<p>1-c
2-d
3-c
4-a
5-a?
6-c?
7-c
8-b
9-a
10-b
actually that wasn’t that hard- how many did I get right?
it helps that D had a friend who spent a couple years on Ulithi-and I have a friend whose father was a famous mountainer ;)</p>
<p>When asked to find 10 specific states on a map of the United States, only California and Texas could be located by a large majority of those surveyed. Both states were correctly located by 89 percent of the participants. Only 51 percent could find New York, the nation’s third most populous state. </p>
<p>On a world map, Americans could find on average only seven of 16 countries in the quiz. Only 89 percent of the Americans surveyed could find their own country on the map. </p>
<p>In the world map test, Swedes could find an average of 13 of the 16 countries. Germans and Italians were next, with an average of 12 each. </p>
<p>Only 71 percent of the surveyed Americans could locate on the map the Pacific Ocean, the world’s largest body of water. Worldwide, three in 10 of those surveyed could not correctly locate the Pacific Ocean. </p>
<p>Although 81 percent of the surveyed Americans knew that the Middle East is the Earth’s largest oil exporter, only 24 percent could find Saudi Arabia on the map.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What state east of the Mississippi River has the greatest amount of land?
b. Georgia </p></li>
<li><p>In which continent is Angola located?
d.Africa </p></li>
<li><p>What is the state capital of Kentucky?
b.Frankfort </p></li>
<li><p>In which continent is the world’s highest mountain located?
a.Asia </p></li>
<li><p>What is the world’s largest river by volume?
b.Nile </p></li>
<li><p>The deadly Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami that killed more than 180,000 people originated in what body of water?
c. Indian Ocean </p></li>
<li><p>In which ocean are the Solomon Islands located?
c.South Pacific </p></li>
<li><p>Where does the Mississippi River begin?
b.Minnesota </p></li>
<li><p>Java, a term used for “coffee,” is also an island in which of the following?
a. Indonesia </p>
<ol>
<li>The Gold Rush that began in 1848 occurred in what state?
c.California </li>
</ol></li>
</ol>
<p>I think I messed up on one. That Nile versus Amazon seems to be a trick question. :)</p>
<p>“Only 71 percent of the surveyed Americans could locate on the map the Pacific Ocean, the world’s largest body of water. Worldwide, three in 10 of those surveyed could not correctly locate the Pacific Ocean.”</p>
<p>Wait a minute; now I’m no math major or anything, but this sounds fishy to me. 30% worldwide couldn’t find the Pacific Ocean, doesn’t that mean that 70% worldwide could find the Pacific? And then wouldn’t that be the same as the 70% of Americans who could find the Pacific Ocean. I agree that there are some travesties in the article about Americans’ knowledge of geography, but I didn’t know they were testing our fractions too.</p>
<p>That aside, I think the article shows a glaring problem in US education: the lack of interest in anything outside of America. I thought it was ridiculous when on the first day of my mandatory economics class (senior year of high school) the teacher said the first thing we’d study is our states and capitals. What? That’s something you should know before leaving elementary school, is it not? For a little international flare, we were told we’d be quizzed on European countries, so I practiced picking out Armenia on a blank map, and memorizing the order North to South of the Baltic states. On the quiz, we were asked to find England, France, Italy, Spain, and maybe Germany too. Yet another thing that should have been learned early on, not senior year of high school.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What state east of the Mississippi River has the greatest amount of land?
b. Georgia</p></li>
<li><p>In which continent is Angola located?
d.Africa</p></li>
<li><p>What is the state capital of Kentucky?
b.Frankfort</p></li>
<li><p>In which continent is the world’s highest mountain located?
a.Asia</p></li>
<li><p>What is the world’s largest river by volume?
a.Amazon (not sure by volume)</p></li>
<li><p>The deadly Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami that killed more than 180,000 people originated in what body of water?
c. Indian Ocean</p></li>
<li><p>In which ocean are the Solomon Islands located?
c.South Pacific</p></li>
<li><p>Where does the Mississippi River begin?
b.Minnesota</p></li>
<li><p>Java, a term used for “coffee,” is also an island in which of the following?
a. Indonesia</p></li>
<li><p>The Gold Rush that began in 1848 occurred in what state?
c.California</p></li>
</ol>
<p>What I want to know is how many New Yorkers could locate New York state on a map? ;)</p>
<p>What about these questions:</p>
<p>Which continent has the oldest structures indicating a city-state governmental structure? (Is the answer the Peruvian Inca society or the Chinese? Do we know or is the jury still out? I’d accept arguments for other possibilities, too?) </p>
<p>Which was settled by Europeans first: Santa Fe, New Mexico or Plimoth Plantation? (Santa Fe: 1608)</p>
<p>Which has more species of native birds: Tanzania (in Africa) or the US and Canada (Tanzania has more than 1000 species; US/Canada about 900.)</p>
<p>Great post- my 14yo geography nut S got the same answers as bobbobbob. And thanks so much for the geosense link, georgiamom!
We just played it for the last hour- it IS addicting, and both the game and my S humbled me (he had an average of 218 km off, and I had an average of 1,152 off!)</p>
<p>I would have thought that Pennsylvania would be the largest land mass state; Florida is so very skinny (about two-ish hours to drive across); Mass. is obviously wrong, and Georgia isn’t very wide (E-W) at the top part. </p>
<p>Pennsylvania takes roughly 6 hours to drive across and about 3-3.5 hours to drive down… GA isn’t that long in either direction.</p>