Learning Requirements

Learning requirements are the what . . . 

What do my students need to know and be able to do as result of being in this class?

The learning requirements are tied closely to the district curriculum standards and are ideas that spiral throughout the year. The emphasis on not on some specific set of facts but rather big pieces of knowledge and understandings.

For my classes, we use the acronym C.A.R.S. for our learning requirements:

Cause and effect relationships

Analogies - how to use them and evaluate their accuracy

Research and evaluation of resources

Sense of history - how the past impacts the present

Cause and effect relationships - A critical skill for the understanding of history is an ability to determine and understand cause and effect. It allows one to understand why events happened as they did. This is also a life skill, as young people try to better understand their world.

Analogies - To understand both history and the events of our current world, it is often useful to employ analogies . . . "this is similar to that." The problem is often analogies are over-used and therefore incorrect. We spend time working on a strategy to clarify analogies. When one is suggested, we examine the likenesses and the differences between the situation being studied and the suggested analogy. When properly used analogies can be very useful in understanding and problem-solving, when incorrectly used they can lead to confusion and poor decisions.

Research and evaluation of resources - Here we learn how to find out what we need to know. With knowledge growing exponentially, it is vital to know how to get information. This also involves evaluating the usefulness of resources. Additionally, we examine the advantages and limitations of both primary and secondary resources.

Sense of history - A sense of of where we have been is critical to developing a true understanding of where we are. Having this ability will not only allow us to understand our history class, but will also help us make better decisions in the present. We begin to understand that our decisions today will have ramifications in our future.

As students develop and refine their skills and abilities in these areas, they will be able to consistently learn and improve in any history class . . . and in many other areas. These requirements are imbedded in every unit and allow for greater depth of understanding of the material. Additionally, these requirements provide purpose and meaning for what we study.