Do You Know? Do You Believe? How Gullible are You?

Click on your choice of the links below to take one of the Museum of Hoaxes' gullibility tests:
Science & nature test
History & culture test
Once you've taken one of the tests, create a post to report your score, then reflect on what the test and your performance have to say about the nature of knowledge, truth, belief, and/or justification (i.e. "good reasons," to use Abel's term).

Welcome to TOK-OC Online 2008-09

TOK is not intended to be "just another" academic class that lacks any apparent connection or relevance to your current life. To the contrary, TOK is intended to be an opportunity for you to synthesize your learning from both inside and outside of school, and to more fully integrate those ideas and insights into your way of thinking. The purpose of the TOK-OC journal/blog is two-fold: A) to encourage you to look for and make connections between the ideas that we've considered in class and your experiences & observations outside of the classroom; and
B) to serve as a place for you to record and reflect on some of these “real world” connections.
Please check the class policies sheet for more information about the purpose and expectations for the journal/blog.

So, here's how I envision this working...I will post items here that are both appropriate and potentially effective as topics for a TOK-OC journal entry. I will also pose some questions or comments to jump-start your thinking about the knowledge issue(s) implicit in each item. You can then post a comment reflecting on the knowledge issues raised (this can include additional knowledge issues that you identify). Or you may respond to other students' comments, using them as jumping off points for adding your own comments. You may make multiple comments on the same posting, thus creating a dialogue with other students. All of your comments on a particular posting will be considered as a single journal entry; consequently, multiple comments may improve your score for that "entry."

Your comments will be scored based on: a) knowledge issues you identify and address; b) the quality of thought and reflection evident in your comments; and c) the level of respect and consideration you demonstrate toward other viewpoints. [It should go without saying that comments that fail miserably on the last criterion will be removed by the moderator, but I'll say it just to make sure everyone understands.] (Reminder: Quality is valued over quantity...but they are often related.)