13.7 percent of Buffalo High School students could not locate the state of Missouri on a map of the United States in a recent Hoofprint survey of 131 BHS students from all four grade levels. Of those surveyed, eight were freshmen, 35 sophomores, 36 juniors, 33 seniors, and 19 did not report their grade level.
Seven of the 8 freshmen, 87.5 percent, were able to pinpoint Missouri on a map. 32 of the 35 sophomores, 91.4 percent, answered correctly. 32 of the 36 juniors, 88.8 percent, answered correctly. 24 of 33 seniors, 72.7 percent, answered correctly. 18 of the 19 unspecified students, 94.7 percent, answered correctly.
Thirty-three percent of young Americans aged 18 to 24 could not locate the state of Louisiana on a map of the United States, according to a 2006 National Geographic survey. Additionally, 48 percent could not locate Mississippi and 50 percent could not locate the state of New York.
Buffalo High School currently does not have a required geography class on its curriculum, which may have led to the 13.7 percent of incorrect locating.
“We used to have a required geography-only class, but not enough students signed up for it,” said social studies teacher Devin Davidson. “What we do instead is implement our current required social studies classes with geography; so students in U.S. History learn U.S. geography, and students in World Studies learn world geography.”
U.S. History and World Studies are required sophomore and junior classes, respectively, and it showed with sophomores and juniors each scoring over 88 percent correct. Seniors on the other hand, aren’t required to take any social studies classes, and this showed as they scored the lowest of the four grade levels.
“I think it would be great if there was a required social studies class for seniors,” said Davidson, “but with the current scheduling I’m not sure how they would fit it in. It would sure help so that they don’t lose [their geographical knowledge] though.”
How the survey was conducted:
The Hoofprint’s survey findings were based on 131 surveys handed out to five randomly selected classrooms on March 29-31. The population represented by the survey is all current BHS students.
Results will vary by no more than 6.2 percentage points, plus or minus, from the overall population 95 times out of 100.
Variance between grade levels was found to be statistically insignificant.
Sampling error does not include unintentional forms of bias, such as non-response, sampling or wording bias. Any questions can be e-mailed to [email protected] or [email protected].
Survey conducted by seniors Paul Brummer and Nate Spanier.
