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A BBC story remembering Desmond Morris, author of the influential The Naked Ape, which applied a zoologist's perspective to studying human behaviour.

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An NPR story, investigating the phenomenon of ‘Chinamaxxing’, in which young people adopt what they consider to be Chinese cultural habits.

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A BBC story, looking at how - according to Spotify - pop music's bias towards English is fading, as other languages such as Spanish, Korean, and Arabic emerge in the industry.

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This padlet will help you bring TOK into your classroom, link your subject to the latest real-world events and issues, introduce students to amazing thinkers, and invite them to challenge their assumptions and biases and become authentic critical thinkers.

We add new mini-lessons every single month, so keep referring back to ensure you're using the latest materials!

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What is theory of knowledge? | TOK explainer videos

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TOK students explore three elements: The areas of knowledge (AOKs) are how we categorize ideas and concepts, to help us to understand and communicate our knowledge. The optional themes are our cognitive ‘affiliations’, and shape the way we interact with the world as knowers, and the core theme (knowledge and the knower) focuses on more personal mechanisms for understanding the world, such as memory, sense perception, reason, and emotion.

TOK also considers 12 key concepts, which are listed below. These can be used to generate discussions and debates, and help students to articulate their thinking effectively. You'll find more information about these here.

Certainty | Culture | Evidence | Explanation | Interpretation | Justification | Objectivity | Perspective | Power | Responsibility | Truth | Values

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A Reuters story, looking at the impact of Bad Bunny’s halftime Superbowl show, and how it “offers a cultural lifeline to a besieged Hispanic community.”

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A DW story, reporting on the fact that West African words and terms have just been added to the Oxford English Dictionary.

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A BBC story, which argues that it is time to retire phrases such as “Venice of the East” because they are Western focused and condescending.

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A Guardian story, in which music journalist Tom Service explains how he has told the history of the world via 50 pieces of music.

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ODE TO JOY, ODE TO HATE | TOK mini-lesson

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A Conversation story, considering what companies owe to the indigenous people of Easter Island, where a billion dollar ‘miracle drug’ was found.

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A Conversation story, arguing that changing the clocks for daylight saving “runs counter to human nature - and nature itself”.

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UNNATURAL & EXPLOITATIVE? | TOK mini-lesson

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A Guardian article, looking at the Festival of Endangered Languages, and how it helps to highlight that we lose a language every two weeks.

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FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS | TOK mini-lesson

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An FT story, discussing the concept of ‘beauty’, and how we get it so wrong because we believe it is based on a simple formula.

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A long BBC story, exploring English singer Ed Sheeran’s self-identification as being ‘culturally Irish’, and what this means.

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THE POLICING  OF IDENTITY | TOK mini-lesson

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A Conversation story, investigating how the arrival of Welsh speakers in Argentina impacted negatively on indigenous peoples and their languages.

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A Guardian story, looking at how Ayahuasca tourism is leading to the increased exploitation of indigenous people in South America.

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FANTASIES FOR OUTSIDERS | TOK mini-lesson

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A Guardian story, looking at the latest visual illusion to go viral online, and how the way we see it may (or not) depend on our cultural background.

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A mini-lesson based on a BBC article, looking at three physicians’ differing opinions on the legalization of assisted dying, and what leads to their contrasting viewpoints.

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BELIEF-SYSTEMS & MEDICINE | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Guardian article, which explores whether we have evolved to become ‘hardwired’ to trust and offer our support to autocratic leaders who have their own interests at heart.

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TRUSTING THE UNTRUSTWORTHY | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a short CBC interview with writer David A. Robertson, who argues that stories and storytelling are at the heart of reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.

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STORYTELLING & RECONCILIATION | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a BBC article, by geneticist Adam Rutherford, in which he discusses the ‘myth’ of race, and how the latest biological research supporting that view still hasn’t filtered into popular understanding.

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A mini-lesson based on a BBC article, reporting on the news that the British High Court has decreed that legally the term "woman" means a biological woman. Note this is a very polemical issue - so handle with care!

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TACKLING DIVISIVE ISSUES | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Big Think article, which looks at the immersion journalism of AJ Jacobs, specifically his attempt to live for a year following the rules of the bible literally.

