The areas of knowledge are the five disciplines through which IB humans have organised their inquiry into the world: History, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Human Sciences, and The Arts. Each has developed distinct methods and standards for what counts as a valid claim, and comparing them reveals that knowledge does not look the same across disciplines.

 

They are also the primary material for the TOK essay: the IB sets six prescribed titles each year, and draws on two AOKs to show how the same question lands differently across fields. Studying them here complements the core theme by showing how the field a knower works within shapes both what they discover and what they are capable of asking.