This school year, Little Flower introduced Theory of Knowledge into our course catalog. Taught by Mr. Lelii, this course is most interested in knowledge questions based around how we know things. Instead of looking at various subject matters, TOK explores the knowledge in each and examines how it relates to our everyday lives. Instead of just asking “what is it,” our students are encouraged to consider “how we know, how far we know and what we can do with it.” This week, two of our senior students presented in their Theory of Knowledge class. Allison Neitz and Faith Cruz have taken part in the first year of TOK at Little Flower. TOK examines the knowledge in each subject and considers how it relates to our everyday lives.
The structure of these presentations differs from what our students are used to. For this research project, Faith and Allison chose a topic that related to their everyday lives. For Allison, this was examining how recent financial struggles have increased our younger generations interest in pseudo sciences like astrology. She used the Co-Star app as an area of reference for this. Faith chose to research the impact technological advancements have had on our society. Real life examples included Carvana vending machines. After presenting an initial research question, our students present their “ways of knowing.” These provide different lenses that each of these subjects can be viewed through. Allison looked at whether the younger generations interest in astrology produces individualism or stems from a disconnect with faith. Faith examined whether society has become increasingly isolated, or whether such technology is a result of society having more trust. For each of these, a counterclaim was also presented. Through this, both sides of the argument were brought to light, and our students were able to see the entire situation. After providing their conclusions, Faith and Allison provided us with the significance of their respective studies along with the research that still needs to be done. We are immensely proud of Allison and Faith for their hard work and look forward to seeing the Theory of Knowledge class grow at Little Flower.