The Knowledge Framework — Scope and Perspectives

The knowledge framework is a set of four lenses the IB provides for examining any theme or area of knowledge: scope, perspectives, methods and tools, and ethics. Using them systematically turns a vague discussion into a structured investigation. This lesson covers the first two.

Scope

Scope asks what a field of knowledge covers, what kinds of problems it addresses, and why it exists. It concerns the reach and the limits of a domain. For the natural sciences, scope includes the physical and biological world and excludes, by design, questions of value or beauty. For history, scope covers the human past that has left traces, which means events leaving no evidence fall outside its reach. Thinking about scope means asking: What questions can this field answer? What lies beyond it? What gives it