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A mini-lesson based on a Sky News report, looking at how Finland has just been revealed (again) as the happiest country in the world - and how this is measured.

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A mini-lesson based on a BBC article, reporting on the reaction by local indigenous people to the news that a British ‘explorer’ has claimed to become the first woman to cross their island solo.

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A mini-lesson based on a New Zealand Herald article, considering whether the sports shoe brand ‘Hoka’ should acknowledge the fact that it draws on the Maori language to label its products.

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TO FLY OVER  THE EARTH | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Conversation article, examining DNA research which proves women played a central role in Iron Age Britain, and what this indicates about gender bias in the practice of history.

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A mini-lesson based on a Guardian article, tracing the development of American druidism, a sect that started out as a prank, but turned into a serious lifestyle.

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A mini-lesson based on a BBC Future article, discussing ten different words from around the world that help to understand the events of 2024, and link to different cultural contexts.

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DIFFERENT VISIONS OF LIFE | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Sapiens article, which argues that the concept of biological race has long been debunked, and the medical profession needs to catch up in terms of their rejection of it.

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A mini-lesson based on a BBC animated video, exploring the way in which indigenous cultures around the world have used the night sky as a tool for survival, and as a way of forming their identity.

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CELESTIAL ESTRANGEMENT | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on an AP article, looking at how the religious calendar is becoming increasingly diverse, and arguing that “we are what we celebrate”.

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WE ARE WHAT  WE CELEBRATE | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Rutgers University blog, which discusses the meaning behind the rituals and ceremonies that take place on Día de los Muertos.

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ALTARS, SPIRITS, & REMEMBRANCE | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Sapiens article, discussing the purpose and importance of calculating how many different languages are spoken by cultures throughout the world.

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EXPLORING THE ETHNOLOGUE | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Guardian article, reporting on the fact that Jamie Oliver has apologised for the portrayal of indigenous Australians in his new book for children.

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LONGSTANDING STEREOTYPES | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on an Aeon video, exploring the work of Judy Baca, who created the vast public mural, the Great Wall of Los Angeles in San Fernando Valley.

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CREATING A PUBLIC VOICE | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Sapiens article, which looks at whether we should embrace copies of heritage objects in order to resolve the museum restitution problem.

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REEVALUATING AUTHENTICITY | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Conversation article, arguing that the name ‘Africa’ is a racial slur, and should be replaced to better express its own identity.

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THE FIRST HOME OF ALL HUMANS | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a long Guardian article, reporting on how three girls were expelled from their Arizona school for participating in a Sunrise Dance, a traditional Apache ceremony.

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WHERE TO ENCOUNTER GOD | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Big Think article, unpacking empathy, and looking at whether it helps or hinders us from understanding the world.

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THEORY OF MIND + COMPASSION | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Aeon essay, exploring how modern racism is based on misguided scientific theories about humanity that were developed in the C17th.

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EVALUATING ESSENTIALISM | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on an FT article, analysing why people get involved in social disorder, focusing on the riots currently going on in Britain.

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RIFFRAFF VS. RATIONAL ACTS | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Guardian article, reporting on the wave of Pretendian cases in Canada, in which people falsely claim indigenous identity in order to be designated ‘first nation’.

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A NEW INDIGENOUS IDENTITY CRISIS | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Vox podcast and article, looking at why the ‘much ridiculed’ Gaia hypothesis, should be taken seriously. Designed for teachers of environmental science, biology, geography, and anyone interested in how the way we visualize the natural world impacts on how we care for it.

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THE GAIA HYPOTHESIS | TOK mini-lesson & knowledge journey

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A mini-lesson based on a BBC Future article, looking at how we become desensitized to awful events in the news, and how to avoid this happening. Designed for teachers of humanities, media studies, anyone interested in how we use the media to gain an objective picture of what’s going on in the world.

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A mini-lesson based on an Aeon article, exploring the moral dimension of fandom, and whether it undermines our moral behaviour ability. Designed for teachers of sports science, philosophy, psychology, and anyone interested in sports fandom, identity, and moral dilemmas within everyday life.

