INTERNATIONAL BACCALAUREATE

Critical Thinking in the IB Diploma Programme

Developing critical thinking skills is central to learning in the IB Diploma Programme. In all subject areas, students are challenged to ask questions about the information they gather, to consider how knowledge has developed, how it can be applied across different situations, the impact knowledge has to help or harm, and to consider knowledge from multiple perspectives.

In Theory of Knowledge (TOK), Year 11 students are currently working on their Exhibition task, a task designed to assess critical thinking skills.  The task requires students to choose one prompt from a list of 35, then apply TOK concepts to comment on the prompt through real world examples.

Here are a few examples of prompts:

• Can new knowledge change established values or beliefs?
• Are some things unknowable?
• In what ways do our values affect our acquisition of knowledge?
• What are the implications of having, or not having, knowledge?
• Is bias inevitable in the production of knowledge?

Students select three objects for their exhibition, such as a photo, tweet, advertisement, painting or historical artefact, anything that specifically and personally allows the student to explore the prompt and question the knowledge it represents in the specified real world context.

Developing critical thinking skills takes time and is best developed through everyday discussion. The poster below, sourced from a National Geographic Education Blog (2017), outlines examples of broad questions you can ask your child, perhaps in response to the events of the day or an article you have read. It’s a great way to develop critical thinking and engaging discussion for all ages.

Patricia Humble

| Head of International Baccalaureate