The area of Philosophy, Psychology and Theory of Knowledge (TOK) consists of the three aforementioned disciplines, two of which correspond to the humanities group and the third to the core of the IB International Program. However, they all have something in common: thinking as a cognitive process, and together with it, the development of skills such as reflection and critical thinking, which are very important tools for the challenges posed by today’s world. As the popular adage goes: “Critical thinking solves problems. Criticizing without thinking, creates them”.
This Department is made up of professors Marta Almeida, Rodrigo Abarca, Carolina Durán, Silvana Pruzzo and Josefina Saphores. The teams of each of these disciplines are committed to teaching mainly thinking skills, as well as to the development of attitudes and values, such as tolerance and respect for others, among others. TOK has a fundamental role for students to become more aware of their own perspectives and the perspectives of others. In addition, it is worth mentioning that the teaching and learning processes consist of an active and cutting-edge methodology, as well as an evaluation focused on the achievement of 21st century skills.
TOK
The TOK course plays a special role in DP as it provides students with the opportunity to reflect on the nature, scope, and limitations of knowledge in different disciplines/areas of knowledge and the process of knowing. In this way, the main objective of TOK is not for students to acquire new knowledge, but to help them reflect on what they already know and put it in perspective. This is an important challenge for both teachers and students, which produces interesting conversations that transcend the boundaries of each discipline, and help students to reflect not only on knowledge but also on their own lives.
Philosophy
The DP Philosophy course provides students with the opportunity to study some of the most important and influential ideas in the world and allows them to develop fundamental skills for life in society: the ability to formulate arguments clearly, make reasoned judgments and critically evaluate highly complex issues. The course stimulates students’ intellectual curiosity by inviting them to examine both their own perspectives and those of others. In this way, they reach a voice of their own and explore the problems in their environment as independent thinkers.
Psychology
The Psychology course aims to understand human behavior and mental processes, exploring three different perspectives: biological, cognitive and sociocultural. In this way, we comprehensively study different topics, such as psychological disorders (at a higher level), and stress or interpersonal relationships (at a medium level).
Head of area: Marta Almeida
Team
Marta Almeida
Carolina Durán
Josefina Saphores
Rodrigo Abarca
Silvana Pruzzo
