The Knowledge Questions listed below are developed from some of the more basic Knowledge Questions here: https://pnewton.ca/knowledge-questions-for-the-november-2019-prescribed-titles/

Prescribed Title #1

  • How does accuracy in news reports about science affect knowledge acquisition? 
  • To what extent is recognizing bias in the study of history the responsibility of the government?
  • To what extent is it a translator’s responsibility to remain accurate when translating literature
  • To what extent is a reader of literature required to interpret it in the way the author intended?
  • How is a judge responsible for checking the evidence provided by police during a trial?

Prescribed Title #2

  • How does the “unique, unprecedented, unrepeatable” nature of people in art create challenges in interpreting art?
  • How does individual psychology create challenges in knowledge production?
  • How do the “unique, unprecedented, unrepeatable” people in history create challenges in avoiding bias?
  • How do “unique, unprecedented, unrepeatable” people create challenges when doing research in the human sciences?
  • How do “unique, unprecedented, unrepeatable” scientists create challenges when evaluating research?
  • To what extent do the “unique, unprecedented, unrepeatable” characteristics of mathematicians create challenges when evaluating the use of statistics?
  • To what extent do the “unique, unprecedented, unrepeatable” characteristics of religious leaders create challenges when interpreting religious texts?

Prescribed Title #3

  • To what extent does the overturning of old scientific theories affect students’ confidence in current shared knowledge?
  • To what extent does the overturning of old scientific theories increase scientists’ confidence in current shared knowledge?
  • To what extent does the overturning of old scientific theories in the media decrease the publics’ confidence in current shared knowledge?
  • To what extent do changes in Japanese art affect confidence in Japanese traditions?
  • How do changes in MRI research on criminals affect confidence in views on the justice system?
  • To what extent do changes in animal research affect confidence in views on human sexuality?

Prescribed Title #4

  • How does just observing and writing down observationshelp avoid bias in the study of history?
  • How effective is using MRIs to determine criminal behavior?
  • To what extent is it effective to translate literature in a literal way?    
  • To what extent is rote learning an effective way to learn mathematics?
  • How effective is it to study Japanese manners just by observing bowing?

Prescribed Title #5

  • How does scepticism about vaccinations affect the successful production of knowledge?
  • To what extent does a scientist’s scepticism about scientific research help the successful production of knowledge?
  • To what extent does scepticism about literature in translation help the successful production of knowledge?
  • To what extent does scepticism about the use of statistics help the successful production of knowledge?
  • How does skepticism about political news affect what readers learn from it?

Prescribed Title #6

  • To what extent is the study of literature based on universal themes and not literary features?  
  • To what extent is the study of bias in the study of history as important as studying history itself?
  • To what extent does a translation need to stay true to universal themes rather than literal meanings?   
  • How does a discredited scientific research paper teach more than the original topic of the research?