8th Grader knowledge of geography
Jan 5th, 2007, 11:15 AM
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8th Grader knowledge of geography
Hey, all. I posted this in the lounge, but thought I'd copy my thougths over here in the US:
I just attended an 8th grade Geography Bee at my son's school. Only two kids from each social studies class got to participate. In each class, they had a mini-competition, and the 2 best got to go.
I was amazed at how short the competition was. In my district, that brags about some of the highest SAT scores in the state, and is in the top 3 in our county, the kids seemed to get very, very basic geography questions wrong.
One question asked in what New England State is Lake Winnes(sp?). The answer given: California.
The first question was: in what Rocky Mnt. state is Grand Teton NP. Only 2 of 30 kids got this right. Half the kids did not know that Grand Canyon is in Arizona.
And now I will fess up about my son's performance. He believes he made it b/c he plays PS2 World Cup Soccer and each time you pick a team, you see a graphic detailing where the country is, its capitol, etc. So he knows a lot about European, South American and African countries. Also, every time we fly I get out the inflight magazine and point out where we're going and where we are.
We were IN Grand Teton NP two summers ago and he got that question wrong! He heard "Rocky Mnt" and immediately thought Colorado. (But we've done 3 loop trips of Colorado and never saw Grand Tetons then!) At least he knew Grand Canyon was in AZ, and he's never been there.
My son got eliminated on the only US question I didn't know the answer to. What state did Lewis and Clark winter in at Fort (didn't even recognize the name). The answer was North Dakota.
I just attended an 8th grade Geography Bee at my son's school. Only two kids from each social studies class got to participate. In each class, they had a mini-competition, and the 2 best got to go.
I was amazed at how short the competition was. In my district, that brags about some of the highest SAT scores in the state, and is in the top 3 in our county, the kids seemed to get very, very basic geography questions wrong.
One question asked in what New England State is Lake Winnes(sp?). The answer given: California.
The first question was: in what Rocky Mnt. state is Grand Teton NP. Only 2 of 30 kids got this right. Half the kids did not know that Grand Canyon is in Arizona.
And now I will fess up about my son's performance. He believes he made it b/c he plays PS2 World Cup Soccer and each time you pick a team, you see a graphic detailing where the country is, its capitol, etc. So he knows a lot about European, South American and African countries. Also, every time we fly I get out the inflight magazine and point out where we're going and where we are.
We were IN Grand Teton NP two summers ago and he got that question wrong! He heard "Rocky Mnt" and immediately thought Colorado. (But we've done 3 loop trips of Colorado and never saw Grand Tetons then!) At least he knew Grand Canyon was in AZ, and he's never been there.
My son got eliminated on the only US question I didn't know the answer to. What state did Lewis and Clark winter in at Fort (didn't even recognize the name). The answer was North Dakota.
Jan 5th, 2007, 11:57 AM
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It's Lake Winnepausauke, in New Hampshire, spent lots of summers there as a kid.
Ok I'll fess up don't know what state the Grand Titons are in, will have to look at my globe. Also wish I knew more about Canada and Mexico, we didn't get much geography in school.
Umm, I have encyclopedias, I'm gonna give myself a few lessons. Thanks for posting this.
Ok I'll fess up don't know what state the Grand Titons are in, will have to look at my globe. Also wish I knew more about Canada and Mexico, we didn't get much geography in school.
Umm, I have encyclopedias, I'm gonna give myself a few lessons. Thanks for posting this.
Jan 5th, 2007, 12:10 PM
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That is too bad, but maybe the school/district can use this to realize where they need to improve. You might want to speak to the principal regarding it.
I have sort of an opposite experience with the Geography Bee's. Our son has won them for the school for 2 years in a row. The first year, he was a 5th grader, so for the elementary school. Last year he was a 6th grader and won it for the entire middle school (6th,7th, and 8th graders). He also qualified on the test to compete at the state level. He didn't do so hot there, but hey, to make it to that level we were quite proud.
He won for his class this year, and is currently waiting to compete at the school level, which should be within a week or two. Wonder if he can keep his streak up?
I will say that our family travels and my husbands military deployments have really given him an edge with the other students in these competitions.
I have sort of an opposite experience with the Geography Bee's. Our son has won them for the school for 2 years in a row. The first year, he was a 5th grader, so for the elementary school. Last year he was a 6th grader and won it for the entire middle school (6th,7th, and 8th graders). He also qualified on the test to compete at the state level. He didn't do so hot there, but hey, to make it to that level we were quite proud.
He won for his class this year, and is currently waiting to compete at the school level, which should be within a week or two. Wonder if he can keep his streak up?
I will say that our family travels and my husbands military deployments have really given him an edge with the other students in these competitions.
