It is also important to create a reasonable knowledge question that is controversial, it is not too easy but not too hard. Knowledge question should be extracted from RLS and should aim to draw linkages. Using TOK terminology throughout the entire presentation may score you more points and will allow classmates to comprehend the concept and topic. The structure of our presentations must also be cohesive and establish a flow. I learnt that there is nothing worse than an unorganized PowerPoint with bad transitions between points. Structuring your presentation alongside the way you structure your arguments is important. During evaluation, it is very important focus on long and short-term impacts alongside global impact, it may put your concept into different perspectives or showcase the impact. 

During presentations: do not read off flash or palm cards. Try and memorise and be comfortable with script prior to presentation. The Year 12’s stated that IB examiners might believe that you do not know your material and therefore deduct points if they see that you rely on your scrip too much. It is also vital to succeed in showing how these TOK concepts can have practical application. 

Today in Theory of Knowledge I learnt that real life situations (RLS’s) cannot be too personal and should include more factual information. For example, writing about shark diving could not be used by a student as an RLS because it was too personal to her in relation to the Knowledge Question ‘To what extent does media play a role in trusting reason or emotion?’ Therefore, she had to change it. Additionally, I found out that we had to find numerous real-life situations and they could be from articles, speeches or movies. I also learnt that before the presentation could be written and conducted a personal planning document (PPD) had to be completed and marked by the teacher/IB marker. This document consists of the title of your presentation, your knowledge question and explanations as to how your question and real life situation relate and are of significance etc. I still feel as though I need to ask more questions as I mainly just listened to the discussions the year 12's were having.

For the first half of the lesson, we talked with Joe about his Real-Life Situation and his process of extracting it. His Real-Life Situation was Hitler’s rise to power, and his knowledge question was about the nature of language affecting emotions. He demonstrated that the knowledge question had to be broad enough to be applied to a myriad of situations that were vastly different from each other. His two other Real-Life Situations were undeveloped but centred around the Areas of Knowledge, Science and Mathematics. 

For the second half of the lesson we sat in the year twelves classroom discussing other potential Real-Life Situations. Here we learnt that the RLS’s could be very current and contemporary to our society. We were told to choose something that we were interested in as it would make us more inclined to make the presentation, above all things, interesting for the audience and well-structured. 

From here you plan your ten to fifteen minute presentation, which is out of twenty marks. You also have to fill out a sheet of how you planned your presentation to send to external examiners. To get the highest mark or a range from 9-10 your presentation has to be: focused on a well formulated knowledge question, it needs to be clearly connected and specified to your real life situation, the knowledge question has to be effectively explored in the context of the real-life-situation using convincing arguments with investigation of different perspectives and finally the outcomes of your analysis have to be significant to the chosen real-life situation and to others. 

Today in class we got together with the Grade 12s and we could see them working on their TOK presentations and discuss about their ideas. The grade 12s helped us develop our understanding of what our task for the TOK presentation is. I could talk to multiple people about their Knowledge Questions and Real Life Situations, by doing that I now know that RLS cannot be personal and must be something from the news rather than something you experience yourself. I was also told that there is a diagram thing to help you structure your presentation. I also learned that we are supposed to have not one, but TWO real life situations to be able to exemplify our Knowledge question. I noticed that many Grade 12s focused their claims around the idea of emotions because it is a broad concept that can be argued over from many points of view. I now know how important it is to have a plan and be able to schedule your progress since you cannot do the whole script last minute, the presentation has to be well-organised, so all my arguments can be included and discussed in depth. I am aware that I have to be more involved with things that are happening around the world and how they relate to AoKs and Knowledge claims. From now on I will try to find time to watch the news and read articles on topics that interest me and might be good for the TOK presentation next year. It is ideal to find something you are passionate about so you can have fun in the process of writing a presentation on it, it will also be very rewarding to discover new aspects of the chosen matter. Today was very productive and it was great to see other people working on so hard on their knowledge questions and RLSs.

The knowledge question derived from the RLS should at least include one WOK (Ways of knowing) but should not include an AOK (Areas of knowledge). You are also required to clearly show the link between the RLS and the KQ that is derived from it. Additionally, the final TOK presentation should include a knowledge question derived from one RLS, but multiple RLS's can be chosen that suits the knowledge question. 

For the TOK presentation, I learnt that we should present arguments and counter-arguments to explore both sides and you need to justify your argument. The presentation should also be well-structured and organized while explaining your arguments and providing evidence for both. To conclude your arguments and counter-arguments you need to provide a short summary to put together your arguments and counter arguments. Furthermore, to prepare for the presentation and to find a good RLS and KQ I should start to watch news and read articles which can help me pick a RLS that I am interested in exploring. 

Today in TOK, we discussed the topic of TOK presentations. With the assistance from numerous year 12 students I was able to obtain a reasonably detailed overview of what needs to be included in my presentation. This overview included information about how to formulate a KQ, what I should include in my knowledge questions (KQ) in regards to the relevance of areas of knowledge (AOK) and ways of knowing (WOK), how it should tie in with at least one real life situation (RLS) and the counter claims required. I was told by numerous year 12 students that I should take special care in preparing my KQ as it will be a crucial part of my essay, they also said to ensure it something that I am interested in otherwise the presentation will become boring and tedious. I was also informed that my KQ can be based off my own RLS however they strongly recommended that the RLS is something that is media worthy or has been discussed publicly. This is so that there is evidence for my RLS and so it will most likely bring controversy, making it an intriguing, interesting topic to discuss. As my presentation develops I may also include another RLS to support my KQ from another angle. Furthermore, they said I should also include one WOK but that I should not include an AOK in my KQ as that could make my KQ too specific, hindering my presentation. AOK’s should be used in my presentation to support the discussion of my KQ rather than in the question itself.  To properly discuss my KQ I should also include CC’s as the KQ is not always supported, it is very possible that that my KQ ends up being disproved.