Competencies Thought

I have recently been listening to the podcast, What you missed in High School, from How Stuff Works.

The podcasts are each about 15-20 minutes long and they are fascinating. One detailed exactly how Blackbeard worked. How he grew up, came to fame and eventually died. Another talked about the childhood of Queen Elizabeth--the daughter of Henry the VIII. One of the very best was the story of Gettysburg. They detailed in under 1/2 an hour how the South won that battle. And they were able to describe complex battle conditions in audio, without the help of maps or visuals.

Students should absolutely know the details in these podcasts. The should wallow in the details and become lost in the amazingness of history. But along with these details they should understand the context. This is where competencies come in. The details about Blackbeard are incredible and the fight that eventually leads to his death is incredible. BUT students need to also understand the context of why all of this was happening. The fact that Blackbeard was an outgrowth of the privateer system in England and how the ending of that system lead to an explosion of pirates.

Many have argued that there are no details to be learned in a competnecy based system. That is not the case. The fact is that the same details can be learned but we must explain to students the context in which they fit.