The article highlights the specificity of the investigation competence, in the discipline of Geography in terms of four actions that the student undertakes in the learning process. The contextuality of school competencies is argued epistemically and methodologically. The examples propose the efficiency of learning by replacing a task in the situation - objective proposed by the teacher, with positioning in the task by the student, conscious positioning, scientifically approved. Written in the constructivist key, the present approach supports the definition of competence as an adaptive power to new situations, a concept described by the Canadian experts in education, Domenico Masciotra and Fidèle Medzos (2005-2006). We can talk about being a competent researcher only in a context in which the person involved brings his own cognitive scientific contribution, thus demonstrating a competent action in the situation - "competent action" or situational intelligence.