TOK Exhibition

Overview

Sean Coleman

2026-04-14

Objective

Develop enough familiarity with the TOK Exhibition to make the Arts practice Exhibition a useful learning experience.

Schedule

  • This week
    • Thursday, April 16: Guest teacher Mr. Doğan
    • Friday, April 17: Field trip to 798/China Film Museum
  • Next week
    • Tuesday, April 21: discuss Exhibition, finalize choices of object for Major
    • Thursday, April 23: draft/outline major on paper, no devices
    • Friday, April 24: write major on paper with access to outline, no devices

Prompt

  • Your prompt:
    • “What role does language/perception play in producing knowledge in the arts?”
  • Examples relate to:
    • “23. How important are material tools in the production or acquisition of knowledge?”

What Counts as a Good Object?

Key Question

What knowledge is at stake regarding this object?

If you cannot answer this question easily, it is not a good object.

A good object is one that does most of the work in making the link to the prompt once the knowledge context is made clear in the commentary.

Qualities of a Good Object

  1. Links easily to the prompt.

  2. Specific — a particular object significant to the knowledge context in some way. Perhaps it was made at a specific time, by a specific person, in a specific place for a specific purpose. All these should be mentioned in the exhibition. Generic photos from the internet will not do.

Example: Choosing a picture of a generic electron microscope is not specific enough. A better choice is a photograph of the attosecond electron microscope at the University of Konstanz, photo by Dr Gillian Kiliani. The photographer and date should be included if possible.

  1. The real-world knowledge context of the object should be easily described to the non-specialist and should not be too technical. There are only 300 words for the whole link to be made.

  2. The object itself makes the link to the prompt visible.

  3. Good objects usually have personal significance to the student — used in out-of-school activities or representing a particular interest.

Example: The ‘Spillings Hoard’ of silver found on the Swedish island of Gotland may be of special significance to a student passionate about Viking history.

  1. Symbolic objects are usually not good exhibition objects because they relate only indirectly to the prompt.

Example: A dove representing peace is a weak choice — it does not tell much of a knowledge story and the student will need to write a long explanation.

  1. The object needs to possess features useful in linking to the prompt.

Example: The University of Konstanz electron microscope is used in research in molecular biology, which links nicely to a prompt about the material tools used in the production of knowledge.

  1. No two students in the same class should pick the same object.

Linking Objects to the Prompt

Object 1: Fraunhofer’s Spectroscope

Painting by Richard Wimmer of Fraunhofer demonstrating his spectroscope, 1814

Knowledge context Physics knowledge — chemical composition of stars
Link Fraunhofer’s invention of the spectroscope made possible the new field of spectroscopy
Perspective Material tools can create entirely new fields of knowledge and are, therefore, radically important in the production of knowledge.

Object 2: Maksutov Cassegrain Telescope

Skywatcher 127mm f/12 Maksutov Cassegrain telescope belonging to the author

Knowledge context Astronomy — nature of the solar system and cosmos
Link Telescopes are useful in astronomy, but the field existed before they were invented. Tycho Brahe’s naked-eye observations were sufficient for Kepler to calculate the orbit of Mars.
Perspective Material tools can be useful in producing knowledge without creating new fields.

Object 3: Computer Chess Match

Board snapshot: Komodo (white) vs. Hannibal (black), 2016. Komodo won.

Knowledge context Knowledge of advanced chess playing
Link Computers can now outperform human beings and have somewhat disrupted human-human competition.
Perspective Material tools can be important to producing knowledge but in a negative sense.

Writing the Commentary

Once the links have been sketched in the brainstorm (possibly via a table), the student is ready to write.

Before you begin

Always state the prompt you are writing in response to. Not identifying the prompt might result in 0 points.

Commentary — Part 1: WHAT?

What is the object and what is its real-world knowledge context?

What knowledge is at stake here?

Guidance

Include only the relevant details which tell us something about the prompt. (2–3 sentences)

Commentary — Part 2: HOW? WHY?

How does it link to the prompt? Why did you choose this particular object?

What features of the object in its knowledge context — or external evidence — make you say that?

Guidance

This is the majority of the commentary. Refer both to knowledge and the keywords in the prompt.

Commentary — Part 3: ZOOM OUT

What is the perspective or aspect of the prompt that it illustrates?

Link back to the object and the prompt.

Four Elements of a Good Commentary

Do not skip any of these

  1. Identification — State what it is, where and when it was made, and the maker if possible. Explain how the object is used.
  2. Knowledge context — How is the use of the object linked to knowledge? What knowledge is at stake here? Many students omit this step.
  3. Explicit link to prompt — Use the keywords in the prompt and the word knowledge at key moments. If neither appears, warning bells should be ringing.
  4. Justification — Why is this object in the exhibition? Take a perspective on the prompt.

Typical Commentary Phrases

Templates

  • “This object is an X which is used to do Y in situation S.”
  • “The knowledge involved here is K because …”
  • “The prompt mentions keywords A and B and we can see A and B in the knowledge K that is produced/acquired/required by the use of the object because …”
  • “The object helps us to understand what it means when we take a P perspective to the prompt. The object shows that the prompt can be understood from the P perspective.”

Common Mistake

There is a very real danger that students tell us a lot about the object and its usage and very little about knowledge. But as a TOK assessment, this misses out on the most important element.

Still Confused about “Knowledge Context”?

  • The good news: it’s not an assessment term.
  • But if you’re not yet comfortable with how it was used in the table, you’ll want to clear that up before moving on.
  • The exemplars on InThinking are all given comments about these knowledge contexts and will help clarify what you need to know.