In this episode, I sat down with Donna Gee (IB Design Technology Teacher) and Michael Stewart (IB Psychology and TOK Teacher) to unpack and wrestle with 2023 TOK Essay Title 1: Is replicability necessary in the production of knowledge? Discuss with reference to two areas of knowledge.

​We had a rich discussion which I hope you’ll find insightful into the role and relevance of replicability in different Areas of Knowledge. 

Links:

• Science has been in a “replication crisis” for a decade. Have we learned anything? - Vox
• Why Most Published Research Findings Are False | PLOS Medicine
• There is no replication crisis in science. It's the base rate fallacy. - Big Think        
• Statistical P-hacking explained - World Editors Forum 
• Publication bias - Catalog of Bias (University of Oxford)
• Accidental discovery of teflon - The History of Teflon™ Fluoropolymers
• Maurizio Cattelan's 'Comedian,' Explained: Here's Everything We Published on the Viral Banana Art, All in One Place

I know this will likely bother anyone who is interested in order and logic, but I've decided to break the order of prompts so I can publish them as I record them. Turns out the most interesting topics to those around me are not necessarily in the order the IB has given them. Who knew? Anyway...

Today I’m joined by Theatre Teacher, Bob Scheer. We get together and discuss TOK Exhibition Prompt 11: Can new knowledge change established values and beliefs? Bob has also done the beautiful harmonies for music on today’s podcast, they’re really beautiful!

Links & fact checks:
History of Gender Pronouns
JK Rowling on gender and cancellation - a worthwhile read, worthy of questioning what you think 
Don’t Ask Don’t Tell
Don’t Say Gay

Today we delve into the world of Statistics, and unpack how it can be a tool that can both reveal and conceal. To help me with this complicated question, I’ve asked some well-informed people to help me unpack this year’s TOK Essay Title 4: “Statistics conceal as much as they reveal”
Here with me today are Ms. Zehra Baig, Statistics teacher, Mr. Martin  Brown, Mathematics teacher and Ms. Virginia Voigt, Psychology teacher. We discuss:

• What is “Statistics”? Why is Statistics such a powerful tool (is it?)
• How might Statistics be a tool for Revealing? Concealing? (in different areas of knowledge)
• What are some examples of statistics that reveal or conceal in your discipline?
• Why does it matter?

Music Credit: The Plastic Daizi Collective, 2015

Joining me today are Dr. Rachel Oser – a Research Scientist & Teacher, Mr. David Fenwick: a Physics, Mathematics and Engineering Teacher, and Mr. Kevin Hoye, an English and fellow TOK Teacher. The prompt is this years’ essay Title 6:
​
“Avoiding bias seems a commendable goal but this fails to recognize the positive role that bias can play in the pursuit of knowledge”
 
Questions we discuss:
* Why might avoiding bias be a commendable goal in the discipline you teach? What are some of the measures taken to avoid these biases in your discipline?
* The title seems to imply that it isn’t possible to avoid bias – do you agree? Are some biases therefore fundamental? In what ways?
* What positive role(s) might it play in the pursuit of knowledge in your discipline?

I really enjoyed this conversation, and I hope this gets you thinking about your own biases as well as the positive and negative roles they have in the disciplines you study.

Original music by Emily Osann