Jan 5th, 2007, 12:27 PM
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Hi karens, sadly it is not just our children that often do not have the geography knowledge that they should.
Suggestion, buy your son a good world globe. Also buy him a good world atlas. That is what we did for our daughter and consequently she had a much better understanding of geography then most of her friends.
She is an adult now, a mother of teenagers..well one son is now twenty. And last year I purchased her a new world atlas for a present as that is what she asked for. Her sons have always taken an interest also since a lovely world map has hung on her hallway wall for years. This Christmas my two grandsons and I spent over an hour on the floor with their mothers new world atlas looking at where various countries were and which continent they were in. It was fun!
Suggestion, buy your son a good world globe. Also buy him a good world atlas. That is what we did for our daughter and consequently she had a much better understanding of geography then most of her friends.
She is an adult now, a mother of teenagers..well one son is now twenty. And last year I purchased her a new world atlas for a present as that is what she asked for. Her sons have always taken an interest also since a lovely world map has hung on her hallway wall for years. This Christmas my two grandsons and I spent over an hour on the floor with their mothers new world atlas looking at where various countries were and which continent they were in. It was fun!
Jan 5th, 2007, 02:13 PM
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"We were IN Grand Teton NP two summers ago and he got that question wrong! "
Don't feel too bad, Karen, my son blew the question "What is the southernmost state?" just a couple of months after visiting Hawaii (NOT Florida, which is what he said).
I strongly suspect that 8th graders/13-year-olds just aren't their sharpest when performing under pressure in front of a crowd including parents and peers.
Don't feel too bad, Karen, my son blew the question "What is the southernmost state?" just a couple of months after visiting Hawaii (NOT Florida, which is what he said).
I strongly suspect that 8th graders/13-year-olds just aren't their sharpest when performing under pressure in front of a crowd including parents and peers.
Jan 5th, 2007, 03:34 PM
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As calculator use escalated, the ability to do math in the head declined. by the same token, as availability of information on the internet escalated, we saw a corresponding drop in the "need" to memorize things like geography. Look what happened to penmanship! Does anyone write cursive anymore now that we SMS and type?
Jan 5th, 2007, 03:42 PM
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But this is what the population, or should I say big business wants- focus on reading and math and science. NCLB doesn't give credit for geography or history, so if you want the emphasis changed to actually educating our children rather than studying for useless tests, let your elected representatives know.
Jan 5th, 2007, 04:57 PM
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I panicked for a second because I thought you were at OUR geography bee today.....
Our Bee consisted of students in grades 5-8. A 7th grader won but one thing to rememeber is that some schools (including ours) break up geography and history over various grades. One question that we had related to Lewis and Clark and my 8th grade social studies teacher remarked, "it is really frustrating because we are doing Lewis and Clark next week in class so she would have had the right answer." I don't think these type of competitions are always a good barometer of curriculum because they have to cater to a variety of schools but I know that in our school, our students have shown more of an interest this year in geography since we started doing the Bee. Just my thoughts.
Our Bee consisted of students in grades 5-8. A 7th grader won but one thing to rememeber is that some schools (including ours) break up geography and history over various grades. One question that we had related to Lewis and Clark and my 8th grade social studies teacher remarked, "it is really frustrating because we are doing Lewis and Clark next week in class so she would have had the right answer." I don't think these type of competitions are always a good barometer of curriculum because they have to cater to a variety of schools but I know that in our school, our students have shown more of an interest this year in geography since we started doing the Bee. Just my thoughts.
Jan 5th, 2007, 05:11 PM
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My husband was on a Southwest flight home last month and sat next to 2 kids traveling by themselves, not related to one another. He taked with them for most of the trip.
My husband picked up the napkin that has an outline of the USA on it and started talking geography with the boy. He started quizzing him and he was shocked to learn that this 8 year old did not know hardly any states. This boy thought Idaho was "Italy".
This was a perfect opportunity for me to tell me husband, "see JUST how much of a learning experience travel is for our kids!" I think he now understands how beneficial it is on all levels.
My husband picked up the napkin that has an outline of the USA on it and started talking geography with the boy. He started quizzing him and he was shocked to learn that this 8 year old did not know hardly any states. This boy thought Idaho was "Italy".
This was a perfect opportunity for me to tell me husband, "see JUST how much of a learning experience travel is for our kids!" I think he now understands how beneficial it is on all levels.
Jan 5th, 2007, 05:33 PM
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My DD has come in 3rd place school-wide (900 kids) in her GeoBee the last 2 years. This year's question that tripped her up was "What is the most widely spoken Chinese dialect?" She took a shot and guessed Cantonese, when the answer was Mandarin. (She chose her answer because she has friends who speak both, but more of them speak Cantonese.) She was shocked at how little her peers know about geography.
