IB TUTOR in Taipei

With the May 2023 essays looming, I suspect this book will be a very helpful source of ideas and quotes.

Are you a busybody, a hunter or a dancer? A new book about curiosity reveals all Twin academics Perry Zurn and Dani S Bassett fought to forge idiosyncratic paths through academia… then put that knowledge to use in a seven-year study of how we learn

It's good to see we can get the information after September 22nd on the OSC FB and YouTube pages.

Take a break from your textbooks and join us on Wednesday, September 22 at 2 p.m. to explore Indigenous ways of learning and knowing. What is traditional Indigenous mathematics? Find out from firekeeper, grass dancer, fisherman and Ojibwe language teacher Bryan Bellefeuille, a father of three and Anishinaabe of Nipissing First Nation. From making tools and measuring trees to building canoes and cooking meals, explore the many uses of math in traditional settings. 👉 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6htwS5Mv8E

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-there-a-thing-or-a-relationship-betweenthings-at-the-bottom-of-things/

Is There a Thing, or a Relationship between Things, at the Bottom of Things? Quantum mechanics inspires us to speculate that interactions between entities, not entities in themselves, are fundamental to reality

Fascinating comments.

Psychologists Are Learning What Religion Has Known for Years Social scientists are researching what humans can do to improve their quality of life. Their findings echo what religious practices perfected centuries ago.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/sep/10/scientists-egos-key-barrier-to-progress-covid-vaccine-pioneer-katalin-kariko

Scientists’ egos are key barrier to progress, says Covid vaccine pioneer Prof Katalin Karikó of BioNTech says she endured decades of scepticism over her work on mRNA vaccines

These letters and the link to the offending editorial are a useful introduction to the state of subatomic physics, and what we can and can't understand presently.

Quantum of solace: even physicists are still scratching their heads | Letters Letters: Readers respond to an editorial about understanding quantum theory and defining the laws of physics

Excellent TOK material here.

htttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/09/convince-anti-vaxxers

Here’s why your efforts to convince anti-vaxxers aren’t working | Brooke Harrington People don’t listen to outsiders. They need enlightened insiders to offer them a ladder to climb down, says sociology professor Brooke Harrington

Says who and by what criteria?

Avoid 'out of date' history teaching, warns Ofsted In its latest subject review, Ofsted recommends that in history teaching pupils must learn about key historical concepts through repeated, specific examples

If you want to understand why so many TOK teachers are language and literature teachers here's why. This is why language is such an important WoK.

The Guardian view on English language and literature: more, please | Editorial Editorial: We must take care not to devalue a subject that helps us build a more rounded and healthier body politic

A really good text for TOK students.

What’s happened at the BBC and the Met police shows the perils of groupthink | Martin Kettle When facing scrutiny the institutions reacted in a rigid, defensive manner. It’s a common theme across Britain, says Guardian columnist Martin Kettle

After yesterday's post of Daniel Kahneman's comments about the similarity of knowledge systems there comes this post today! I've never understood why the IBO reserves the word "system" for IKS and RKS but declines it's use in scientific systems.

When Scientific Orthodoxy Resembles Religious Dogma Those who refuse to consider an unconventional idea in science are disturbingly similar to those who refused to look through Galileo’s telescope