Purpose of the presentation

2. Purpose of the presentation • To demonstrate that there are philosophicaland ideologicalquestions to worthy of consideration in situations that arise in the real world. • To show your understanding of the way that our knowledge of the world is constructed, shared, and supported; the nature of our justifications; and the strengths/weaknesses of alternative positions—all in the context of an actual, applied event. • Your goal is/was to connect a thoughtful, insightful, and challenging TOK question to a real world situation—to explain how this situation makes you go “Hmmm” and to explain what’s behind the “Hmmm.”

3. Presentation highlights • Unique and refreshing RLS: • Godzilla movie as reflecting/teaching cultural values • Charlie Hebdo • Marvel Comics publication of Captain America as propaganda • Roe v Wade (the judicial process behind it) • Precision of some of the RLS (American Revolutionary coverage citations/text) • The Piltdown Man • Strong knowledge questions and sub-knowledge questions (progression of ideas=>analysis) • Camryn, Katherine and Caroline (3)—sub knowledge questions • Gray, Michael, Ana (6)—sub knowledge questions • Felipe and Elija (6)—sub knowledge questions • Jay, James (6)—sub knowledge questions* • Aaron, Jennifer (6)—connection between KQ and RLS • Aasha, Sarah, Semaja (5)—sub knowledge questions and implications • Refreshing discussions after the presentations

4. Excellent + very good presentations generally… • Included a very strong KQ and a clearly explained connection to the derived KQ • Were highly analytical instead of just descriptive. • Were not superficial • Included explicitly stated sub knowledge questions • Were well planned—and it was evident

5. Problem 1: RLS confusion • Link between the question isn’t clear. • I/we chose this RLS because ____ • The question that arises from this situation is _____; this is because_____. • This situation made me/us ask______ • RLS isn’t clearly explained so we can understand it • Too rushed (from fear of “going overboard”? • Not really choosing an authentic or interesting RLS to focus on • The RLS wasn’t presented near enough to the start of the presentation. • The RLS was too “big” or general

6. Problem 2: Shallow discussion • Most common problem • Circular reasoning • Everything is subjective because everyone believes different things. • Lack of quality sub-knowledge questions • Some of these seem perfunctory only • Strongest presentation had the strongest questions • Some didn’t even seem to exist • Ask yourself: how much insight is truly being revealed here?

7. How can we know to trust an individual witness?

8. Ron Shipp TOK World • Related this to their sub-knowledge question • Discussed authority as a TOK concept/idea first. • Also discussed weaknesses/”flaws” of relying on authority (fallacies) • Went back to discuss Shipp directly after demonstrating an understanding of the concept of authority • Authority– Police officer • Reliable • Work for the people • Worthy of their authority • Coherence Theory of Truth • The murder fits with Shipp’s quote of Simpson: "I've had some dreams of killing Nicole.” • Flaws: • Authorities are people • Shipp had a personal connection to case • Emotion • Memory

9. Problem 3: Generalizations, oversimplifications & assumptions • “when they record history” (Who is they?) • “back in the day” (What day? Does it matter?) • “if you are a <insert political party here> you probably believe this...” (ok, but how do you know that? Might this reveal your own bias too?) • “historians believe” (All of them? Really? Doubtful….) • There are multiple approaches/frameworks through which historians view history (remember Man is the Measure reading?) • “We believe” (who is “we”? Americans? Teens? White people? People in the present? The past? You and your friends? )

10. “US publishers do XYZ.” Do they? What are your assumptions based on? Is there another—maybe less nefarious or nationalistic—explanation for why accounts between texts might differ? Did you consider/explore this? • Oversimplified “culture and background” • “Everyone is different.” • “That’s just the way we are built.” • “Our culture affects us/who we are/the decisions we make.” • “Everything is subjective/relative.” (is it? Everything? EVERYTHING???) • Emmanuel Kant said: “Skepticism is a resting place for human reason.”*** I would argue that “relativism” is as well.

11. Generalizations • Is the argument making any sweeping claims? • Is the language too strong or overly committed? • Does the claim simply reflect a stereotype?

12. Historical knowledge is constructed from the imagination of Historians. This reliance on imagination to construct knowledge in History makes historical knowledge more similar to knowledge in the Arts than the Sciences. Thus,  knowledge claims in History are simply a matter of interpretation.

13. Descriptive statement opening (ok) • Sounds “absolute” (“is constructed” should be qualified) • Good comparative analysis attempt, but incomplete. • Assumptions and oversimplifications about art exist here implicitly too. • Good conclusive word—but fails here due to incomplete comparison • Suggests that art and history are merelymatters of interpretation. • Historical knowledge is constructed from the imagination of Historian. This reliance on imagination to construct knowledge in History makes historical knowledge more similar to knowledge in the Arts than the Sciences.Thus,  knowledge claims in History are simply a matter of interpretation.

14. Historical knowledge iscan be constructed from the imagination of Historian. However, that imagination is often times dependent on other WOKs for support: the memories of and connections to other event and sensory experiences. This reliance onuse of imagination to construct knowledge in History makes historical knowledge moresimilar to knowledge in the Arts than the Sciences. Thus, knowledge claims in History are simply can be a matter of interpretation derived from a Historian’s previous knowledge. This may make the interpretations less universal and certain, similar to some knowledge claims in art. • Historical knowledge can be constructed from the imagination of Historian. The use of imagination to construct knowledge in History makes historical knowledge similar to knowledge in the Arts and in the Sciences. To use our imagination, we often tap into past sensory experiences, emotions, and conclusions. Like an artist and a scientist, the historian imaginatively “connects the dots” to creates explanation of why or how something happens or to create a representative model of the “truth.”

