Ric Sims

Thirty years ago I came under the spell of ToK and am still bewitched. During these years I have also taught Philosophy, Economics, Music and Mathematics in the diploma programme at a number of European schools. ToK aligns with the basic belief that education is about getting people to think for themselves. One way ToK helps realise this goal is through the connection of the concrete and conceptual - the essence of the IBDP. For the last 30 years I have tried to put these values into practice not only in the classroom but though leading teacher workshops, being part of the senior assessment team, and being involved with the development of the ToK curriculum. Julian Kitching, Sue Bastian and I wrote one of the main textbooks for ToK which was rewritten in 2020 specifically for the new programme. In addition to ToK I have examined Economics, Music and World Studies Extended Essay for the IB. I hold degrees in Mathematics from the universities of Oxford and Warwick, Music from the University of Liverpool and the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, and hold a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Exeter. I have published research on various aspects of extended and distributed cognition and ToK and gifted education.
I live in Sweden with my family and spend my free time composing music and playing keyboards in a jazz funk fusion band called Some Funk Junk.