The Big Questions (BQs) is a cognitive framework we use to deliver the Theory of knowledge course, and which works equally well for non-IB students.
Each BQ explores a different issue related to the acquisition and use of knowledge, and invites students to formulate their answers via different subject areas, personal experiences, and events and issues going on in the contemporary world.
The Big Questions
The Big Questions ask five crucial questions about knowledge. Each one forms the basis of both our mini-lessons, and our BQ units of full-length critical thinking lessons (available from August 2026).
This means you can dive into the BQs to any depth, depending on whether your school offers a stand-alone critical thinking course, promotes critical thinking via existing lessons, or offers a combination of both.
BQ1 (Foundations) asks, What is knowledge, and why does it require scrutiny? It invites students to think about the nature of knowledge, how we acquire it, definitions of truth, and other key concepts related to the way in which we try to approach the world objectively.
BQ2 (Values) asks, How does our knowledge influence the way we construct our values? It invites students to consider the relationship between ethics and understanding, by thinking about how our values shape – and are shaped by – the knowledge we possess about the world.
BQ3 (Spin) asks, How is our understanding impacted by the way knowledge is communicated? It invites students to think about the way our knowledge of the world is impacted by the way ideas are consciously and unconsciously ‘spun’.
BQ4 (Perspectives) asks, How do our perspectives shape the way we view the world? It invites students to think about how our personal and societal perspectives and biases affect the way we process ideas and theories, and how open-minded they leave us.
BQ5 (Change) asks, How does new knowledge emerge and develop over time? It looks at the way new knowledge is created, why old ideas and theories are questioned and replaced, and what drives this process of evolution on both an individual and societal level.
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