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BEING ABLE TO WALK AWAY | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Big Think article, exploring ‘pluralistic ignorance’ - otherwise known as ‘the Emperor’s new clothes’. Designed for teachers of individual cognition, psychology, business management, and anyone interested in how we can be misled by peer pressure and pluralistic ignorance.

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A mini-lesson based on a Big Think article, exploring the validity of using twins to investigate whether criminality is caused by genetic or environmental factors. Designed for teachers of psychology, biology, health science, and anyone interested in how we research human behaviour.

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ANALYZING THE TWIN METHOD | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Big Think article, considering why we view time as linear, and whether it’s advantageous to perceive it differently. Designed for teachers of religion, philosophy, individual cognition, psychology, and anyone interested in our perception of time - and how it has evolved.

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A mini-lesson based on a Project Syndicate article, in which Peter Singer tries to answer the question, ‘when do we die?’ Designed for teachers of religion, biology, philosophy, language, and anyone interested in defining and understanding the concept of ‘death’.

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A mini-lesson based on a Daily Mail article, looking at the decision to remove all human remains from display at the American Natural History Museum. Designed for teachers of history, anthropology, arts subjects, and anyone interested in how the way we study the world changes over time.

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A mini-lesson based on a Conversation article, which looks at the link between an identity crisis and the use of language for Latino immigrant communities. Designed for teachers of geography, language, psychology, and anyone interested in the relationship between language and identity.

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THE GATEKEEPER OF IDENTITY | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a BBC Future article, looking at the way Microsoft Word has influenced the way we use language, on the 40th anniversary of its launch.  Designed for teachers of language, digital society, anthropology, and anyone exploring the way technology impacts on the evolution of language.

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A mini-lesson based on a Guardian article, which explores how thinking in a foreign language can help us improve our decision-making. Designed for teachers of language, psychology, anthropology, and anyone interested in how our language-use affects the way we interact with the world.

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A mini-lesson based on a Conversation article, looking at how ‘heritage algorithms’ can teach us about the mathematics of different cultures’ design practices. Designed for teachers of mathematics, DT, anthropology, arts subjects, and anyone interested in indigenous designs and artistic traditions.

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A mini-lesson based on a Big Think video, in which Kelly Richmond Pope explores the parameters of people’s ethical behaviour. Designed for teachers of psychology, anthropology, and anyone interested in how we make ethical decisions, and what it takes to be ‘good’.

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A mini-lesson based on a History Today article, looking at how much we can learn about the past from people’s clothing. Designed for teachers of history, anthropology, the arts, and anyone interested in both what our clothes say about us, and different types of historical evidence.

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A UNIQUE LENS ON THE PAST | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Big Think article, looking at the Basque language, and how it is a mystery in the context of other European languages. Designed for teachers of language, politics, geography, anthropology, and anyone interested in how languages develop over time.

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THE MYSTERY OF EUSKARA | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Verdict article, looking at how climate change has prompted Tuvalu to pioneer the concept of a digital nation. Designed for teachers of environmental science, anthropology, geography, digital society, and anyone exploring technological responses to the climate crisis.

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A mini-lesson based an Art News article, looking at how the recent thefts from the British Museum undermine their arguments against the restitution of artifacts. Designed for teachers of anthropology, history, arts subjects, and anyone exploring the debate over cultural restitution.

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INSULTING RIDICULOUSNESS | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based a Guardian article, looking at how an increasing number of Brazilians are now eager to label themselves ‘indigenous’. Designed for teachers of anthropology, geography, other humanities subjects, and anyone exploring identity and nationhood.

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A mini-lesson based on a WNYC podcast, in which anthropologist Manvir Singh discusses the concept of indigenous, and whether its definition needs rethinking. Designed for teachers of anthropology, geography, humanities subjects, and anyone interested in what it means to be indigenous.

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A CONTESTED DESIGNATION | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Conversation article, exploring the difficulties of reconciling moral obligations of religious faiths with the laws of society. Designed for teachers of religion, anthropology, politics, and anyone interested in the tensions between immigration policies and religious outlooks.

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CASTING AWAY GOD’S ANGELS | TOK mini-lesson

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A mini-lesson based on a Sapiens article, contending that the Twitter blue tick is an example of false signaling. Designed for teachers of language, anthropology, psychology, digital society, and anyone interested in how we use social media for self-aggrandizement.