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Understanding Knowledge Questions

Category 3: TOK: Helping Students Write Strong Essays and Assessing Their Work

Knowledge claims / knowledge questions •  Knowledge claims (KCs) and knowledge questions (KQs)

can be distinguished into two groups: 1) first order knowledge claims and questions, and 2) second order knowledge claims and questions.

•  Framing knowledge questions for the purposes of TOK assessments requires students to move from first order knowledge claims to second order knowledge questions

•  This process begins in immediate experience (what we experience directly, see, read, learn etc.)

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Knowledge claims / knowledge questions •  Knowledge claims (KCs) and knowledge questions (KQs)

can be distinguished into two groups: 1) first order knowledge claims and questions, and 2) second order knowledge claims and questions.

•  Framing knowledge questions for the purposes of TOK assessments requires students to move from first order knowledge claims to second order knowledge questions

•  This process begins in immediate experience (what we experience directly, see, read, learn etc.)

From experience to a level 1 KC •  A newspaper story headed: “Vitamin supplements have little

or no proven benefits for consumers: Harvard study” is one example of the sort of thing we are likely to encounter in our daily life experience.

•  This story can be transformed into a specific claim by the person reading it, e.g., “Vitamins have no health benefits”.

•  This claim is an example of a first order knowledge claim. It is rooted in the experience of the individual who is making it.

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From Level 1 KCs to Level 1 KQs •  “Vitamins have no health benefits” is a level 1 KC that can

become the object of inquiry. Some people might accept the claim as warranted because of its source. Others, for any number of reasons, may be skeptical of the claim.

•  The second position can lead to a variety of responses, including a level 1 KQ.

•  “How did the researchers at Harvard University arrive at their conclusion?” is an example of a level 1 KQ.

Level 1 KQs •  Level 1 KQs, as in the previous example, are tied to Level 1

KCs. •  They are about the “how’s” of specific knowledge acquisition

and can include references to the “why’s” of its acquisition. •  Specific Level 1 KQs vary relative to the AOKs in which the

KCs are framed. Apart from common, general questions about logic, meaning, relevance, etc., one is likely to ask very different level 1 KQs about knowledge claims in history, the natural sciences and the social sciences. This reflects differences in how knowledge is constructed across these different disciplines.

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Level 2 KCs •  Level 2 KCs are different from Level 1 KCs. They are not

claims about what we “know” as a result of experience, thinking or learning. They are claims about “knowledge itself”, i.e., how, if at all, it can be acquired, whether or not it changes, what conditions it must satisfy in order to count as “knowledge” etc.

•  In the case of the KQ about the value of vitamin supplements (i.e., “How did the researchers at Harvard University arrive at their conclusion?”) a Level 2 KC might be: “Science based research is more reliable than anecdotal evidence when assessing the health benefits of products and procedures.”

More on Level 2 KCs •  The Level 2 KC: “Science based research is more reliable than

anecdotal evidence when assessing the health benefits of products and procedures.” is not about vitamins in particular, nor even about health care products and procedures.

•  Level 2 KCs are about knowledge. In the case at hand, it is a claim about the comparative reliability of one type of knowledge when compared with another type of knowledge. It is, in other words, about knowledge itself and how it is achieved.

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Level 2 KQs •  Level 2 KQs are also about knowledge itself – but unlike

KCs they are “questions”, not “claims”. •  To continue with our example (“Science based research is

more reliable than anecdotal evidence when assessing the health benefits of products and procedures.”) a Level 2 KQ might be: “How is the reliability of a method for achieving knowledge established?” or “If we do not know the answer to a specific question, then how do we tell when we have found the “right” answer to that question?”

Back to the Beginning •  We began with an experience, i.e., a newspaper story

headed: “Vitamin supplements have little or no proven benefits for consumers: Harvard study”.

•  After some reflection and analysis we arrived at the following KQs: “How is the reliability of a method for achieving knowledge established?” and “If we do not know the answer to a specific question, then how do we tell when we have found the “right” answer to that question?”.

•  Our KQs make no reference to vitamins. They are about knowledge itself.

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KQs and TOK Concepts •  Level 2 KQs are about knowledge. Some of the terms appearing in

them are thus also concepts explored in TOK, e.g., “evidence”, belief, truth, “proof”, “logic”, etc.

•  TOK concepts can be drawn from the Knowledge Framework, Areas of Knowledge, Ways of Knowing and the Map Metaphor. Others are centered on knowledge and knowing and, apart from those mentioned already, include: “belief”, “certainty”, “truth”, “culture”, “induction”, “experience” etc.

What is a knowledge question?

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The Evolution of a KQ

level 2 KCs and KQs

level 1 KCs and KQs

experience/reason/authority etc.

Images of KQs •  The pyramid image of knowledge questions suggests

“movement” from an experiential base to a higher, more conceptually conditioned, perspective.

•  Other images also serve to crystalize the idea behind knowledge question; “steps”, “elevators”, “stairs”, “escalators”, “ladders”, etc.

•  These images convey the idea that knowledge questions involve movement away from the base that engenders them.

•  The “ladder of abstraction” further clarifies Level 2 KQs.

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Ladder of Abstraction (2) •  Knowledge questions begin in real-life situations, e.g.,

magazine articles, seeing a debate on faith vs. science, an idea you entertain while studying history, a question about ethics

•  As individuals reflect on Level 1 knowledge claims, ideas and arguments emerge leading to more general questions that are typically about how we acquire knowledge and the process of knowing.

•  Level 2 KQs emerge as individual thinking moves from specific, subject-centered questions to more general questions about knowledge itself and how it is acquired.

Ladder of Abstraction (3) •  Real-life situation. •  A description of this situation, subject or topic: Not a KC or a KQ. •  Specific question about how knowledge is acquired in the case at

hand: Level 1 KQ, Poor KQ for TOK discussion. •  Open-ended question, explicitly about the acquisition of

knowledge Intermediate KQ. •  Open-ended question, explicitly about the process of knowing

itself, couched in TOK vocabulary / concepts: Good KQ for TOK discussion.

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Ladder of Abstraction (4) •  Newspaper article/book review on God and physics.

•  Physics and God: description (specific/concrete)

•  How do religious people come to their beliefs? Level 1 KQ: (poor) KQ for TOK discussion.

•  Are religious beliefs reasonable? (intermediate)

•  How can we use reason and experience to support or oppose religious (beliefs) faith? (good) – it is about the process of knowing and uses TOK concepts.

Knowledge Question Template