15. The generalization (simplification) is that historical knowledge is constructed (merely) from the imagination of Historians. This is a simplification and misrepresentation of the work that Historians do. The argument that rests on this base is then weakened. A further ‘implied’ simplification is that the Arts is ‘merely’ a matter of interpretation (as opposed to science).

16. Underexplored topics • Technology • Time (history is a time based subject—does this matter?) • Cause and effect (can this be established? Are facts more important or relationships between facts? • Selection (what do we determine is worth investigating? How do we know that? How can we compare the historical significance of events? Is there any value in doing so?)

17. More unexplored topics • Imagination as an AOK (conjectures about the past? Writing stories?) • truth tests (can we really use the Correspondence test when the evidence/era we are studying is essentially gone and we can’t “go and see”?) • Patterns (inductive reasoning?) • Authority/experts/reliability

18. Description vs. Analysis Description Analysis Evaluates the effectiveness, strengths, necessity, and weaknesses of the WOKs or the relationships between them. Since memories are based most often on sense perceptions, the quality and accuracy of our memory is dependent on the accuracy of our senses. Sense perception allows us to interact with our world; however, we must question if they are providing an accurate picture of reality. Compare, evaluate, appraise, justify, judge, predict, discriminate, • States that the WOK is used or explains how it is used • Memory is closely tied to sense perception because…. • Sense perception allows us to interact with our world. • Language is a means of communicating ideas through symbols. • Explain, paraphrase, reproduce, describe, list, label, classify, repeat

19. How to make an effective powerpoint

20. Is this effective?

21. What about this?

22. Help an old woman out!

23. Is this effective? • THIS IS WRITTEN IN 14 POINT FONT, ALL CAPITALS, MAINLY BECAUSE I WANT TO FIT A LOT OF INFORMATION ON THE SCREEN. IN FACT, I PROBABLY HAVE MORE ON MY SCREEN THAN I AM GOING TO SAY IN MY PRESENTATION. EITHER THAT OR I DID NOT PREPARE ACTUAL NOTES SO I AM USING THIS AS MY NOTECARD SYSTEM. • IT IS OBVIOUS THAT I DO NOT CARE FOR MY AUDIENCE OR I WOULD BE CONCERNED ABOUT HOW MY ENTIRE PRESENTATION AFFECTED THEM. IN FACT, A PRESENTATION LIKE A POWERPOINT IS REALLY FOR THE AUDIENCE, AND I AM REALLY TIRED OF WRITING ANYTHING DOWN RIGHT NOW. I IMAGINE THAT MOST OF YOU WILL PROBABLY HAVE STOPPED READING THIS ANYWAY. A PRESENTATION SHOULD INCLUDE NICE GRAPHICS AND A SIMPLE THEME SO I DON’T LOSE MY READER. IF YOU ARE ABLE TO READ THIS SENTENCE, SAY “HOLLA” AND I WILL GIVE YOU A BROWNIE RIGHT NOW TO THE I AM REALY HUNGRY RIGHT NOW, HOW ABOUT YOU? WOULD YOU WANT TO READ SOMETHING LIKE THIS ALL DAY? I HAD TURKEY ON THANKSGIVING AND I LOST MY FAVORITE SCARF. I AM MY OWN GRANDFATHER TOO.

24. Font sizes • This is 20 point font. • This is 12 point font. • This is 30 point font. • The headline above is 54. Your body text should be a minimum of 20 point.

25. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjcO2ExtHso

26. These are all the same font size (22): • Knowledge question • Knowledge question • Knowledge question • Knowledge question

27. Possiblity: the 5/5/5 rule 5 words per line; 5 lines of text; 5 text heavy slides

29. Other Things to remember: • Never ever read from slides. • Remember your audience. • Enhance not detract. • Creativity is optional! • Avoid complete sentences. • Proofread you’re slides. • Bibliography slides are USE-LESS.

30. Bias and Culture

31. Daniel Kahneman:Thinking Fast and Slow • “System 1”= The instant, unconscious, automatic, emotional, intuitive thinking. • maintain and update a model of your personal world, which represents what is normal in it. • “System 2” = The slower, conscious, rational, reasoning, deliberate thinking. • In charge of doubting, skepticism. Bored and often lazy

32. Four reasons bias exists: • Information overload sucks, so we aggressively filter. Noise becomes signal. • Lack of meaning is confusing, so we fill in the gaps. Signal becomes a story. • Need to act fast lest we lose our chance, so we jump to conclusions. Stories become decisions. • This isn’t getting easier, so we try to remember the important bits. Decisions inform our mental models of the world.

33. Problem 1: Too much information. In order to avoid drowning in information overload, our brains need to skim and filter insane amounts of information and quickly, almost effortlessly, decide which few things in that firehose are actually important and call those out. • BUT…We don’t see everything. Some of the information we filter out is actually useful and important.

34. Problem 2: Not enough meaning. • In order to construct meaning out of the bits and pieces of information that come to our attention, we need to fill in the gaps, and map it all to our existing mental models. In the meantime we also need to make sure that it all stays relatively stable and as accurate as possible. • BUT…Our search for meaning can conjure illusions. We sometimes imagine details that were filled in by our assumptions, and construct meaning and stories that aren’t really there.

35. Problem 3: Need to act fast. • In order to act fast, our brains need to make split-second decisions that could impact our chances for survival, security, or success, and feel confident that we can make things happen. • BUT…Quick decisions can be seriously flawed. Some of the quick reactions and decisions we jump to are unfair, self-serving, and counter-productive.

36. Problem 4: What should we remember? • And in order to keep doing all of this as efficiently as possible, our brains need to remember the most important and useful bits of new information and inform the other systems so they can adapt and improve over time, but no more than that. • BUT…Our memory reinforces errors. Some of the stuff we remember for later just makes all of the above systems more biased, and more damaging to our thought processes.