The Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Exhibition is the first piece of assessment students complete in their IB TOK journey. It accounts for a third (33%) of your TOK grade. It is a new assessment for the new guide beginning in 2020 so there is still some confusion around how to do well in this assessment. In this article, I will go through the basics of the TOK Exhibition and give a few tips on how to write a good exhibition.
Requirements of the Exhibition
There are a few steps to writing the TOK Exhibition:
Students choose 1 question to comment on out of the prescribed list. These are questions that prompts students to think about the nature of knowledge.
Select a TOK Theme out of the ones they have studied. Students should have studied the Knowledge and the Knower theme and two other optional themes (such as Knowledge and Language or Knowledge and Technology).
Choose three objects to comment on that can aid the discussion of the question and theme you have chosen. For example, for the theme of Knowledge and Technology, students may choose something related to that field such as a robot they constructed.
Write a 950 word commentary on the three objects. This 950 words is the total words you have for all three objects.
A few extra things to note:
More than one person in your TOK class can have the same prompt/question, but you must have completely unique examples. I.e. two students can share the prompt "How can we distinguish between knowledge, belief and opinion?", but only one student can have an atlas from Geography class as their object for example.
The IB says that "Students are encouraged to choose objects that are of personal interest and that they have come across in their academic studies and/or their lives beyond the classroom." so clearly they prefer personal examples. In your exhibition, you should demonstrate this by explaining the context in which this object exists, be it something you have created, or come across in your studies.
You are given ONE opportunity to submit a draft to be given feedback by your TOK teacher.
You are highly recommended to write your exhibition on themes you have studied in class. Everyone will be able to write on the Knowledge and the Knower theme, but not all students can write it with the Knowledge and Language theme as you may not have been taught this in your TOK course.
As for the actual exhibition, you will present your written exhibition publicly within your school. The IB doesn't say which way this must take place. The IB simply marks your written 950 word product but publicly showing it is a mandatory (albeit unmarked) requirement. Some schools will organise a science fair-esque display, while others prefer you to complete oral presentations on your exhibition. Either way, the actual exhibition process is not marked, it is only the written work that is submitted.
How it is assessed
The exhibition is scored out of 10 according to the below rubric.
The basic requirements to getting a good mark for the exhibition is clearly stated:
Clearly identify your three objects and describe their contexts (where you found them or made them, what is their value, purpose, etc.)
Linking the object and the prompt together. Essentially, using the object to answer the prompt
Justify why your objects are helpful to answering the prompt
Make supported points that answer the prompt. By supported, it means that your object provides evidence to your points.
Your whole TOK grade will be determined by:
Your TOK exhibition scored out of 10
and Your TOK essay alsos cored out of 10 but the score will be doubled to give an aggregate score out of 30.
Hence, the TOK exhibition accounts for a third of your grade, while the essay two thirds.
Tips for a successful exhibition
Choose personal examples - as the IB strongly recommends, personal examples allow you to write about its real world context as required in the criteria.
Understand the prompt - the prompt typically contains one or two key words such as "belief", "truth", or "communities" and it is important you understand what they mean. Each theme has their own focused key words but you are likely to need to understand what "communities of knowers" are.
Use the language of the theme - If you read the TOK guide, it explains each theme in detail. You should aim to use the language of that theme to demonstrate your understanding of the theme. It isn't required that you explicitly state the theme your exhibition is based on, so using the language of that theme will aid in examiners identifying what theme you are using. E.g. for Knowledge and the Knower, identifying "communities of knowers" are crucial.
Use the concepts - the twelve TOK concepts are super important to the exhibition. You should aim to have one or two key concepts per object and use that concept throughout.
Write concisely - 950 words is not a lot. This leaves around 300 words per object which is sufficient if you are writing concisely, but easy to waffle and waste away if you do not come in with a plan in advance.
Common pitfalls
Generic examples - the IB specifically asks you to identify the real world context of your objects. If you generically say, a Maths textbook instead of the textbook I use within the Mathematics HL course, that would not be explaining the full real world context.
Lack of personalisation - if you find that most of your writing is in the third person, you are doing something wrong. The exhibition is a personal reflection and commentary on the prompt. You should be showing how you have changed your thinking based on the objects you interacted with. This is the reason why the IB recommends you choose objects you have personal connections to.
No logic to object selection - while objects do not have to be related to each other, they must each make a valuable contribution to the exhibition. Avoid choosing 3 objects that all essentially say the same thing about the prompt. Each object should allow you to deliver a unique view on the question.
An example of a TOK exhibition
Below is a 10/10 scored TOK exhibition by the IB.
I will deconstruct this 10/10 example in another article soon, so stay tuned. For now, what can you see that makes it fit the 9-10 band in the criteria? Feel free to comment below.
Conclusion
The TOK exhibition remains a bit of a mystery even to IB teachers. Thankfully, more examples have been released that gives us a bit more of a clue as to what to expect. I will write a lot more extensively about how to do the exhibition soon, after I go through the backlog of TOK Essay help guides.
This is your first foray into TOK assessments and it is always challenging to write in a "TOK" way, but it is not as hard as it first seems! Good luck!
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