DCSZ TOK Class Blog

In this essay, Paul Graham makes you think about the taboos in our society. He teaches us how to recognize them and why is taboos created. After exposing our mind to the taboos, he also explains what to do with our unorthodox thoughts. As he suggested, it is probably a good idea to keep [...]

One of the most valuable concepts I’ve learnt is that there is a difference between taste and quality in art. This links with the question what is good art and bad art? Everyone has can have different perceptions, so art can appeal to each of us differently. So it is difficult to judge good [...]

These two terms really confuses me, but I will try best at differentiating them. I think opinion is something emerged after weighing the pros and cons. Moreover, an opinion is backed up by credible evidences. Yet, bias is an opinion that is not backed up by credible evidences. However, I am aware that it [...]

“Is math a language?”

The definition of language should be a medium for communication, whether verbal or non-verbal. I think math can be regarded as a language. It has its own set of rules to follow and a distinct symbol system. It is similar to languages such as Chinese and English; both of them [...]

Last TOK lesson we talk about the “prime mover” in the universe. The definition we have for “prime mover” is the one point that universe wants to move toward. So is this what has causes the ‘big bang’? (It is still quite magical to hear that the universe has a starting point.) Some people [...]

I thought it was enjoyable to prepare the presentation because as I was gathering materials I learnt something new as well. I was surprise to find how easily people can be swayed by emotions without even realising that. I use to think that reason can prohibit emotion but now I am not that sure [...]

Is math discovered or invented? In the past, I take math for granted and never thought of its origin. One side of the arguments says that math comes from the nature. It is all around us. An example would be the Fibonacci sequence, as plants seem to grow in a pattern that resembles the [...]

There are many reasons for why we learn math. First reason is the most obvious one; we need learn math in order to pass our IB exams. For getting a good grade, we need to have a good level of math skills. This is definitely an important reason, however, it is not the only [...]

In my opinion, I think the concept of  ”storytelling” described in the article overlaps with an area of knowing that we have learnt previously, which is Language. Storytelling comes from language (which is a collection of written, spoken, and body language). Can storytelling exist without language? So, it cannot be a new way of knowing. [...]

I think since it will be my city, I would name the roads after the writers that I like. There is a mixture of modern writers and contemporary writers as well as a mixture of nationality.

Roads related to author that writes in Chinese:

Wu Cheng’en Avenue

Wu Cheng’en is the author who wrote [...]

“If our brains were simple, would be too simple to understand them?”

I think we can interpret the quote in this way; if we ‘think’ too simply then we can not understand how our mind work. However, I think sometimes if we think too much, we cannot understand how our mind work. For instance, [...]

When I first saw the question, my initial response is: good weather. However, after some more thought to the question I added the following factors:

-Low pollution

-Not far from Taiwan (so my family can visit me easily)

-Politically stable

-Very convenient (perhaps in between rural and urban settings)

The country that I think fits [...]

I would like to respond to one of the questions provided by Mr Macknight. 1. Are the human sciences scientific? I think human sciences can be studied in a scientific manner. There are many different ways to research in Psychology, such as experiment methods, interview, case study and etc. The experiments in psychology can [...]

I think there are few points in the passage that doesn’t convince me. Firstly, I wonder if this umbrellaology is reviewed or supported by other scientists. In class, Mr Connah had said that a proper publishing process of a book includes many checking by expert in whichever field the book discusses. In this case [...]

“The Placebo effect in medical research occurs when participants show some kind of change although they have not received an active treatment” It happens because participants expect effects after they received treatments. This can effect can suggest why alternative medicine works. An alternative medical treatment that I’ve found is “Auricular therapy”. It is similar [...]

Mr MacKnight had pointed out that, Science seems to become the new religion. If a person tells you that he or she does not believe in science, we might all be surprised. Moreover, as my English teacher Mr Fox said during class, the process seems to have taken over human. For instance, a bullet [...]

I would like to reflect on the card game that was played in class. Firstly, we had to observe the cards that were accepted by Mrs Connah. Secondly, from our knowledge based on our observations, we had to formulate a rule (or in other cases, hypothesis). Thirdly, we tested the rule. When the rule [...]

I wonder where emotions originate from. From psychological point of view, we may have developed emotions due to evolution. Perhaps for survival purposes the homo sapiens develop emotion, such as love, so that they can cooperate. However, negative emotions are brought along as well. On friday, we attempt to differentiate between emotion and feeling. Angel made a [...]

For Tok this week, we looked at true/false and valid/invalid. Learned that a conclusion can be valid when the premises are false and vice versa. To be me, reading the premises and working out the logic is like working out a math question; logic and math are equally confusing. I raised the question, that [...]

I really enjoyed the TOK conference this week. In the morning we turned our mind on by doing a activity, which was to decided whether or not the stories Mr Connah read was truth or false. Everyone used different methods to decide. Some people decided from the information they knew, some decide by how plausible [...]