We strongly believe that all your students – not just the ones studying the IB Diploma – should benefit from the wonderful ideas, thinkers, and issues that we explore within TOK.
So we’ve adapted our pioneering resources to make them deliverable to any student. Use the resources to develop authentic critical thinking, link learning to the real world, and support students with final products such as the EPQ or UA portfolio.
Key thinkers who have inspired ACT
Our approach to critical thinking has been informed by many key thinkers, among them John Stuart Mill, Julia Galef, Alex Edmans, and Sir Ken Robinson. Each has shaped the way we think about what authentic critical thinking means, and what it looks like in practice.
John Stuart Mill’s observation that “he who knows only his own side of the case, knows little of that” is the founding principle of ACT. Julia Galef’s distinction between scout and soldier mentalities develops this further, and her insight that scouts are people whose self-worth is not tied to being right is, for us, one of the most important ideas in education.
Alex Edmans (see video) reminds us that critical thinking is not an elite skill reserved for specialists. “We often have the discerning skills already within ourselves,” he argues. “We just need to overcome our biases and deploy them.” Sir Ken Robinson’s insistence that education must be personalised rather than standardised underpins our entire approach to ACT as a framework for developing genuinely independent minds.
All of these thinkers feature directly in our full-length courses and mini-lessons. We believe that if an idea is not engaging enough to share with students, it should not be driving our pedagogy.
Access the ACT resources for upper school students
Click on the buttons below to explore our ACT teaching and learning resources for students aged 16 to 18, and follow the membership link to gain full access to everything the site offers.
If you have any questions about memberships, workshops, or any of our other support services, get in touch at [email protected] and we will be happy to help.
The ACT/TOK pathway
Placing ACT at the heart of what we do creates a flexible learning pathway, moving from our middle years resources through to either the TOK course or our senior ACT materials for students following A-Levels, the AP, or other programmes.
All our resources are updated monthly and can be plugged into any educational programme, whether delivered in timetabled lessons, PSE classes, extension slots, or optional enrichment sessions outside the usual school day.
Help yourself to these samples – then join us!
Download an huge range of free sample materials, showing our innovative, compelling, and provocative approach to teaching and learning. If you like what we do, join us here. In the meantime, subscribe to our free monthly newsletter, The Examined Life, which will help you to make sense of a challenging world!