The 1st of February saw “In Fenestra”, the annual Theory of Knowledge (TOK) Conference 2020-21, organised by the Year 1 students of IBDP, with 10th grade, ISC 11th grade and IBDP Year 2 students serving as the audience. The TOK Conference was an oral presentation in which students reflected on the nature of knowledge, and discerned how we know what we claim to know, through debates and activities.

The TOK Conference 2021 attempted to shed light on the topics of accuracy of information and beliefs. The students were divided into 4 groups that each took on one or two knowledge questions that intrigued them, based on the core and optional themes of TOK. Due to the complicated nature of the questions, the students presented the religious or cultural background behind each while backing them with examples of books, TV shows, movies etc.

The first group, Est Artifex, questioned the creative license of artists portraying God and the Divine. The second one, Bona Fide, debated upon the dependence of religion on the afterlife. The third one, A Voce Magna, was an extremely intriguing group of students who pondered on whether the more powerful voices should be the ones who shape the facts we know and learn each day. And lastly, In Fenestra, made use of intriguing subjects such as optical illusions and astronomy, to argue on how what one sees can be constrained by what one can’t see.

All in all, the conference seemed to meet its purpose- To leave the audience pondering. From the introduction to what TOK actually is, to the never-ending debate it triggered, the presenters never once lost the audience’s attention.