The TOK Exhibition is a new assessement task for the revised Theory of Knowledge syllabus replacing the group presentations prior. You are required to write a maximum of 950 words on three objects of your choice that show how TOK manifests in the world around us by answering one out of a list of question prompts. Being the first assessment for TOK students, you may be a little bit unfamiliar with what you are supposed to do and how you are supposed to write the exhibition.
I will go through what you need to successfully plan and structure your TOK exhibition and demystify the questions that many people have with this assessment.
Planning
Starting off, you should begin writing all exhibitions by planning out the following elements:
Selecting a theme from the ones you have covered in class (i.e. Knowledge and the Knower, Knowledge and Language, Knowledge and Technology, etc depending on what you have study in class)
Choosing one question to answer out of the list of questions provided. DO NOT change the wording of the question or paraphrase it in anyway.
Selecting three objects to write about. I have additional resources here on how to choose your objects. This is the most important step before you start writing and planning.
Structure
Once you have everything ready, let's go through what you should write in each paragraph, step-by-step.
A photo of your object
This should be included at the start of your exhibition. Include a photo of your first object, then your commentary for the first object, followed by a photo of the second object, then its accompanying commentary and so on.
1st paragraph
Begin with the real world context of the object. What is your personal connection with the object, why do you care about it, its importance to you, how you use it or perceive it and what place it has in the world. Of course, you should also provide a brief description of the object if it isn't already clear from the photo.
How is the object relevant to the theme and the prompt? (e.g. Dreamcatchers are culturally significant to a certain community of knowers (Native America), thus relates to the prompt that knowledge belongs to a particular community)
End wtih a signpost of your main argument. This should be a one sentence answer to the question you have chosen for your exhibition tailored to that object specifically. In other words, what does the object show about your prompt. You should incorporate at least one of the twelve TOK concepts in your answer.
2nd paragraph:
Start with a topic sentence that is similar to your concluding sentence in the first paragraph. Introduce that 'answer' you have for the chosen TOK question that you can explain with the object.
Elaborate with the TOK concept you have chosen to focus on for your object and how your object demonstrates that.
Link your explaination and concept to the theme you have chosen.
Conclude by finally answering the prompt in a more detailed way than you started. Show that this object allowed you to realise something new about the prompt.
3rd and final paragraph
Similar to 2nd but bring in secondary real world context. This seems a bit abstract, but essentially, focus on another aspect of the object and use another TOK concept to answer the prompt in a different perspective.
The structure for this is similar to the second paragraph.
Summarising the ideas and linking them together to develop an ultimate thesis in relation to the prompt. I should read the final sentence and have a really good idea of why the object was important, and how it answered or satisfied the question you have chosen to answer.
Overall...
This is a pretty good starting point to writing a clear, effective and personal TOK Exhibition. For your first TOK assessment, don't stress too much about 'impressing' your teacher with your amount of TOK knowledge, but try and reflect deeply on how TOK has changed how you view the things you learn.
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