. It is more of a personal reflection, that allows you to think about how TOK shows up around you! These local manifestations of TOK help you to connect what you learn about TOK in the classroom to things that you encounter in everyday life. You simply have to demonstrate your awareness of TOK’s all encompassing nature through your objects.
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