eng Science and Education Publishing American Journal of Educational Research 2327-6150 2019-10-26 7 10 731 736 10.12691/education-7-10-9 EDUCATION20197109 article Damion Walker damion-s-walker@hotmail.com 1 Department of Education, University of Bath, Bath, United Kingdom Students and teachers often have differing - and sometimes conflicting- perceptions of the aims of the International Baccalaureate’s Theory of Knowledge (ToK) course. In an attempt to demystify ToK, I explore the extent to which Gardenian Disciplinary Thinking (GDT) can be used as a lens through which to view and understand the intentions of the course. I suggest that, in general, ToK aims to encourage GDT. That aim is achieved by facilitating: 1) A domain-specific approach to critical thinking; and 2) A focus on second-order knowledge. Both of those practices are essential for performing GDT. Before looking at its applications in ToK, I critically review GDT via three themes: globalisation, domain-based critical thinking and meaningful learning. To position the principles that underly GDT, I compare GDT to trans-disciplinarity, a practice often placed in opposition to disciplinarity. Ultimately, I show that GDT can provide possibilities for achieving some of the aims of ToK despite the weaknesses of Gardenian Disciplinarity. http://pubs.sciepub.com/education/7/10/9/education-7-10-9.pdf IB Theory of Knowledge disciplinarity critical thinking 21^st-century skills