The TOK exhibition is an essential component (worth 33% of final grade) of the IB TOK course, providing students with an opportunity to connect abstract knowledge questions with 3 tangible, real-world objects. Showcasing your exhibition to your teachers and peers is not part of the official grading. This guide covers everything from understanding the purpose of the exhibition to exemplar writings, ensuring a high-quality submission.
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Purpose: To explore how TOK concepts manifest in the real world by analyzing three specific objects in relation to a prescribed IA prompt.
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Scope: The exhibition is not a personal opinion piece; it’s a critical reflection on how knowledge is produced, shared, and applied in everyday contexts, using tangible objects as evidence.
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Word Count Limit: 950
Assessment Criteria
Does the exhibition successfully show how TOK manifests in the world around us?
Level 1 - Rudimentary (1-2) | Level 2 - Basic (3-4) | Level 3 - Satisfactory (5-6) | Level 4 - Good (7-8) | Level 5 - Excellent (9-10) |
The exhibition presents three objects, but the real-world contexts are not stated, or the images presented may be highly generic images of types of objects rather than of specific real-world objects.
Links between the objects and the IA prompt are made, but these are minimal, tenuous, or unclear.
There is very little justification offered for the inclusion of each object in the exhibition.
The commentary on the objects is highly descriptive or consists only of unsupported assertions. | The exhibition identifies three objects, but the real-world contexts may be implied rather than explicitly stated.
Basic links between each object and the IA prompt are made, Explanations of these links are unconvincing and/or unfocused.
There is a superficial justification for the inclusion of each object in the exhibition.
Reasons for the inclusion of the objects are offered, but may be inappropriate as evidence and/or irrelevant to the IA prompt. There may be significant repetition across the justifications of the different objects. | The exhibition identifies three objects, although the real-world contexts may be vaguely or imprecisely stated.
There is some explanation of links between each object and the IA prompt.
There is some justification for the inclusion of each object in the exhibition.
Some points are supported by evidence and references to the selected IA prompt. | The exhibition identifies three objects and their real-world contexts.
Links between each of the objects and the IA prompt are explained. These explanations may lack precision and clarity in parts.
There is justification of the contribution that each individual object makes to the exhibition.
Many points are supported by appropriate evidence and references to the IA prompt. | The exhibition clearly identifies three objects and their specific real-world contexts.
Links between each object and the IA prompt are clearly made and well-explained.
There is a strong justification of the particular contribution that each individual object makes to the exhibition.
All, or nearly all, of the points are well-supported by appropriate evidence and explicit references to the IA prompt. |
Possible Characteristics
• Ineffective
• Descriptive
• Incoherent | • Simplistic
• Limited
• Underdeveloped | • Adequate
• Competent
• Acceptable | • Focused
• Relevant
• Coherent | • Convincing
• Lucid
• Precise |
IA Prompts (last updated: 2022)
The 35 IA prompts for the TOK exhibition are thought-provoking questions that explore how knowledge operates in real-world contexts. Students choose one prompt to anchor their analysis, using three specific objects to illustrate their response and demonstrate their understanding of key TOK concepts.
While the prompts remain largely consistent over time, the IB reviews and updates the list periodically (currently assumed to be around 4-5 years) to ensure relevance and alignment with evolving educational goals. It is important for students to confirm they are working with the most current set of prompts for their assessment year.
1.
What counts as knowledge?
2.
Are some types of knowledge more useful than others?
3.
What features of knowledge have an impact on its reliability?
4.
On what grounds might we doubt a claim?
5.
What counts as good evidence for a claim?
6.
How does the way that we organize or classify knowledge affect what we know?
7.
What are the implications of having, or not having, knowledge?
8.
To what extent is certainty attainable?
9.
Are some types of knowledge less open to interpretation than others?
10.
What challenges are raised by the dissemination and/or communication of knowledge?
11.
Can new knowledge change established values or beliefs?
12.
Is bias inevitable in the production of knowledge?
13.
How can we know that current knowledge is an improvement upon past knowledge?
14.
Does some knowledge belong only to particular communities of knowers?
15.
What constraints are there on the pursuit of knowledge?
16.
Should some knowledge not be sought on ethical grounds?
17.
Why do we seek knowledge?
18.
Are some things unknowable?
19.
What counts as a good justification for a claim?
20.
What is the relationship between personal experience and knowledge?
21.
What is the relationship between knowledge and culture?
22.
What role do experts play in influencing our consumption or acquisition of knowledge?
23.
How important are material tools in the production or acquisition of knowledge?
24.
How might the context in which knowledge is presented influence whether it is accepted or rejected?
25.
How can we distinguish between knowledge, belief and opinion?
26.
Does our knowledge depend on our interactions with other knowers?
27.
Does all knowledge impose ethical obligations on those who know it?
28.
To what extent is objectivity possible in the production or acquisition of knowledge?
29.
Who owns knowledge?
30.
What role does imagination play in producing knowledge about the world?
31.
How can we judge when evidence is adequate?
32.
What makes a good explanation?
33.
How is current knowledge shaped by its historical development?
34.
In what ways do our values affect our acquisition of knowledge?
35.
In what ways do values affect the production of knowledge?