TOK Presentation Topics

Can anyone suggest a good presentation topic? I was thinking of doing something about medical ethics, but I cant find many sources, so I dont know if that'll be any good. Any tips?

Reply 1

HMSChocolate

13

Medical ethics! I have just the topic for you. Well, actually it was the topic that I did and I really really enjoyed it. I did my presentation on the issues around having a designer baby to use as a stem cell donor for an elder sibling. the shorter term for this baby would be a saviour sibling. there's a lot of stuff to talk about I talked for way too long but I still got 18/20.

If you consider doing it I can give you some points to start off with.

Reply 2

IBblonde

That one actually sounds like an awesome idea... no wonder you did so well. Try to avoid stuff like "Should society have abortion" or "should society allow for stem cell research". I had to sit through what felt like a million similar things... so overdone! the best presentations are always the most original.

Reply 3

HMSChocolate

13

yeah, the general stuff like should *insert some huge medical process* be allowed is boring. Topics like that kind of expect you to come up with answer of yes, it should be allowed, or no, it should not. the point of the presentation isn't to give an opinion either way, it's to present the issues around your topic. You should give both sides of the argument but don't necessarily have to come to a conclusion.

Abortion is overdone and cliched. One of my class mates talked about a researcher in Korea who claimed to have made some ground breaking research with stem cell technology but all his supposed "evidence" were fake.

IBblonde

the best presentations are always the most original

and I wil add if you can do something that the audience can relate to and can ask them to think whether they think this is ethical, it might be more interesting too.

Reply 4

klarka

OP

Thanks...the designer baby idea sounds good. HMSChocolate, could you give me the starting-off points you suggested? Oh yeah, and how did you engage the audience? On my first presentation we asked people to vote on some examples, but the teacher didnt consider that very effective...Thanks :wink:

Reply 5

IBblonde

You can always do what i did and shock them into silence from the word go. This is how I started:
(Loud, confident debater-voice): JonBenet Ramsey was SEXUALLY ASSAULTED, and murdered by her father!
That shut them all up and got their attention.
My friend was clever... she did a thing on anorexia and put a white mesh fruit bowl on the table (looked eerily like bones) and she told the audience that it meant something and that if she told them what it meant it would defeat the purpose cause they had to figure it out for themselves. It didnt actually mean anything at all.

Reply 6

HMSChocolate

13

lol. I liked your friend's anorexia idea. :smile:

Attached is my Self Evaluation Report, though let me know if you have any specific questions.

I can't remember how I started my presentation, but I think I asked the audience somewhere along the line of if one of their siblings were dying, would they donate a kidney to save them.

Reply 7

SunderX

14

I think my topic was:

"Why is this not funny?"

A discussion on humour being subject to different paradigms and circumstances, and different forms of it. I managed to integrate that firetruck scene from family guy. :biggrin:

Reply 8

Jaetie

SunderX

I think my topic was:

"Why is this not funny?"

A discussion on humour being subject to different paradigms and circumstances, and different forms of it. I managed to integrate that firetruck scene from family guy. :biggrin:

what did you get?

Reply 9

SunderX

14

rofl, our TOK teacher is a little lax about scores. According to him, nobody ever moderates TOK presentations, so he can give whatever he wants.

Reply 10

HMSChocolate

13

actually they can if you want to. they can ask to see your SER if there's a huge difference in your essay performance and your presentation performance. most likely they'd moderate your presentation if you got really high in your presentation and really really low in your essay.

Reply 11

IBitious

it all about the evaluation you need to write afterwards...

'how can we know what determines the emergence of women beauty canons?'

Reply 12

HMSChocolate

13

but you still need to do a good presentation to get a good grade because they dont always ask to see your evaluation.

Reply 13

Sadie_F

that anorexia thing is ingenius... did your friend point out at the end that it didnt represent anything, or did they just let people wonder?

i did my first presentation on rumors, the basic concept was what is a rumor, how do they get started, what makes people believe false ones, how do you spread one and how do you stop one from being spread? there's a lot of problems of knowledge associated to this actually, and what makes it particularly fun is to use a case study of some people pranking someone else (get an old chatlog, change the names to protect the innocent and guilty). i got a 17 on it.

but i have no idea what to do for my next one... i tend to go for the social issues type presentations, any ideas anyone?

Reply 14

IBblonde

Lol she never told them the truth about the fruit bowl. Theres probably half a dozen people out there still wondering about it.
We only have to do one ToK presentation at my school. And seventeens a pretty bloody high mark anyway! Why would you need another one?

Reply 15

photopsia

IBblonde

You can always do what i did and shock them into silence from the word go. This is how I started:
(Loud, confident debater-voice): JonBenet Ramsey was SEXUALLY ASSAULTED, and murdered by her father!
That shut them all up and got their attention.
My friend was clever... she did a thing on anorexia and put a white mesh fruit bowl on the table (looked eerily like bones) and she told the audience that it meant something and that if she told them what it meant it would defeat the purpose cause they had to figure it out for themselves. It didnt actually mean anything at all.

what was your friend's presentation about anorexia on?
errm editing this because i'll probably get replies that say "it was on anorexia, duhhh!" but i mean what was the point or what were the issues she was presenting with her presentation surrounding it?

Reply 16

Sadie_F

i don't know, but it sounds to me like something of the sort how one person can KNOW they're fat and another person can KNOW the first person is emaciated, what are they going by?
what do you measure by? Body Mass Index or Paris Hilton? (if you get my drift)
but that's only one problem of knowledge...

Reply 17

lunatic3100

"ETHICAL ISSUES ABOUT THE BANNING OF RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS in FRANCE" is an excellent topic man, i did my presentation firstly on Ghost, bt it didnt work out good, n then on this title, it ROCKED, every1 LOVED it....its goood, plenty of material also available, if any help needed PM me.....

Reply 18

W.O.N.D.E.R

I don't even remember your presentation sam :p:

haha!
don't flatter yourself too much :p:

...

Reply 19

HMSChocolate

13

Sadie_F

i don't know, but it sounds to me like something of the sort how one person can KNOW they're fat and another person can KNOW the first person is emaciated, what are they going by?
what do you measure by? Body Mass Index or Paris Hilton? (if you get my drift)
but that's only one problem of knowledge...

or it could something on the reasons for anorexia - you know, why people get it and the emotions involved etc

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