TOK Essay Title #3 (May 2026)

If you want a great resource to pull from, here’s a link to Brain Rules, by Medina. A lot of what is discussed here connects to what specifically makes knowledge memorable, thus powerful. If you can’t remember something, is there any power in it?

 

Here’s a great article about visuals and charts that goes across AOKs. Charts can really connect to this TOK Essay Title. 

 

Maths Research for the TOK Essay

 

Euler's Identity

This article is really relevant if you want to convey how mathematical beauty can connect to power (be liberal in how you define When something complex is hard to communicate, can it lose power? This article thinks so!

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The Mandelbrot Set & TOK

To counter the previous point, what happens when something really confusing is easily able to communicate through beautiful visuals? The Mandelbrot set is a fractal and equation, but it can be conveyed through a beautiful visual. How does that affect the level to which we understand it? The level to which it has power? This article explains it’s living on even after becoming less popular.

 

​How COVID and medical knowledge being communicated was dependent on the way that it was conveyed

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I always say that you shouldn’t talk about COVID, because this is what people do when they don’t want to do research. But this may work well. Mathematical models were used to communicate complex information to the public about COVID during the pandemic. Were these powerful because of the way that they were communicated? Because of their simplicity instead? What do you think?

Article 1       Article 2       Article 3       Article 4

 

​Mathematicians in the Age of Nazi

I’ve often said that the only good thing the Nazi’s ever did was give an abundance of evidence for TOK. This book tells the story of mathematicians during the Nazi’s reign, and how they shared mathematical truths together. Use ChatGPT to search through it and find quotes! But double check this, of course! There are many different ways to argue what had power and what didn’t. How did the manner in which the mathematical knowledge was communicated (and where!) affect it?

 

​How Math Education Affects Knowledge Reception

The way that math is taught can definitely affect the power that the AOK holds. These two articles discuss how math is taught and how communication can “gatekeep” knowledge, thus, power.

Article 1       Article 2

 

 

 

Examples in The Arts for TOK Essay

 

​Family Group in a Landscape & Shifting the Gaze

When I discovered this example I freaked out. First, there’s a painting called Family Group in a Landscape. Let’s look at it first. Then, artist Titus Kaphar did a work, based on Landscape called “Shifting the Gaze.” What we have here is a completely different way of conveying knowledge. Here’s a commentary on the work. And here’s a TED talk by Kaphar.

 

​Does Art Convey Powerful Knowledge?

When an artwork conveys knowledge that is related to a real event, how does the artistic act of conveying the knowledge interact with the truth of what happened? Many works that portray history can work here, here’s an article to get you started. Dylan’s song Hurricane came to mind, as well. What power does art have when it portrays an event and it distorts the truth? When it completely adheres to the truth? And how does the artform/medium affect this?

 

​How Maman by Louise Bourgeois Communicates TOK Ideas

I hate having to link to this title for…reasons that you’ll see…but this artwork is meant to convey a specific piece of knowledge: about the love that the artists mother had for her children. But this knowledge is conveyed in a very…um…interesting manner. Learn about the piece here…if you dare! Think about your reaction, and those who have written about it. Is there a right answer for this?

 

How Artistic Interpretation Should Be Necessary...or Not?

I the film The Green Knight because so much of it made no sense. This article talks about the director putting stuff in the film about his own life (despite the film being about a knight…). How were we supposed to know that?! Another article talks about a random decision to mispronounce (I think?) the main character’s name. I hated this movie.

 

​Artistic Aesthetics & TOK

There are many examples of songs that convey one thing while sounding like another. Du Hast seemed like a rebellious song, and many people thought it was about hate. It’s not. Conversely, Like a Rolling Stone, sounds happy but is very depressing. How do these interact? How does sound and aesthetic affect the power of the knowledge being conveyed? How does it affect the reception, thus, power? Research different interpretations, and also consider your own.

 

 

 

Human Sciences Research for the TOK Essay

 

The Dr. Fox Effect in TOK

The Dr. Fox effect is something discovered that is absolutely relevant to this topic. The reception of knowledge is greatly increased when communicated in certain ways. This is about so how can we connect this to power? Here’s a breakdown of the effect. This also connects to power given to people in academia!

 

How the Dr. Fox Effect Demonstrates the Power of Knowledge

This is the full text from two researchers that I learned about when doing a deep dive on the Dr. Fox Effect. It has a bunch of stuff about how nothing matters except for communication. Read the entire study here.

 

The Big Short

I learned to love economics because of the Planet Money podcast, which got its start from an episode of This American Life called The Giant Pool of Money. These podcasters worked with Michael Lewis and director Adam McKay to make a comedy about the 2008 Financial Crisis! This could be contrasted with this awfully boring article. How is power affected by being communicated for experts vs. non-experts?

 

Passive Communication and the Power of Knowledge

​If something is never said, was it communicated? Learn about Hidden Curriculum and think about how this can contrast with the other examples. Here’s another article.